Oluyinka Onigbinde
Findings by Shipping Position Daily have revealed that the cost of waterways transportation increased by 16.3 per cent in one year. This is according to the Transport Fare Watch for January 2023 released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The report showed that the average fare paid for water transport (waterway passenger transportation) in January 2023 increased to N1,032.84, showing an increase of 16.28% on a year-on-year basis from N888.24 in January 2022 and 0.40% on a month-on-month from N 1,028.73 in December 2022.
The report showed that the South-South zone had the highest charges paid on water transport with N2,425.83 followed by the South-West with N950.08, while North-East had the least fare with N659.9
In the Transport Fare Watch report on the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, the states with the highest fare by waterway passenger transport were Delta at N3500 per trip, Rivers comes second at N3200 per trip while Bayelsa comes third at N2,900 per trip while Lagos had an average price of N1100 per trip.
According to NBS, the states with the lowest fare for waterway passenger transport are Borno at N369 Kebbi at N420 and Gombe at N480.
Reacting to the NBS report, the National Public Relations Officer of Waterfront Boat Owners and Transporters Association (WABOTAN) Chief Raymond Gold blamed the high cost of boats spare parts, and scarcity of fuel for the increase in the cost of water transportation. He however said the increase is not peculiar to the waterways transport alone, but noted that the cost of transportation has increased generally.
“It’s not just water transportation every other things have increased, food have increased, and water transporters also buy food outside, now recently it’s been difficult getting fuel, More so that these are people whose boats are on water and when they take their jerry cans to the fueling stations to buy fuel they pay extra, because some will tell you out rightly they cannot sell to jerry cans and we need fuel to power the outboard engine that powers the boat on the water, so if you are paying extra for fuel all these are effective to the reason that constituted to the increment.
“Also cost of spare parts have also increased, to buy the outboard engines, we are even having challenges, because to buy the parts is becoming an herculean task because they have become unnecessarily expensive. We are looking at the possibility of talking with the franchise to see that these parts are available.
“We are even looking at some of the popular brands in the country to see how they can open up the market so that our members can access these parts easily, you know if the parts are readily available and not being hoarded, the price will be more affordable so these are some of the reason for the increase that the NBS may have observed and even at that it’s still fair compare to transport on the road even road transportation has increased so it cut across board, it’s not just water transportation” he said.
Speaking also, the President Association of Tourist Boat Operators and Water Transporters of Nigeria (ATBOWATON) Dr. Gani Tarzan Balogun also explained that the increase in waterways transportation fares is not peculiar to the sector alone, but has also affected other modes of transportation in the country. He said “What affected the cost of airlines and road transport also affected waterways transport, water transportation is not cheap, because it saves time and time is money and you know that there is nothing in this country in the last one year that the price has remained constant” he said.
On his part, the General Manager, Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA); Mr. Damilola Emmanuel when questioned as to why the cost of water transportation has risen by over 16% in the last one year, simply said: “Of course the reason for the increase is obvious, the cost of fuel has risen and of course the cash crunch, which is a general thing that has affected the whole economy. So, it’s not really peculiar to the water transportation sector”, he said.
However, the Lagos Area Manager of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) Mrs. Sarat Braimoh refused to comment on the report as she said she was yet to see the report and wouldn’t want to comment until she sees the report.
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