In
hushed tones, and cluster of twos and threes, they discussed the latest
incident; men and women, decked in various outfits ready to embark on
another voyage across the lagoon from the Majidun jetty in Ikorodu all
the way to C.M.S in the heart of Lagos Island. Time was 9:00 am Monday,
May 19, 2014 and the mood this time was far from what it used to be.
News of a boat accident at Victoria Island two days earlier where one
person, a lady identified as Claire, died and eight others escaped
miraculously, had sent shivers down the spines of many.
While scores elected to go by road on
this day for fear of what is gradually becoming a frightening trend, the
few others who kept faith with the system that sunny morning, did so
with their hearts in their mouths. A handful in this category told our
correspondent they were also worried about their safety travelling by
this means of transportation.
“I also heard about the news of the
accident, I am a little bit scared but I know that God will surely take
control,” a woman who sat next to our correspondent in one of the boats
headed for C.M.S, said. Several others looked extremely alert, rather
than relaxed, as the boat throttled on vigorously, emitting fumes from
its engine.
Today, exactly two weeks after the latest
tragedy, there is still fear and apprehension in the air. Visits to
jetties in other parts of the city like FESTAC, LASU-Ojo, Apapa,
Liverpool, Lekki, Epe, revealed how poor traffic had become. The
situation is a far cry from what it used to be. A lot of people are
staying away for fear of a possible tragedy.
The accident on May 17 is the third major
incident in less than three months this year on Lagos waters. Earlier
in March, about 12 people died when a boat they were travelling in
capsized in the FESTAC area while few weeks later in April, another nine
perished in the Oworonshoki axis of the lagoon in similar
circumstances. The boat, filled with workers heading home to Ikorodu
after the close of the day’s business, sank after its nose hit a log of
wood on its path. It took efforts of local divers and officials of the
National Emergency Management Agency to rescue 22 others. For the
survivors, it was a chilling experience – a close shave with death.
Bimbo Adamolekun, who lives at Oriwu in Ikorodu but works with an IT firm in Victoria Island told Saturday Punch
during a conversation inside a BRT bus in the course of the week, says
that he does not trust the system enough for him to patronise the local
boat operators running the route.
“My colleague who lives in Ikorodu too
told me about the ferry at Majidun and another one at Ebutte. But I am
scared to even go there. I don’t know how to swim in case anything
happens so I prefer to find my way through the traffic than to risk my
life. As far as I am concerned, the water is not safe.”
There are dozens like Adamolekun who the
poor state of commercial boats and the rising cases of water accidents
continue to scare away from the jetties.
Daniel Peters, one of the survivors of
the FESTAC boat mishap, doubts if he’ll ever have the courage to go by
that means of transportation again. The experience, he says, continues
to hunt him.
“I just thank God for my life, the
situation was not funny. We were more than 24 on the boat and the load
was just excessive. It was the last boat for the day and everyone rushed
in.
“As I was in the boat, suddenly, water
started entering into the boat. At first it was like a joke but before
we knew what was happening, the boat capsised. That was how we all fell
under the water.
“It was battle for survival. I know how
to swim but other people were pressing me under water. So, I was
gradually losing strength. But when it occurred to me that I was going
to die if I did not act fast, I mustered energy and swam with my last
strength. That was how the divers saw me and came to my rescue.
“It was a miracle and I thank God. I
don’t know if I will have the confidence to travel on boat again. I am
afraid because I don’t know what might happen,” he said.
The growing cases of accidents, apart
from causing panic among patrons of the water transportation system in
Lagos, has equally raised fresh questions on the real state of many
boats operating commercially on the waterways. Our correspondent took,
through several boat rides, moved round to experience first-hand, how
safe it was to travel on these mini vessels. The discovery, indeed calls
for urgent intervention.
At the Majidun jetty for example, most of
the boats on parade were discovered to have gone past their best years.
Even though some of the operators would claim they are in good
condition, findings by Saturday PUNCH show that many of the vessels look old, ill maintained and are fast crumbling.
Navigational gadgets like radio
transmitters, tracking devices, fire extinguishers and first aid boxes
are missing in many boats plying Lagos waterways. The jetties are not
also equipped to aid and monitor the operations of the boats, it was
also discovered. In cases of emergency, accidents or attacks by pirates,
locating a boat could be a tall order or an almost impossible task.
Patrol boats are also an uncommon sight on most of the routes visited.
According to the United Kingdom’s
Department of Transport (Maritime and Coastguard Agency), a standard
commercial boat should have lifebuoys, life jackets, distress signals,
fire extinguisher, on-board communications and alarm systems, emergency
lighting (hand-held) and medical supplies as basic equipment. These
items which are key elements in safety practices are missing in nearly
all commercial vessels in Lagos.
A boat operated by Bell Marine in which
the reporter travelled from the Majidun jetty to Lagos Island in the
course of the investigation, vibrated all through the journey as though
it was about to rip apart. Signs of crack and weariness were visible all
over its body. The floor of the boat, dressed with splintered planks,
was almost an eyesore, shifting away from positions at regular intervals
throughout the journey. You would almost beg to disembark at the
nearest stop if you lacked the guts.
Though, every passenger got a life jacket
before hopping on the boat, many of these safety vests were in
questionable conditions, Saturday Punch observed. The situation is not peculiar to Bell Marine; it is almost the same across board.
At Dominion Logistics, another licensed
commercial boat operator also stationed at the Majidun jetty, vessels in
different states of disrepair were seen anchored on the shore. A
mechanic with the company, Feyijimi Friday, told our correspondent that
only four of their boats were currently working. According to him, the
high cost of purchasing and maintaining a boat, is among reasons why
many of the vessels are overworked and eventually wear out.
“The boats are expensive,” he revealed.
“To get a good locally built boat, you will have over N1.5m and
sometimes you will have to buy the engine separately and the cheapest is
N500, 000. It is not everybody that can afford this. That is why as
operators, we repair and manage what we have.”
At C.M.S, another very active jetty, Jamiu Abiodun, himself a boat mechanic, told Saturday Punch
that greed on the part of some operators was responsible for the
terrible state of most of the commercial boats and the rising cases of
accidents. According to him, rather than employ competent hands to man
the boats, some owners, while trying to save cost, engage quacks who
know nothing about the business.
“There are different types of boats and
the prices are also different. There are foreign-built and local boats
but because the foreign ones are too expensive, a lot of people go for
the local ones. But the problem is that many of the operators don’t want
to employ good captains who they will pay a reasonable salary.
“To get a good and experienced captain
that can operate and maintain a boat well, at least that person will be
paid N70, 000 monthly. But because many operators don’t want to spend
money, they give the boat to people who they pay as little as N15, 000
for a month. People like this don’t know anything about operating or
maintaining a boat and that is why some of them look the way they are
now,” he said.
It was a similar story at the Liverpool
Jetty in Apapa when our correspondent visited. Operators were helping
passengers into their fragile-looking boats – many in disturbing
conditions. Without this strategy, one of them told our correspondent,
the vessel could fall on its side. He admitted many boats here were old
and weak.
During the trip, the engine of one of the
boats boarded by our correspondent stopped at intervals, coming back to
life after some intervention from the man operating it. There were 11
other passengers including a kid of about 10 years in this ramshackled
boat which had a bucket ready to bale out water. The boat was leaking
from three sides. It is nothing strange here and so the passengers cared
less in spite of the apparent danger. But, it is far from the type of
boat you expect to see on the waterways of a mega city.
Most commercial boats operating on Lagos
waters are built locally with substandard materials that age too
quickly. Standard specifications and other safety criteria are largely
not considered by the manufacturers who also fail to put weather
consideration in their designs. Engine capacity, another major
consideration for a commercial vessel, is not also adhered to by many of
the local producers as boats are fitted with engines whose capacities
are not commensurate with the type of workload they presently shoulder.
Windshields, wipers, headlamps are also given less attention – many of
these items are not replaced when worn out. They are among factors that
contribute in making an average locally-built boat a disaster waiting to
happen.
Though, the Lagos State Waterways
Authority, the agency saddled with the responsibility of licensing and
regulating the activities of commercial boats, says it conducts a check
to ascertain the sea-worthiness of the vessels three times in a year,
many of the boats seen ferrying commuters across different destinations,
still lack the basic safety equipment required for the business.
When confronted with what LASWA was doing
to address the rising cases of boat accidents in Lagos and why most of
the vessels were in questionable conditions – far from what obtains in
other civilised societies, Managing Director of the agency, Mr. Yinka
Marinho, told Saturday Punch that the situation had improved a
lot from the time the agency was established six years ago. He said
though LASWA regulates most of the activities on major routes on the
waterways, it is not totally responsible for all that happens as there
are other agencies and outfits that also have oversight functions in
this regard.
“Part of our responsibility is to ensure
that any boat coming in to take part in transportation business within
the state must first be inspected by us,” he told our correspondent.
“This agency is a regulator, a regulator of anything that moves within
the waterways.
“So, our first job is to have the
inspection team of LASWA look at the boat, check that it has all safety
gadgets that we consider essential, check the sea-worthiness of the boat
and we do this three times in a year for each boat that operates on our
waterways.
“But when people want to pour blame on us
for all the wrong things they feel are happening on our waterways, they
forget that there is the National Inland Waterways Authority that also
issues licences to boaters and controls a fair portion of the channels.
So, we are not completely responsible for all that happens on the
waterways and also round the clock as our operations only runs from
6:00am to 6:00pm,” he revealed.
Earlier in the year, the Lagos State
government outlawed night travel on its waterways. The move was part of
strategies to improve safety and eliminate avoidable accidents. But
sadly, boat operators and local fishermen continue to break that rule,
exposing themselves and the lives of passengers to danger. The last two
accidents, according to findings by Saturday Punch, happened at night, hours past the stipulated time for boats to ply the water channels.
“The Marine Police have more oversight
functions towards the evenings on the waterways,” Marinho cuts in. “We
are hoping to have some meetings with them where we can look at the
whole issue of night travel and work out a systematic way to stop and
enforce the ban on night travel.
“The waterway is a different environment
at night due to visibility and the lagoon is so vast and so dark, there
is so much that can happen that cannot be seen because of the darkness.
Most of the accidents that have happened are at night when people are
not supposed to be travelling. Everywhere in the world, it is emphasised
that people should avoid night travel.”
A top official at the office of the National Inland Waterways Authority, Marina, Lagos, told Saturday Punch
that the agency was also taking measures to ensure safety on water. The
official, who opted to remain anonymous, said the agency was
cooperating with other relevant bodies to ensure things work
appropriately for the benefit of all those patronising water
transportation.
At the moment, LASWA controls about 59
jetties and landings covering 13 major routes and pockets of smaller
feeder channels. Dozens of privately-owned commercial boats operate on
these routes apart from the ferry service run by the state government.
NIWA on its own controls four jetties but at the moment, only two were
found to be active by our correspondent.
Apart from the questionable state of most
of the boats running transport business across the Lagos waterways,
almost all the ones checked operated first party insurance policy – the
type that provides meager cover only for vessel owners and not for the
passengers who are largely exposed to danger and need protection the
most.
“The state is working on an insurance
policy on all transportation modes. In the water business, most of our
operators have some sort of insurance. We are trying to standardise it
to have a better cover for all boaters.
“The insurance that the state will look
at is mainly for the passengers. The boat operators would be in charge
of their own vessels but our major interest is to cover the passengers,”
the LASWA boss said.
But in spite the current safety question
hanging over water transportation in Lagos and the poor state of
commercial vessels, some commuters still prefer to stick to this system.
Many in this category told our correspondent that regardless of the
risk, they prefer to go by boat because it is faster and less stressful.
Already, the Lagos State government has
started distributing free life jackets to boat operators and local
fishermen in riverine communities. On Thursday, May 8, the government
gave out about 2,000 life jackets as part of moves to promote safety on
water. It is the first phase of the 10, 000 life jackets earmarked for
distribution across the state. But industry watchers want the
administration and relevant authorities to do more by providing good and
well-equipped boats to further protect passengers and boost activities
in the sector.
At some jetties at Victoria Island and
Ikoyi, though, vessels controlled by private and well established
operators like the Metroferry Marine Services had a semblance of what a
proper commercial boat should look like. The company, in its fleet,
boasts eight-passenger ferries with seating capacity for 50 each, six
“water taxis” with a capacity for 25 passengers, four-passenger
transport vessels with seating capacity for 28. It is among a tiny few
trying to change the face of water transportation in the state even
though they are also miles behind when compared to what obtains
elsewhere.
A visit to Bonny Island, Rivers State by
our correspondent recently also exposed how far-behind commercial boats
are in Lagos. The Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas company, as part of its
commitment to the community, has provided well equipped and standard
ferries and boats to move people from the island to mainland Port
Harcourt, the state capital, at different times of the day. Passengers
apart from enjoying maximum comfort while on board, were guaranteed
their safety. From your seat, you could signal the captain where you
wished to disembark. It is that easy and interesting. Jude Onwuleri-eki,
a marine engineer based in Port Harcourt, believes this is the way a
standard ferry or commercial boat system should operate. Sadly in Lagos,
a city whose population swells by the hour, the situation is still a
distant contrast.
In April 2012, the Lagos State government
entered into a ferry manufacturing agreement with Aluminium Boats
Company of Brisbane, Australia to build boats for its water
transportation system. An initial batch of 60 ferries each with a
200-passenger capacity was billed to be deployed across various routes
to ease the stress of road movement. Two years on, the wait still
continues. Only two boats of 54-seater capacity operated by the Lagos
Ferry Company currently run commercially. Last year, the Governor,
Babatunde Fashola, while inspecting some facilities at Mile 2 where
construction work is ongoing, assured that retrofitting work being
carried out on five 80-seater aluminium ferries to be deployed for
subsidised water transportation would be ready on time to further ease
movement. That promise is yet to be delivered one year after. All you
see instead are rickety boats ferrying passengers daily on trips that
could end in tragedy. Except the situation improves drastically and
safety comes before profit, much of Lagos’ over 17 million population
might continue to go by road in spite of the perennial traffic debacle
than turn to the waterways which promises faster arrival at
destinations.
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