Tunji Obagbo (POTEMAN)
Tunji Obagbo (POTEMAN)
NIWA has not done anything at all, they are the reason why we are having all these road congestions and gridlocks, a lot of people do not really need road transportation to wherever they are going, and if NIWA is doing its work as it should be, there will not be much pressure on the road, the roads will be free and even transportation cost will drop. The other time I discovered that a ferry from Badagry to Ikoyi took just 45minutes, but if you take road transport you are likely to spend up to three hours, if they have been doing their job, most of the people coming to Apapa do not need road transportation, people from Festac, Okokomaiko, they don't need road transportation, if the ferry can be taking people then the road will be free and the cost will come down. NIWA should wake up and come out for Public Private Participation so that the system can work, it is only then that we can talk of security.
Lucky Obogo (Petroleum Marketer)
They focus more on vessel aspect rather than on boat transportation, I have witnessed it, some of those boats coming from Ogogoro village, if you see them you will be amazed, the way they load the boats sometimes you begin to wonder if there are laws in place as regards safety. I have passed through these routes and I know that there is law that every passenger must compulsorily wear their life jackets, but enforcing these law is another thing, the people on the island always have a way of making the public see them as if they are suffering, they have a way of passing a message to the government that it is not looking after them, they always have something to complain about, but I always tell them that life has no duplicate, their speed sometimes is alarming, a boat that is not supposed to carry more than 20 passengers and they are carrying 30 people, if you see their life jacket sometimes you will know that it is not up to standard. There is supposed to be a body that should be checking these things and making sure that the life jacket is up to standard, to check how many passengers it is carrying. Also, the passengers are not helping issues, sometimes they give somebody a life jacket and he will tell you he does not need it, I don't want us to shift blames to the government, we also have a role to play as citizens when it comes to safety.
Kayode Farinto (ANLCA Chieftain)
NIWA has been a moribund government parastatal in the last few years, but recently that they have got a new CEO who is a woman, I am sure she is going to perform, I can only tell you that; give NIWA some more time from December to January next year a new NIWA will emerge. The Cabotage law has not been fully implemented and NIWA has a role to play in the Act because Nigerians are now embracing water transportation, but with no security on the waterways we have boats capsizing on a daily basis on our waters, I want to say that NIWA has a lot to do in ensuring that our waterways are safe especially, Lagos waters and its environs, give NIWA more time and I believe with the new CEO, a new NIWA will emerge.
John Ugheoke (Water Transporter)
NIWA seriously needs to wake up from their slumber. I call for a committee that will ensure public private participation, you can see what the Lagos State Government is doing with regards to road transportation, it has brought about relief. NIWA should also awake and do more than that, they should call the ferry and boat operators, if you see the operations of these guys you will pity them, there is no assistance from the government, they are using rubber cans as their tanks, it is not just to collect money from them, these guys constructed their boats by themselves, we need to thank them because they have tried, but there is no government participation and no security. If they are assisted and given boats that is adequate with our Nigerian environment that can convey people from one place to the other, it will go a long way, NIWA should go back to their drawing board and see what they can do to improve, if they do this, the water transportation will be competing with the road transportation, we have not even made use of all the facilities we have.
Engineer Matthew Alalade (President Merchant Navy)
NIWA is doing their best in that regard, but I think government should empower the agency through training of staff. They are responsible for safety on our inland waters, but the situation of fund has made then not to live up to expectation. Perhaps if the government has been able to fund NIWA as it ought to, I think they will perform effectively as regards safety on our inland waterways.
Engineer Isaac Isunama(President AMERO)
The NIWA is trying because the fund made available to them is small and the only problem they have at the moment is that government has not been able to assist the agency the way it ought to. Government is supposed to assist in the training of staff of the agency on safety measures. There should have been a platform where management staff must be given maritime training to increase their output.
Adewale Muritala(Able Seaman)
The problem is with the passengers that use water transportation. (LASWA) for instance has been able to play their part in its monitoring of operations, so also NIWA but the passengers are adamant to follow simple instructions on safety precautions. I think the local boat operators should be held responsible because of the nature of their facilities. However there is need for government to set a taskforce that will arrest and prosecute those that fails to obey instructions during the process of moving from one point to the other on our inland waters.
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