As boat mishaps resurge on Lagos waterways, users express fears

The Lagos waterways had enjoyed relative calm for nine months since 18 passengers were rescued alive when a passenger boat named GT Water-Line 4 capsized after take-off from Ebute-Ero enroute Ikorodu terminal. However, the death of 19 passengers in two successive recent boat mishaps on the Lagos waters is proving costly, writes TOLA ADENUBI. 

Since October 2021 when GT Water-Line 4 capsized after take-off from Ebute-Ero enroute Ikorodu terminal and all 18 passengers got rescued alive because they were all putting on life jackets, Lagos State waterways had enjoyed hitch-free navigation for users in the last nine months until last Wednesday.

All through the first half of 2022, there had been no sign that death was lurking on the Lagos waterways as both the Lagos State and the Federal Government, through series of safety efforts, had ensured safe navigation for waterways users through installation of safety buoys and other navigational aid along the state waterways.

With various sensitisation seminars organised for boat operators by the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) and the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) at different times in the first half of 2022, there was no indication that multiple deaths loomed on the Lagos waterways.

The hosting in Lagos of the maiden edition of the National Transport Technology Conference (NTTC) in June 2022 was a testament of the massive investment and resources that had been put into the state waterways sector to checkmate incessant loss of lives.

Multiple deaths on Lagos waterways

The second half of 2022 began on a bloody note when two female passengers drowned in the first week of July after their boat, a 20-seater boat, departed Ipakodo ferry terminal in Ikorodu early Wednesday morning, and capsized almost immediately after take-off.

The boat named, R&N 2, had submerged almost immediately after capsizing not more than 200 meters from the Ipakodo ferry terminal. The quick intervention of the water guards and search and rescue team of LASWA, ensured that 15 other passengers were rescued alive.

The Ipakodo terminal incident seemed to had woken up the sleeping beast on the Lagos waterways as barely three days after that tragedy, a 19-passenger boat conveying 16 people late on Friday capsized along Ojo waterways area of Lagos State, leaving all passengers drowned.

In a statement jointly signed by the Lagos Area Manager of NIWA, Sarat Braimah and General Manager of LASWA, Damilola Emmanuel, the boat flouted waterways rules by setting sail at 7:45pm, which falls after the 7am to 6pm time giving for ferry operations in Lagos.

Passengers express fears

While a total of 17 bodies have been brought out from the water since the last incident, many waterways users have been expressing fears that safety levels on the Lagos waterways is gradually being compromised.

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune,  Mr Mathew Aribisala, a regular caller at the Liverpool jetty in Apapa and staff of a government agency based at the seaport, wondered why two boat mishaps occurred in quick successions on the Lagos waterways.

According to Mr Aribisala, “I am still struggling to come to terms with the fact that the two boat mishaps that just occurred on the Lagos waterways happened within a spate of four days. My house is at Ikorodu and the fastest way to get to work in Apapa from home and also return is through the waterways. I can still manage to go to work from Ikorodu by road if I leave home around 4am, but returning home from work has to be by boat or else I won’t get home on time to rest for the next work day.

“Why the two mishaps occurred in quick succession has been bordering me. Even my children are alarmed. For two boat mishaps to claim 19 lives, then something is wrong somewhere. The last boat mishap which claimed about 17 lives was said to have flouted waterways rules on when to operate, but the first one which claimed two lives, nothing has been said on that. The authorities said they are investigating the cause of the mishap, but those that are dead have been buried and quickly forgotten.

ALSO READ FROM  NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

• Nurse Holds Doctor Hostage In OAU Teaching Hospital, Resident Doctors Plan Strike
• Woman’s Corpse, Unconscious Man Found Inside Office In Aba After Four Days
• Hoodlums Attack Lagos Governor’s Press Crew Bus In Tinubu’s Convoy, Two Injured
• [BREAKING] #EkitiDecides2022: INEC Declares APC’s Biodun Oyebanji Winner Of Guber Poll
• Top 10 Business Ideas In Nigeria You Can Start With 100,000 Naira
• 2023: Kwankwaso Will Not Be Deputy To Obi —NNPP

“It is a shame that with all the massive investment that has been put in the Lagos waterways sector by the state and Federal Government, two bloody boat mishaps can still occur within a spate of four days. I am worried and really at a loss on how to go about this.”

Also speaking on the two deadly mishaps, another waterways user, Julius Akpovorie, who resides in Agbara urged the state government to ensure adequate presence on the waterways to forestall such occurrences.

“This boats that operate outside the stipulated waterways period do so because we lack adequate security presence on our waterways in Lagos. Sometimes, when I use the boat from Mile 2 to Agbara, you won’t come across any security patrol boat. The same thing even when I go to Marina. If there is constant patrolling of the waterways by security boats, errant operators won’t be flouting the rules as regards waterways navigation time,” Mr Akpovorie told the Nigerian Tribune.

Same Riot Act

In its bid to ensure that boat mishaps are a thing of the past on Lagos waterways, the Lagos State government has vowed to enforce safety measures and go after substandard boat operators.

The government said this in a statement issued by the spokesperson of the Lagos Ministry of Transportation, Mrs Bolanle Ogunlola.

Shortly after 17 people drowned in the second boat mishap in July, the General Manager of LASWA, Mr Damilola Emmanuel, condoled with the families of victims who lost their lives in the recent boat mishaps in the tate, noting that his agency has done so much to reduce the issue of boat mishaps to the barest minimum.

Part of the safety measures Emmanuel explained, is the LASWA’s Search and Rescue Unit which was established to fully deal with incident operations in the different locations of the state waterways to improve response time during emergencies.

Emmanuel further disclosed that with the huge potential of water transportation in Lagos State, the state government was doing all it could to ensure that the sector is not only viable but safe and is thus ready to come down hard on any operator who endangers the lives of people while operating in the sector.

He said, “One of the boat drivers whose actions led to a boat mishap some years back was recently sentenced to life imprisonment. We are coming harder on operators who are compromising standards. With the huge capital committed to the water transportation sector, we cannot fold our arms and allow mediocrity.”

The LASWA General Manager further stated that his agency is in parley with the manufacturer of Yamaha, which manufactures most of the engines used in boats in Lagos State to reduce the price they are selling to the boat operators to enhance safety while running the boats business.

He admonished passengers on the waterways to be safety conscious always. “The life jacket can save you. Buy your own life jacket if you must. Inspect the life jackets that you are given and make sure it does not have holes or is torn, while avoiding night travels. Safety consciousness is a collective responsibility, if you see something unusual on the waterways, say it,” Emmanuel said.