Over 80 per cent of boat drivers are illiterates — Onikoyi

The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) recently signed a five-year partnership agreement with a private firm, Metropolitan Waterways Concept Limited on the training and certification of boat skippers on Lagos waterways. In this interview by TOLA ADENUBI, President/CEO of Metropolitan Waterways Concepts Ltd, Dr Lateef Adio Onikoyi, gives details of the agreement among others:

What prompted you to go into waterways business?

Metropolitan Waterways Concepts Limited started in 2014. When we went into water transportation in Lagos waterways, we invested about $1million into acquisition of boats and construction of jetties. When we came in, boat operators were using rickety boats to ferry passengers across the Lagos waterways. I wasn’t too pleased with this arrangement, so when we were coming into waterways, I ordered for two 30-passenger boats from Gulf Craft in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The brand of the boats that we ordered for is called Torren 36 boats which are used for sight-seeing. When I bought the boats, a Captain who accompanied me on the trip to the UAE told me that I wouldn’t be able to use the boats for ferry operations. I asked why? And he said that the boats are pleasure boats, and can only be used for charter services, and not passenger ferry operations. He told me that there is no way I can recoup my investment on the boats by using them for passenger ferry operations except I use them for charter operations. I was adamant and said I wanted the boats to be used for ferry operations because I wanted to change the face of waterways transportation in Lagos. However, after registering the two boats with NIWA and the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) on arrival in Nigeria, I asked a Captain and a Deck-hand to fill one of the boats with 300 liters of fuel, that we should take a ride from Lekki to Ikorodu. By the time we went to Ikorodu and came back to Lekki, the 300 liters of fuel had finished. So I asked, if we are to carry passengers, which include 28 passengers, the Captain and the Deck-Hand from Lekki to Ikorodu, how much will we make? By then, Lekki to Ikorodu was N600 per passenger. So, we calculated, and got N16,000. A return trip from Ikorodu to Lekki will also fetch us N16,000, meaning for both trips, we will be making N32,000 daily using 300 liters fuel that cost N45,600 at N152 per liter. This is aside paying for jetties and other cost. So, it immediately dawned on me that there was no way we could break even if we operated ferry services, and that was why we went into charter services. From Lekki to places like Ilashe, we collect between N100,000 and N120,000 for charter. We have bought other boats and have continued to run our charter services.

The NIWA arrangement, when did it come in?

Despite running charter business, I still had a keen interest in passenger ferry operations. I noticed that most drivers of the passenger ferry boats were not schooled or trained. I made enquiries to find out where somebody can get training as a passenger boat driver, I couldn’t find any in Nigeria. The Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) located in Oron, Akwa Ibom State does not do such courses. They are more into nautical sciences and training for ocean going vessels amongst others. When you buy a boat, NIWA will give you Operation Permit, and that’s all. Nobody is concerned about who will drive your boat. Many of the boat drivers operating passenger ferry boats today graduated from Deck-Hands to become Skippers. It is like the conductor-driver relationship; after some years of being a Deck-Hand, they graduate into a boat Skipper. They were learning the skill during boat trips. There was no formal training for boat drivers. Metropolitan Waterways will be the first to start formal training for boat drivers. As I am talking to you, most of the boat drivers carrying passengers across Lagos waterways are not licensed. How can you drive a boat without being licensed? Can you drive a car on the highway without a drivers license? About 80 percent of boat drivers today are illiterates. They have no formal education or training. Some of the boat operators said they have Quarter Master Certificate from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), but this does not have any relevance to boat driving. NIMASA started issuing boat drivers Quarter Master certificates because NIWA and LASWA were not doing what they ought to do as regards licensing of boat drivers. NIWA and LASWA were only interested in issuing out permits and boat registration. Who is a Quarter Master? A Quarter Master is somebody that is in charge of all Decks on a ship, not on an inland waterways boat. So, you can see there is no correlation of the Quarter Master certificate to inland waterways operations.

The NIWA-Metropolitan agreement is a 5-year deal; what does it entail?

I won’t talk on the revenue sharing formula for now. However, we are the ones financing the agreement. NIWA had to come in to ensure acceptability. The training will be based on the International Yacht Training Institute (IYTI) syllabus. The IYTI is headquartered in Canada. So, whatever certificates that we will be issuing out after the training will be equivalent to what the IYTI issues. The certificates that we will be issuing will be jointly signed by us and NIWA, which will then be a pre-requisite to obtain the IYTI license. The training will also be done in local languages because of the level of education of most of the drivers. In line with the approval that we got from NIWA, the training will target three categories of people; the existing boat skippers; would be boat skippers (green horns); and corporate organizations. A lot of corporate firms have yachts but cannot drive them themselves and end up relying on these untrained boat drivers. Even the LAGFERRY that is State owned, many of their drivers don’t have license. LAGFERRY relies on sourcing for skippers from the same untrained pool outside.

Is Lagos the only area covered by the training agreement?

No, it’s nationwide, but we are starting with Lagos and Ogun State first; then after we conclude that stage, we will move to other states of the federation. We have procured the type of boats used for training at the IYTI, a Boston Whaler. She’s a sea going boat, and will be deployed for the practical stage of the training. For existing boat skippers, we will be carrying out practical training for them on their own boats. Also, for existing boat skippers, the practical will entail telling them the waterways rules. Most of them are not conversant with the rules while driving on the waterways. Most don’t know when to increase speed or reduce speed. Most don’t even know that we have lanes on the waterways. For example, when a boat is approaching you at top speed, you have to take the Starboard side, which is the green light lane. On passenger boats, we have the Starboard side and the port side. The starboard side is the green light lane while the port side is the red lane. When a boat is approaching, and you are also driving, you have to keep to the starboard side. If you take the port side which is the red lane, there could be a collision. Waterways transport is guided by rules, but most don’t know these things. Remember the boat collision accident that happened in Liverpool and claimed lives? The driver of the barge and the passenger boat were ignorant of the rules guiding waterways transport. These are issues we intend to correct with the training of boat skippers.

Is this training mandatory for all boat drivers?

Yes, it is mandatory. By January 1st of 2022, any boat skipper who has not passed through training at Metropolitan Waterways Concepts Ltd shouldn’t drive on Lagos waterways again. Any who does that will be arrested and prosecuted. It’s like driving a car without a driver’s license.

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