The recent move by the management of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to register all boats operating in the nation’s waterways with engines above 200 horse power has been received with mixed reactions by the boat operators.
NIMASA had just recently instructed the boat operators plying the Nigeria’s inland waterways with engines above 200 horse power to come and register such boats so as to ensure security and safety of the operators and users of the waters in the country.
Although the operators welcomed the idea with open minds however, they are apprehensive that such exercise would come with it another expenses on their part as they would be required to do the registration with a token which they feared would add to the cost of doing business.
Their fear was compounded with the fact that the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) which is the agency saddled with the responsibility of regulating activities on the nation’s waterways had just recently increased its taxes payable by boat operators in Nigeria.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos, the President, Association of Tourist Boat Operators and Water Transportation of Nigeria (ATBOWATON), Mr. Ganiyu Sekoni Balogun disclosed that although the agency promised that the exercise was not aimed at making money out of the operators, he advised NIMASA not to take the operators 20 steps backwards.
Balogun thereafter attested to the fact that the proposed boats registration by NIMASA was a welcomed development as it would assist the boat operators work efficiently with the police in the event of theft of their boats or its engine as the information supplied to NIMASA in its database could suffice even as he decried the monetary aspect of the exercise.
According to him,” There was a publication in the newspaper about engines, that any boat above 200 horse power engines should come and register it for safety and security reasons. We wrote to them and said to them that we want to see them to discuss about it and we went to their office and they welcomed us, they listened to us, they were very friendly, they promised us that they are not using it to make money as it is not an avenue for making money but for data collections on the boats that plies the waterways and the type of engines they are using and I told them that we don’t have to take ourselves 20 steps backwards.
“Formerly, the biggest engine was 45 horse powers and that was the biggest engine and carries about 40 people at a time. Now we have 250 horse power engine on a boat, two on a boat and carry about 24 passenger. The size of the boat determines the type of engine you are going to use and the bigger the engine, the more fuel you use. So, at the end of the day, it is not even economically good for us but the world is now on the fast lane, we have a jumbo jet that carry 200 people at a time now. Those days, maybe the maximum passengers a boat could carry are 50 and they still fly.
“These were what I told the Director that met with us that day and he listened to us and said that although we have to pay some amount of money and I told him that that will now become multiple taxation. NIWA is the one that is in charge of the inland waterways, they have registered us, we are paying all the levies and charges to them, if you say that we have to come and pay for collecting data, it will look somehow.
“So, they should listen to us, we are ready to provide them with the information concerning our boats. We will gladly supply them with information they required because if my boat is stolen, invariably, NIMASA can pass the information to the police from that data and anywhere they see the boat or the engine, I can recover it back or even if they take my boat and use it for robbery or to go and do anything, I will be able to testify that my boat is for commercial but that boat was hijacked”.
On the relationship between the association and the Ministry of Transportation and its agencies, Balogun who is also the Gani Tarzan Marine Enterprises Nigeria Limited had this to say,” We have a good relationship with NIMASA, with NIWA, with the agencies, they listen to us. The new boss of NIWA, we had a meeting with them on how the water should be safe and how boat operators should comply with the rules and regulations on the waterways. So, we have a very good relationship with them. The Minister as well because we had written a letter that we want to come and visit him as well and he responded that he will call us in due course”.
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