Following the boat accident that occurred at Ilashe in Lagos last Sunday, the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) and the Lagos Ferry Services on Thursday visited the area to commiserate with the people that the community on the incident which claimed 12 lives.
The Managing Director of the LASWA, Engr. Abisola Kamson was accompanied on the visit by the Chief Executive Officer/Chairman, Lagos Ferry Services, Hon. Paul Kalejaiye among others.
Speaking during the visit, the LASWA MD, Engr. Kamson expressed the sincere condolences of the Lagos State government to the community and to the families of those that lost their lives in the unfortunate incident.
The LASWA boss while describing last Sunday as a sad day prayed God not to allow the incident to recur and for God to bless and grow the community and also continue to grow Lagos state.
“On behalf of His Excellency, the Governor of Lagos state, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, we sincerely send our deepest condolences and sympathize with the entire community. We come here today to know the community, to let the community know us as well. We are here for the community, this is a riverine community, I am sure everybody here grew up knowing the water and as a regulator of the waterways, we don’t want to be far away from you. We want to be here so that we know each other and so that we can also help the community in whatever it is they needed to make movement along the waterways easier.
“We are here to support and to appreciate and let you know that we are not far, you can reach us at any time. So, again, on this day, we are here and this will be the first of many of this type of community meetings and discussions to show support and to make sure that what happened on Sunday never happens again”, she assured.
On his part, the CEO/Chairman, Lagos Ferry Services, Hon. Paul Kalejaiye noted that they embarked on the visit to commiserate with the community and also to educate them on how they could make a living on water more meaningful and safer.
Kalejaiye advised to always ascertain the condition of the boat be it banana boats or not before boarding and to ensure that the captain of the boat is in lively condition meaning that he must not be under the influence of alcohol or any other externality.
“The third thing you must also check is to ensure that you are provided with a life jacket, your life jacket is your ticket to enter and sail on our waters. If you don’t have life jacket, you are like somebody who is driving a car without a seat belt and safety is first and foremost personal. The right to live is first and foremost personal before it becomes the responsibility of the government.
“And having ensured that you wear a proper life jacket and a life jacket that is good and we have appealed to the boat operators that they must maintain certain speed limit on our waters”, he said.
He informed that the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode had directed the two bodies to visit the community to distribute life jackets so that the community can have life jackets each time they want to sail on the water and that the life jackets were to be donated at the event on behalf of the Lagos State government.
He said,” it will be handed over to Kabiyesi, through him to the boat operators. We are not going to give to individuals life jackets, we are going to donate them to the operators. It means that any time you come here and you want to board a ferry and they cannot provide you with a life jacket, you have the right to question them”.
Responding, the Onilashe of Ilashe Kingdom, Oba Fatai Akinyomi while thanking them for the visit and for donating the life jackets to the community prayed God not to allow such incident to befall the community.
He called on those who are yet to register their boat and submit their activities to the regulation of the association of the boat operators to do so urging members of the association to report anyone operating in the area without registering his boat to him for sanctions adding that the era of non compliance to regulations was gone.
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