After a long silence, the General Manager, Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA); Mr Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, has said that the agency has no choice but to obey the verdict of the Supreme Court on the prolonged face of with the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA).
The Supreme Court had in January granted the Federal Government total control of all waterways in the country, including the right to levy and license operators in the sector.
The court, in a landmark judgement it delivered in an appeal marked: SC/CV/17/2018, held that States lack the constitutional right to impose levies on businesses operating in the nation’s inland waterways.
Delivering its judgement on a suit concerning the dispute, a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court led by John Okoro said it was unlawful for state governments to seek to control the nation’s inland waterways.
In the lead judgement written by Mr Okoro, the Supreme Court held that existing laws confer exclusive control of activities in the inland waterways on the federal government through its agencies, the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and the Nigerian Maritime Standard and Safety Agency (NMSSA) and no other tier of government.
Faced with a multiplicity of charges by both federal and the Lagos government agencies, the incorporated trustees of the Association of Tourist Boat Operators and Water Transportation of Nigeria (ATBOWTN) and the incorporated trustees of the Dredgers Association of Nigeria (DAN) filed a suit at the Federal High Court, Lagos to seek an end to such in 2012.
The plaintiffs prayed the court to determine which tier of government was empowered by law to license and levy business operators on the nation’s inland waterways.
But, reacting for the first time to the ruling on Wednesday, during an interaction with the media, the General Manager of LASWA said: “What the state government is then doing is to talk to the national body to see possible way of collaboration.
“But in the meantime, we are not stopping our safety functions because we owe it to the lives of our citizens to continue to ensure that all the resources the state government has invested in LASWA will continue to provide safety for the people.
“But in terms of being able to function as a regulator, it is definitely to collaborate with the national body,” he said.
He said that LASWA would however not stop its investment as regards safety and development of the waterways.
The LASWA GM also has urged all stakeholders, operators and passengers to always ensure that they do the right things while navigating the waterways.
Reacting to the resurgence of boat accidents in the state, Emmanuel asked why passengers should board a boat at an awkward time and operators allow such to happen.
He said that government was doing its best to improve on safety by enforcing standards, without stifling operators.
“On the recent accidents, it should be noted that in the last two years, we barely had any accident on our waterways.
“What exactly happened? Was it a stroke of luck or by chance? I don’t think so.
“This is a sector that is constantly improving and being regulated, and looking at what is missing and continuing to work on it.
“Yes, a few processes might not have been in place, and for this particular incident, it might not have been put in place.
“But there has been some significant improvement with what the regulators are doing,” he said.
On calls by operators seeking government’s help in acquiring boats, Emmanuel noted that the Lagos State Government had plans to support them.
He said that he was aware that the state government had specific amount of boats which to give to boat operators this year.
“It is a good call from the operators and the state government already has this plan in place where the boats have already been made but they still want to make few more before starting the process of supporting operators with boats.
“It is basically the private operators that will apply for it, which is why the state government asked them to form cooperative because the boats will not be given to individual operators,” he said.
The LASWA boss said that jetties were being built, and the state government plans to give boats to the sector were still on.