By Steve Agbota [email protected]
Mr. Bola Oyebamiji, Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), has announced plans to adopt cutting-edge technological innovations, modeled after Spain’s advancements, to address the persistent problem of boat accidents in Nigeria’s waterways.
The effort complements NIWA’s recently launched transportation code, designed to bolster safety and improve waterway operations nationwide.
At a recent interface with select maritime journalists, the NIWA Managing Director emphasised the agency’s relentless efforts to deploy advanced technology for enforcing compliance and monitoring operations within the nation’s inland waterways.
He said: “We were in Spain and what we saw was really amazing. In the developed world, they don’t deploy human beings to monitor boats for compliance. They have technology. Whatever happens in their waterways is being monitored. And when they have issues, there will be an alarm from the control room.
“And immediately, you’ll see the rescue mission and arrest of the boat operators and the driver. Most of the time, they arrest the boats too.
“So, we are talking to the Spanish government and we had a useful meeting with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO)”.
In the interview, he spoke deeply on the recent boat accidents that happened in the northern part of the country and gave an insight on what NIWA is doing to curb the menace.
What is NIWA doing to combat incessant boat mishaps across the country?
NIWA has embarked on numerous initiatives to reduce, if not completely eradicate, boat mishaps. One such effort is the appointment and training of Water Marshals. We have the safety, search, and rescue team, as well as training centers. Currently, we have six centers in the regions. The one in Lagos is training captains in the West. Recently, about three or four days ago, we completed the training of 50 captains, including 20 from LAGFERRY and others from companies like Texas Company. By training these captains, we aim to educate them on the do’s and don’ts of navigating inland waterways.
We are also laying navigational buoys, which the subway department has earmarked for this coming year. These buoys will guide captains on where to ply and where not to ply. Additionally, we now have river marshals on duty at night. Previously, operations ended at 6 o’clock, and the marshals would also close at that time. I have instructed all Area Managers to employ more river marshals to cover night patrols, and this will commence immediately. With these efforts, we believe boat mishaps will be drastically reduced.
We are also introducing quarterly sensitization programmes, which I have approved. Alongside these initiatives, public awareness campaigns will continue, and the enforcement of the transportation code will be stringent. Unfortunately, capacity issues remain a challenge.
During a visit to Spain, we witnessed their advanced systems for monitoring waterways, which were truly impressive. In developed countries, human intervention is minimal as they rely heavily on technology. Every activity on their waterways is monitored, and in the event of an issue, an alarm is triggered from the control room. This initiates an immediate rescue mission and the arrest of boat operators, drivers, and sometimes the boats themselves.
We are in discussions with the Spanish government and have had fruitful meetings with the IMO. The Minister of Marine, Blue, and Brown Economy in Spain is working closely with our minister to facilitate the deployment of similar technological infrastructure to Nigeria’s inland waterways. However, I do not foresee this happening in the short term.
In the short term, the strict enforcement of our transportation code is key. If we can implement this effectively and efficiently, we will significantly reduce incidents on our waterways. The main issue lies in human error, as most problems are not mechanical.
Weather conditions are also a factor. We have gauges to measure tides and provide travel advisories to waterway users. These mishaps are often seasonal, occurring primarily during the rainy season. Despite our preparations, it is critical that boat drivers adhere to safety regulations.
I hesitate to call them captains, as I do not see the leadership qualities, behavior, and conduct that define true captains. Until we address this and treat them accordingly, we may not achieve the desired results.
One of the recent mishaps happened in the north. I want to know the level of education and relationship NIWA has with them to ensure that in terms of safety, we all speak the same language.
We have a very good relationship with our stakeholders, especially the community leaders. After the launching of the Transportation Code, we spoke to them and informed them about the law and the importance of enforcing the law. We went as far as meeting all traditional rulers particularly in all the states where we have our area offices. After that, we called a meeting of the boat operators and decided to appoint water marshals. The water marshals were trained to enforce the laws. It was because we know that the transportation code without enforcement would lead us to nothing. That was the time when we first took the opportunity of talking to them one-by-one, before we deployed the water marshals to go and enforce the transportation code. So that is what we did.
We all know the challenges faced on the waterways. What is NIWA doing to seek collaboration from the state governments?
Just like I said earlier, it is beyond talking to the community leaders and religious leaders. My experience in Gbajigbo made me call the commissioners of transportation of all the states. Gbajigbo is not a village. It is a big town with a very big market as big as Balogun market in Lagos. I was surprised when I got to Gbajigbo and I discovered that it was a huge market. And the only mode of transportation that these people use in this environment is water for their products, animals, and materials and even for themselves. We discovered that both NIWA and the States governments need to collaborate to ensure the people in that environment feel the impact of the government. We need to collaborate with the state governments. We escalated this to the ministry and the minister gave us an approval. So we wrote letters to the Governors of all the states, especially the riverine states. We have about 28 of them, but we have 23 of them that have navigable waters. Within two weeks, we fixed the date and I’m proud to tell you that 23 out of the 24 commissioners of transportation in Nigeria attended the meeting. It was quite impressive and the contributions of the commissioners were quite insightful. People really spoke out and we saw the unity in our responsibilities. Most of them were not aware of the responsibility of the states and they promise that they are going to be responsible, especially to some of these jetties. There are a lot of unregistered loaded and unloaded jetties, which are actually unknown to NIWA, because they are the interiors. Most of them are even within areas that if you are a member of that environment, it will be difficult for you to even access that place. So we had a meeting, and I promised them that it’s not going to be the usual communiqué that we just blow grammar and nothing will come out of it. We are going to forward it to the minister and I’m sure the minister will definitely escalate it to the Presidency for immediate action. We are in touch with them and we will continue to do this. So we really need to talk to these people and enforce that code; that enforcement is non-negotiable. If we can achieve that and we do it continuously, I don’t see why we would have mishaps on our waterways.
I am aware you had some fiber boats that were prepared for Niger State operations, to alleviate boat mishaps in that region. Can you give us an update on that?
Yes, when we got to Gbajigbo in Niger state, we promised them that we are going to give them fiber boats. When we got back home, we sat down, synergized and sent proposals to about three different boat builders. The transportation to Gbajigbo would have been very easy for us if the water from Lokoja to Gbajigbo is navigable. But it is not, because there are three dams on these waterways. And this will obstruct our willingness to take those boats on our waterways. So we decided to take those boats to Gbajigbo via road. Fortunately, we sent some of our engineers and some consultants to do that for us and they just came back. Those boats cannot even work in Gbajigbo because the water there is too shallow. So we sat down again just yesterday with some Master Mariners and other boat builders to decide on a typical boat that can be domesticated in that environment. So we are not going back on that. We are going to deploy more boats, not to Gbajigbo alone; we are going to prevail on the federal government through NIWA to phase-out these wooden boats, especially the commercial ones. But it’s not going to be immediate. It’s not going to be something that is short term. It’s going to be a short-, medium- and long-term project.
Some years back, NIWA acquired some machines for harvesting water hyacinth. But for a while, we’ve not heard of those machines. What is happening to them?
Indeed, we purchased some harvesters about 12 years ago, but most of those harvesters are no longer in use. But we have a few on the ground. We have one in Baga, another one at Jabi Lake in Abuja and I think we have one or two here in Lagos. These are the ones that are now functioning and are being used. But the fact is that the level of infestation is very high and we need more. Mostly, we use both manual and mechanical to do the harvesting of water hyacinth and it has been very effective. But I want to say that we need to do more. In my school of thought, maybe because of my background.
For me, I would not encourage the purchase of harvesters. There is one thing that is certain; Government has no business in business. There is no reason why I should purchase a harvester when I can actually contract that harvesting to a consultant or someone that has that core competence to do it, which is more cost effective and cost efficient than to deploy huge money that can be used for other things to manage the economy than buying a harvester that, in the next two or three years, we will just discover that those harvesters will not be harvesters again. Experience has shown that there is no reason for you to acquire equipment as an authority unless it is equipment that is usable and serviceable every day. If it is not core equipment, there is no reason for us to have it at all.
We have not seen a report by NIWA on the number of offenders that have been arrested for violation of rules. What is NIWA doing under your stewardship to enhance this critical component?
When we came on board, there was this work on the transportation code for the past nine years. And without this transportation code, there is no way you can enforce it. That’s why all these GMs that sat here worked together to make sure that this transportation code were worked on, to get results. We were at the Attorney General’s office to make sure that we speed it up. There was an aspect that needed to be discussed with the National Assembly and we took it up. And I can tell you that was the result of what we were doing. If we don’t have that transportation code, there is nothing that can convey that authority to NIWA to take a perfect charge and control over waterways. So now that we have this, it’s not difficult for us to take the next step and the step is to enforce and to enforce. So that is that. There is no disconnection at all.
Once upon a time, NIWA had partnered with the Nigerian Navy Hydrography Department to produce our own charts for our waterways. Where are we on that and is the collaborative effort still on?
I remember that it came up in one of our meetings. And that collaboration and cooperation was actually commended by the Navy. The Navy said at the forum, that they didn’t know initially that NIWA has that human capacity and equipment especially in the respect of our hydrographical sector that can assist them so much. With regards to collaboration with Navy and any other federal or state agency with regards to charting, yes, we do collaborate and we did collaborate with Navy to survey an extension of river Niger from Lokoja to Burutu. NIWA has the capacity to carry out these surveys and we will do that. But an opportunity presented itself that we had collaboration with the Navy on that specific project, which we successfully did. And the project is completed and the data is available.
From the inception of NIWA, the authority annually invests a significant amount of its annual budget on charting. Sometimes our charting projects go along with the installation of navigational aids. A significant number of inland waterways in Lagos have been charted and the data and charts are available. Every year we have five to 10 projects with different sections of the waterways being charted. But it is one thing charting, another thing is someone visiting. Charts and survey data are highly sensitive to accuracy, right? So we want people to know that these charts are available and we want them to use them. It is one thing sitting in your place and saying that NIWA chart is not available. The charts you are using are available. So we want you to use this opportunity to tell people that the National Inland Waterways Authority has a significant database of charts of various sections of the waterways in Nigeria.
In most of the jetties in Lagos, I discovered that most of the life jackets are either expired or substandard. What Is NIWA doing in this regard?
In Lagos, the expired life jackets are being destroyed, the ones that are used as pillows. So, Lagos is in action and they are doing well to take charge of that. And I can assure you that we will continue to enforce this, especially now that we have a document that gives us the authority and control.
We’ve had more mishaps in the north compared to the south. It looks as if the level of awareness in the north is nothing compared to the south. What is NIWA doing, particularly in channeling more efforts of awareness to the north?
On the issue of accidents that happen especially in the north during the rainy season, I think there is a little bit of stereotyping that goes on in this issue, saying the people in the north are not so educated. I think it’s very wrong and we should be a bit soft with that. What happens in the northern part of Nigeria is that we have rapid falls. At the high tide, the river Niger or whatever waterway they have, overflows the banks to several kilometers. And most of the navigation that goes on in this area do not go on from the channel from Lokoja to Baro or somewhere. It goes just across from one bank to the other. So they have problems. As an authority, I think we have taken note of this and we are available for you to invite us. If you know any place that is navigable, you can let us know. We probably don’t know all the places that there is navigation going on and needs intervention or probably we might be restrained by funds. But all the locations that we brought to our notice, we will be involved, place navigational aids and equally remove storms.
Most of the mishap occurs as a result of submerged logs and the reckless operation of dredgers. What is NIWA doing to collaborate or to enlighten dredgers, particularly those around our backwaters about their equipment that is also contributing to these mishaps?
Wreck removal is a continuous exercise in NIWA. We will continue to remove wrecks. Even when we notice and discover some wrecks that are not in the inland waterways, we contact NIMASA and NPA immediately to do the needful. At any time, the sister agencies discovered some wrecks before NIWA discovered it, they normally write to us that this wreck is outstanding and it is our responsibility. If you look at the statistics of most of our accidents, wrecks do not cause them. Wrecks are not good. They are foreign bodies in our waters and they create a bigger problem. But most of the time, it is not the cause of mishaps. It is either the boats are overloaded, travel in the night or people travel without life jackets. And like I said, these are human errors.