“There is a joint committee working on the use of barges across the waterways in Lagos State”
In this interview with Oluyinka Onigbinde and Onaopemipo Onileimo, the General Manager, Lagos State Waterways Authourity; Mr Damilola Emmanuel speaks about issues regarding waterways transportation in the state
Can you describe the impact of water transportation in the day-to-day activities of the people in the state?
I think the impact of water transportation in the state is tremendous. We must correct the impression that because of water transportation, our roads will be free of traffic. I would say it is not that it will be free of traffic. It just means that there will be less congestion; but critically, we are able to provide an alternative which people should have in any business city like Lagos, which is what the state government has been doing in developing water transportation. The Lagos State government is not just developing water transportation in isolation but looking at how it links to other modes. Right now, we have one mode which is called inter-modal transportation. As you know, the state government is currently working on the rail which will start next year. Then it would now become multimodal transportation.
Recently, the Lagos State placed a ban on Okada in some parts of the state. How has this ban affected water transportation patronage in the State?
Well, it has not had any effect on water transportation. The only thing we have noticed is that when people get out of the jetties, Okada used to be their mode of transportation away from the jetties. But the State Government has provided First Mile/ Last Mile Buses at strategic locations to make sure that that gap is not felt. So we would say at the end of the day with the positive impact of Okada, now we see less accidents and loss of lives, this is very good for us.
What is the average figure of those who use the waterways?
We have averagely between 80,000 to 100,000 daily and on a monthly basis we have around 1.83 million.
What is LASWA doing as regards making use of life jackets, night travelling and generally ensuring of safety on our waterways?
As you know, it is a developing sector. Very interestingly we know that the last two accidents that happened in the month of July were back-to-back. To be honest with you, before then in the last nine months, we did not have any major accidents on the waterways and I think that for us was very good plus. It just means that we are doing something right. What did we do?
We increased our Water Guards’ presence at strategic jetties and locations. We were also able to upgrade the Emergency and Rescue operation and Patrol and Monitoring services. We also begin to work more with even the communities around those areas where we know that people tend to break the rules and we were able to reach out to have stakeholders’ engagement with them and of course increase our enforcement as well because we realised that enforcement will deter people from breaking the rules and regulations. They know they would have themselves to blame if they break the rules and regulations when they are caught and they will have to face the full wrath of the law. Also, for the first of its kind in Africa we are also introducing the Command and Control Center which will be commissioned anytime from now. That Command and Control Centre will enable us to begin to cover our waterways using technology to monitor their activities and also able to generate relevant data for informed decisions.
What is LASWA doing as regards the issue of illegal jetties?
For these issue of illegal jetties, we encourage whistle blowing. If we hear that there’s an illegal jetty, we go and find out how the jetty was opened, we shut down the jetty and if there are any perpetrators who opened the jetty without due permission, we make sure that they face the full wrath of the law for doing so. This is obviously because if they operate an illegal jetty, they expose people to harm and danger. So in terms of that, I would say we go and inspect, find out what kind if jetty it is and if it needs to be closed down, it will be closed down. But if it needs to be regularised, it will be regularised appropriately and given proper registration.
The Lekki Deep Seaport is billed to start anytime soon and the use of barges is being proposed as the major means of evacuating cargo from there. Is LASWA been carried along, especially when it comes to the issuance of licenses to barge operators who will operate at the Deep Seaport?
Generally, concerning the use of barges across the waterways in Lagos State, there is a joint committee made up with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA). It is a joint committee to regularise the issue of barge operations in Lagos State. So that is ongoing. Last week we were still at the Lekki Deep Seaport and we had meetings with them and of course to see how smoothly we can ensure that things are done appropriately.
What exactly is the work of the committee which you talked about?
The work of the committee is to ensure that all of these barges that run on our waterways adhere to safety rules and regulations and of course they are adequately licensed and regulated. In terms of any emergencies, we also ensure that we know how to deal with those emergencies because sometimes we do have those emergencies in barge operations. We also regularise their activities to ensure that they function well.
What’s the update about the rift between NIWA and LASWA over control on the waterways?
Well, I would say the media knows how to blow things out of proportion. For me, it is about Federal-State authority over the waterways. Yes, there might be issues where we need to make clarifications, but I think over the last few years, we have been able to work together. At the end of the day, we have one goal which is to work towards the development of the inland waterways and we must be able to arrive at the fact that we must ensure safety first of all and I think the whole idea of focusing on safety has made us find common grounds together and in areas of differences, we find ways to resolve them, without necessarily making the operators have to pay double charges or making it a pain for them to do their businesses.
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There is an allegation that LASWA is backing a splinter group from the Association of Tourist Boat Operators and Water Transporters of Nigeria (ATBOWATON) which is called Waterfront Boat Owners and Transporters Association of Nigeria (WABOTAN). How true is this?
I don’t know that they are splinter group from ATBOWATON. The name just looks and sounds familiar. On the waterways, you’re allowed to form associations. It is within your right to join any association and what we see in recent times is that associations are springing up. The only thing is that we want to ensure that they must come to us. We must recognise them and know their aims and objectives and see if they are able to fulfil the aims and objectives.
What is the total revenue profile so far from LASWA as contribution to the state coffers?
We have been able to generate hundreds of millions of Naira. I might not be able to give the exact figures, but I will say we have generated Hundreds of millions as revenue to the Lagos State government.
Of recent we have seen so many derelicts and water hyacinths on our waterways. Is LASWA involved in the removal of wrecks and what are the areas you cover?
LASWA is involved in the removal of wrecks from the waterways. The issue of wrecks is not just a state thing. The Federal institutions also have jurisdiction over wrecks. So it has to be a joint thing for both State and Federal. However, I’ll speak for the State. One of the things we intend to do is to look at those areas where we have a large concentration of our waterways activities. In Ikorodu for example, because of the number of people coming out from that axis every day, we have focused a lot more to ensure that they are as safe as possible. We would remove few wrecks around that area as well. One thing that is very key is to mark the entire wrecks and identify them. We can then inform both the operators and stakeholders on which areas the wrecks are. To be honest with you, the State government cannot remove all those wrecks on its own. That is why the Federal Government also comes in to ensure they remove wrecks. Last year or early this year, the Minister came around and they set up modalities on removing wrecks. So it is a joint thing for both State and Federal.
For the State government, we always prioritise those areas with large volume of water transportation.
Recently, LASWA gave a political group called the ‘Jagaban Maritime Network’ some personal protective equipment (PPE). What informed the decision?
It was a call for PPEs and for us, we are about safety. We must ensure that we support that cause. That is why we went there. It is not about being political or not, it is about the fact that we needed to ensure that we can support people when they needed to be safe and since they needed to be safe, that is why we supported them.
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