The Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), in collaboration with the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) and Interferry Association, have moved to improve safety on Lagos waterways through collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Speaking on Monday, when he hosted a delegation from MOWCA and Interferry on a facility tour of Lagos State’s waterways assets, the General Manager of LASWA, Mr. Damilola Emmanuel, explained that the facility tour aims to assess the safety levels on the state’s inland waterways and explore areas for improvement.

The LASWA GM, who also hosted members of the Transportation Correspondents Association of Nigeria (TCAN) on the sidelines of the facility tour, stated that, “Ferry safety is very important to inland waterways operations.

“When MOWCA approached Lagos State to say, look, we’re looking for where we want to host a ferry safety conference, and we think Lagos is a good place, are you willing to partner with this? The Lagos State government said, ‘Yes, we are ready to partner.’

“As you know, we’ve enjoyed safety over the inland waterways in Lagos State. We want to continue improving safety, knowing full well that we will be working with international partners who can share their knowledge with us and provide guidance on how to enhance our safety practices.

“Interferry is an international safety body that promotes ferry safety from Europe to America, to Asia and to Africa. They’re a big ferry safety body, and they’ve been doing this all over the world.

“They have not been to West Africa before now, and felt they needed to come down also to come and have a ferry safety conference over here.”

On efforts that LASWA has put in place to ensure safety on the inland waterways, the LASWA GM stated that, “First things first is wearing life jackets. We ensure that our water guards ensure that people wear their life jackets. Secondly, we also introduce a bi-annual inspection of boats every year.

“Thirdly, we have introduced technology, which is the way the world is going now. You have to use technology to make things much smarter. We have been able to monitor some of our jetties in real-time and even communicate with boat operators as we navigate the waterways.

“And of course, we have continued to talk about safety to the passengers, even organising training and workshops for the captains and the deckhands in partnership with companies like Yamaha, who have organised a deckhand and captain’s training over time.

“Our Control Room has also been of help to our safety campaign. Data from our Control Room helps us make informed decisions always. And that’s very, very important because once you have data, you can make informed decisions.
“With data, we are now able to know that we have more people in certain areas using waterways transportation, and we need to ramp up safety in those areas and several others.”

On plans to bring in electric boats, Emmanuel explained that “Under the Omi-Eko project, in a few years, we will be bringing in electric boats. It’s a project that seeks to revolutionise water transportation in Lagos with the introduction of electric ferries, the upgrading of existing jetties and terminals, the dredging of inland waterways, and capacity building for LASWA.

“The electric ferries won’t phase out the current petrol boats. It will work in conjunction with the existing boats. That is why we’ve encouraged the informal sector to go and form cooperatives so that it will be easy for government to support them.”

Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of Interferry, Mike Corrigan, explained that his company has come with 12 safety experts to help LASWA improve its safety operations.

He said, “I have a team here of about 12 experts in various safety matters, from navigation to safe operation of vessels, to lifesaving, to all facets of safety.

“So, what we want to do is to be able to tell LASWA what we have learned and offer our guidance and assistance.
“LASWA is now a member of Interferry. Interferry is a worldwide ferry trade association. We represent the global ferry industry with nearly 300 members. We have a great opportunity to share and learn on both sides.

“For now, Lagos is the only African city we have this with. However, we would like to visit Africa more frequently to help improve the waterways there.

“We have had a couple of conferences now. This will be our third conference, and we hope to come back and offer our services to anybody who would like to participate with Interferry.”