Night ferry trips persist in Lagos despite accidents, deaths

Amid regular accidents and deaths, passengers and ferry operators won’t stop sailing at night. TOLA ADENUBI writes on these journeys of death.

WITHIN six days in February, Lagos witnessed two water mishaps in the course of night sailing, leading to fatalities that have left some homes in anguish.

Incidentally, the last few months had been relatively peaceful on the Lagos waterways until death reared its head again on the February 21, when a boat carrying 17 passengers collided with an unforeseen shoreline concrete at a construction site around Lekki Ikoyi Link Bridge, leading to the death of two of the passengers. Fifteen other passengers were rescued.

As if that was a warning not heeded, tragedy, again, struck just one week after the shoreline collision incident when a 14-passenger boat sank around Ibeshe-Ikorodu waters in Lagos State on February 27, leaving three passengers dead and 11 others rescued.

The passenger ferry boat named Oluwaseyifunmi capsized due to a suspected mechanical fault. It had departed from Addax Jetty around 7 p.m.

 

Why mishaps persist

One of the major reasons accidents keep occurring on Lagos waterways is down to the level of training most of the boat captains and deck-hands have, according to industry watchers.

Findings by Saturday Tribune revealed that no form of education or training is required to drive a passenger boat in Lagos.

For many of the littoral communities, boat driving is passed down from father to son and in most cases, the drivers lack any form of education.

This is why many of the drivers lack the knowledge to understand the waterway terrain when the tide is high in the evening, which is a major cause of boat mishaps in the evening when passengers are returning home from work.

Another cause of boat mishap, findings revealed, is the flagrant flouting of the National Inland Waterways Authority’s (NIWA) directive which outlaws night sailing.

The directive by NIWA restricts boat movement from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., but in most cases, stranded passengers who throng the waterways jetties in the evening in order to beat the heavy traffic on the roads encourage night sailing, thereby putting themselves at the risk of a mishap.

At night, visibility becomes very poor and boat drivers are always at the risk of running into pipes or logs floating on the waterways while at top speed.

The boat in the most recent mishap in the state which occurred on February 27 with three dead was discovered to have left Addax jetty around 7 p.m., in flagrant violation of the ban on night sailing.

Blame passengers —Operator

For many of the boat operators, passengers are to blame for night sailing, because they “always lure” them (operators) to do it at the jetties.

A boat operator who wouldn’t want his name in print told Saturday Tribune that once it is past six in the evening, most jetties would be filled with passengers trying to beat the traffic on the roads.

“For some of us who flout the NIWA regulations banning night sailing, sometimes, it is the passengers who encourage us to do so. If you go to the jetties in the evening, the whole place would be filled with passengers who are trying to avoid the gridlock on the road to get home.

“When you tell them that it is already close to 7 p.m. and the law doesn’t support sailing at such hours, they will tell you that the law was made for man and man was not made for the law.

“They will entice the boat drivers with money that they are ready to pay. Even when the boat driver deliberately hikes the fee just to discourage them from such trips, the passengers will tell you that they are willing to pay.

“This is the reason why night sailing still persists despite the fact that there is a directive banning it. The tides are higher at nights and the risk is also higher, but for most working-class passengers that close from work by 5pm, they just have to get home in time to prepare for the next working day. They don’t care about the risks and this is the reason why night sailing keeps recurring,” the operator revealed.

Saturday Tribune learnt that the skipper that drove the boat in the latest accident and is being held responsible for the mishap is still on the run.

NIWA has declared him wanted and promised to prosecute him when arrested.

 

Why we do it —Passenger

A trader, Mrs Falilat Anuoluwapo, who resides in Ikorodu but trades at Marina on Lagos Island, explained that in most cases, passengers are always left with no other choice than to sail at night.

“In most cases, we are always left with no other choice once it’s past 6pm. On a very busy day, I close from work around 6pm and need to get to Ikorodu before it’s too late. The road is a no for me because everywhere will be locked down by that time.

“The only option I have is the waterways and the law says no night sailing, but I have to get home.

“By the time I arrive at the jetty, I will see other working-class people like me also looking for a boat to take them across the lagoon.

“Some of the boat drivers will tell us that they have closed, but in some cases, we always succeed in convincing them to sail because we just have to get home.

“Nobody wants to get stuck in traffic for hours. I think government should extend the night sailing directive to 8pm because some of us close late from work and have to get home by water since it’s faster,” Mrs Anuoluwapo said.

Rain of sanctions

With five people lost to the recent mishaps in just six days, NIWA, constitutionally empowered to regulate inland waterways activities, swung into action and took some decisive steps.

With Ikorodu reportedly becoming notorious for boat accidents, the NIWA Lagos Area Office embargoed boat operations around the area except for those certified to operate.

Speaking with Saturday Tribune on the new measures, the Lagos Area Manager of NIWA, Mrs Sarat Braimah, said, “Our Marine Unit is now in Ikorodu. I have embargoed boat movement in Ikorodu except for those certified. “Yesterday (Wednesday last week), we certified 10 boats and only those 10 boats will be the ones to operate for now.

“For other boats, we have instructed them to bring them down to our office in Marina. We are not even going to Ikorodu to do the inspection. Most of the boats, what they have is single hull and these single-hull boats cannot withstand stress. Any single hit on the waterways, they will tumble.

“This is the reason why some of them will hit a little pipe on the waterways and tumble. I have been inside a boat which hit a wreck but did not capsize because it had double-hull.

“Majorly, we have to scrap these boats. Seventy-five per cent of them are not seaworthy. From the time they bought and registered them, and considering that their maintenance has dropped, their lifespan, too, has dropped.

“So, we want to know if it is 20 boats that are fit to operate from Ikorodu, Ibeshe jetty, let it be so. If it is 20 in Ebute, let it be so.

“The owners of the jetty are also part of the problem because they know that the lesser the number of boats, the lesser the money they make. But we don’t care about how much a jetty makes. If it’s just 10 boats that are certified fit, let them pay for jetty use. I’m not targeting anybody, we are just after safety.

“So, going forward, we have made some things mandatory for boat operators. Firstly, every boat must have a speedometer. It will allow passengers inside the boat to know whether the pilot is over-speeding or not.

“Secondly, every passenger boat must have life buoys on the boat. If there is an incident mid-stream, they will throw life buoys around for people to hold for safety. Four people can hold one. If you have three on a boat, that will save 12 people. Passengers have life jackets, but they usually put them off immediately they get inside the boat.

“At least, if that life bouy is there and they throw it out, they will hold on to it to stay afloat. So, it is the best way to save people on water.

“And finally, every passenger boat will also have a lifeguard who can swim in case of accident. Lifeguards are divers; they can quickly jump into the water and save people. It will be the first response before the boats get there.

“NIWA is about to procure a technology called ‘Blue Me’. Each driver on board will be given one. If they press it, it will give a signal about their location to everybody. It operates anywhere and it doesn’t have network issues and it will give us the location of the boats in time of emergencies.

“We have gotten the sample and we have tested it at Badagry. These are precautions we are putting in place for water transportation safety.”

 

Water patrolling

In its efforts to stop night sailing, NIWA recently announced the deployment of five patrol boats across its busiest routes in Lagos.

“We have deployed five patrol boats across the waterways in Lagos, being our busiest axis. One patrol boat has been taken to the Badagry axis. Another has been taken to Badore; another has been deployed at Ikorodu; another deployed at Ijegun while the last is at Marina.

“The deployment of these patrol boats was strategic. The patrol boats have been deployed along this axis to monitor waterway issues like over-speeding, overloading, and night sailing. It is also a way of increasing our presence on the waterways,” the Area Manager disclosed.

Due to the rickety boats being used by operators, NIWA, on Wednesday, also introduced a new boat and handed it over to the boat operators to man and use.

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