The National Inland Waterways Authority has said that 75 per cent of boats that operate on Lagos Waterways are not seaworthy.
The Lagos Area Manager of NIWA, Sarat Braimah, disclosed this on Wednesday while addressing journalists during a meeting with members of the Association of Tourist Boats Operators and Water Transport, Lagos.
The PUNCH reported that three persons had been confirmed drowned after a boat ferrying 14 passengers capsized along the Ibeshe-Ikorodu channel of Lagos State.
It was also learnt from the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday that two bodies had been recovered and 11 passengers were rescued following the accident that occurred around 7:17 pm on Monday.
Braimah added that the maintenance of boats had dropped.
“75 per cent of the boats on the Lagos waterways are not seaworthy. The time they bought them, we registered them but the maintenance has dropped and their life span has also dropped. So, we want a way that even if it is 20 boats that are fit to operate let it be so,” she asserted.
Braimah explained that the agency wanted to sanitise the boats to ensure that accidents are prevented.
“From these two major accidents that happened this year, we have been able to analyse our investigations and discovered that they were all human errors.
“When I say human error, I mean the maintenance of the boats, because sometimes their engines would go off when they are in transit. Because of the speed they need they won’t get it on the channel, so they would move out of the channel to get the speed their boats need,” she continued.
The NIWA Lagos Area manager said that the agency had so far certified only 10 boats to operate from Ikorodu Jetty.
“We have certified only 10 boats as of Tuesday they would be the ones operating for now. All other boats we have instructed them to bring it here for inspection
“Most of them what they have is single-hall and these single-hall boats can’t withstand stress. Any simple thing they thimble,” Braimah explained.
However, she declared that double-hall engines were recommended because they could withstand more stress than single-hall engines.
Earlier, the National President of ATBOWTAN, Mr Tarzan Balogun, stressed the need for the government to assist them in boat acquisition on hire purchase.
“The association wants the government through NIWA to help us get these boats. The government should buy the boats for us and give us to pay back.
“The cheapest boat is about N8m. We need about N50m to get a good boat. Let the boats be manufactured in Nigeria and we can get the engines overseas. The government should help them get the boats on a hired purchase basis,” Balogun said.
He urged members of ATBOWTAN to stop passengers who are not wearing their life jackets properly from boarding the boats.
