LASWA to commence inspection of boats by December

The Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) says all boats operating on the state’s waterways are due for inspection in December. The General Manager of  LASWA, Mr Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, disclosed this in an interview in Lagos recently.

Emmanuel said that the authority needed to step up its safety procedure on waterways in line with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s renewed commitment towards development of water transportation.

“One of the things we do to enhance safety on waterways is to carry out biannual inspection on boats. Before the end of the year, I mean before Christmas, boat operators are due for inspection.

“As they come, we carry out checks on them, and wherever there are safety issues, we give them a timeline to do it; if they don’t fix it, we will go after them,” the LASWA boss told newsmen.

He said that the authority would inspect all boats to see whether they were worthy to use waterways or not in order to prevent avoidable water mishaps.

The general manager, who noted that the authority relied a lot on information and feedback from passengers, urged them to always report to the authority any threat to safety while on board.

He said: “We rely a lot on information. We have passengers’ feedback form as a feedback mechanism where passengers report to us if they notice anything on boats.

“We also encourage our passengers to speak up and let us know, and we will make sure that appropriate penalties are meted out to any erring boat operator who doesn’t comply with the safety procedure.

“Passengers have the responsibility to be the first line safety agent themselves by ensuring that they wear life jackets.”