Following the repeated cases of boats mishaps accross the nation, commuters at the various ferry stations in Lagos have called on the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to come up with watertight safety measures that will restore passengers’ confidence in water transport as a means of transportation.
Speaking newsmen in Lagos, the commuters at the Marina jetties said that introducing passengers Manifest was not enough to put confidence in the passengers that fear mishap anytime they are on sea arguing that safety was more than just passengers’ manifest.
The respondonts however demanded for adequate safety measures as the only way passengers confidence can be restored in patronizing inland water transport especially with the growing incidences of mishap recorded on the water in recent times.
According to James Phillip, a staff of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), adequate safety measures was the only way passengers confidence can be restored in patronizing inland waterways transport especially with recent mishap recorded on the water.
According to him, though there had been series of calls by his family not to board the ferry because of the recent Mishaps recorded, he said he still preferred the water transport to road because of the Gridlocks on the road to Apapa.
“I still board ferry because of the convenience, for instance as I am going to Apapa, I know that if am to go by road, it will take up to 3 hours but if the ferry comes, it won’t take me more than 10 minutes to Apapa.
Also speaking, a trader, Mr. Simon Modey said that the recent introduction of Manifest by the NIWA would not stop accidents from happening on the water adding that the regulatory body must leave to its responsibility of putting safety measures that would save human lives in place when there is an accident.
He said, “manifest introduction will not stop accident from happening neither will it save people when accident occur, I think the best thing for the government to do is to ensure that the life Jackets are properly worn and tthat they are of good quality”.
“The recent incident of an Ikorodu bound ferry that claimed many lives happened because of the poor safety measure in place and this was also because people were not putting on their life Jacket properly.”
Modey stressed that despite the mishaps, he boarded the ferry because it was the shortest route to connect Apapa, “if you go through the road, traffic will hold you but less than 10mins on the water you are either in Apapa or CMS as the case may be”.
Another commuter simply identified as Gbenga said whenever he boarded ferry, he left his safety on the water to God because he believed he was the only one that could protect him.
He said government should look at the ages of the ferries plying the water, whether they are in good working condition.
“What is the age of these Ferries? Are they of international best standard and are they seaworthy? Because most of these ferries are old, if you see the ferries that are being used to move people from CMS to Ikorodu then you know there is fire on the mountain. Government should ensure that these ferries are serviced and are good for the ferrying of people from CMS to Ikorodu”, Gbenga opined
Gbenga also said that NIWA should come to the jetties to check the quality of the life jackets being used by those operators saying the Jackets were mostly substandard hence do nothing to keep passengers afloat till help comes when there is mishap.
“The quality of the jacket the operators give us to wear cannot be guaranteed that is why you see people sinking immediately there is a mishap,” Gbenga said.
