With €400m investment, Lagos targets 100,000 daily passengers on waterways

The Lagos State government says with plans to attract €400m investment in the waterways’ transportation, the state is targeting a 100 per cent increase in the daily passenger traffic of over 50,000. The General Manager of Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), Damilola Emmanuel, disclosed that the government under the Omi Eko project is also introducing […]

The Lagos State government says with plans to attract €400m investment in the waterways’ transportation, the state is targeting a 100 per cent increase in the daily passenger traffic of over 50,000.

The General Manager of Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), Damilola Emmanuel, disclosed that the government under the Omi Eko project is also introducing electric ferries as well as upgrading existing infrastructures to attract more passengers.

Emmanuel spoke with newsmen at the LASWA office in Lagos even as the authority is partnering with the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) and Interferry Association to improve safety on Lagos waterways.

The GM who hosted the delegation from MOWCA and Interferry who were on tour of the waterways in the state said, “We are currently doing over 50,000 passengers daily but we believe that should increase more than 100 per cent, that should be the minimum number of passengers we should be doing per day.”

He said the introduction of electric ferries would complement existing ferries operating in the state.

The GM who said the state has improved drastically in terms of entrenching safety on the waterways also stated that the facility tour was aimed at looking at the safety levels on the state’s inland waterways and exploring areas of improvement.

He said, “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 to improve upon safety, knowing full well that we’re going to be doing this with international partners who can come in and share knowledge with us and tell us exactly how to improve our safety practices.

“Interferry is an international safety body which 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 to also come and have a ferry safety conference over here.”

Highlighting other efforts to improve safety on the waterways, the GM added, “First thing first is wearing life jackets. We ensure that our water guards ensure that people wear their life jackets. Secondly, we also introduce what we call a bi-annual inspection of boats every year.”

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 life-saving, to all phases of safety.

“So, what we want to do is to be able to tell LASWA what we’ve learned and offer our guidance and assistance.”