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If you have ever had a ride on Lagos waterways, it is a norm to be distracted by the unending “emergency” stops, not because the engine of the boat was bad but largely due to the many debris, logs, plastics and the foul air oozing from the water. Underneath the blue waters and its deceptive attraction lies a cemetery that swallows boat operators and their innocent passengers because the regulators (they are legion) have failed in their responsibilities.
The poor funding of these agencies have blinded their leadership to see the Lagos waterways as a revenue web and whoever dares operate within this deceptive cemetery would have to contend with regulations initiated and driven by revenue expectations, nothing more or less, end of story.
Let me share with you some of my experiences in the politics of Lagos waters and the very significant and patriotic developmental contributions of Lagos boat operators. To those who keep records, it was the military government of Lagos under Raji Razaki, sustained by those after him, that gave impetus to the vision to create multi-model transportation in Lagos, with Lagos waters playing a critical role.
From my understanding of this agenda, the military, who were noted to love culture and tourism activities, decided to break Lagosians’ jinx or fear of water through what they called then “Lagos Weekend Boat Cruise” and evidently supported the effort through premium investment in boats such as Baba Kekeri, Ita Faji etc. Indeed, the Lagos ferry service became the pivot and driver of the initiative.
Like every other good effort as seen all over Nigeria, it failed and crawled on its knees and when Bola Tinubu came, efforts were made to breathe life into it and restore the agency back to glory.
Muize Banire as Transportation Commissioner took up the gauntlet and desired to make a change. Banire and the eggheads of that ministry then did their homework well and, guess who they approached for help? The unseen, un-recognised but water-wise boat operators in Lagos.
Gani Tarzan Balogun, a dedicated, unassuming and very professional boat operator, became the link and contact man. The first directive from Banire through Captain Taiwo, head of the Lagos ferry agency, was to help chart the Lagos waterways, identify shallow areas, map out possible jetties sites and drop zones and come up with a position paper on how the Tinubu administration could factor water transportation as critical plank of development and recreation.
I was privileged to be on this assignment and as a development tourism journalist, my eyes were opened more than ever before about the true gains of a developed water transportation system devoid of the mundane administrative shackles visited on it now. Oh, yes, Tinubu and his man Banire were truly determined; in fact, Banire became my man so to say on this agenda and he was very humble about it despite his academic credentials, which most of the boat operators he consulted, trusted and encouraged did not possess.
After the completion of the assignment, which gave me grounding in the mapping and ecosystems of Lagos waterways, Banire, like biblical Abraham, took a look eastward of Lagos waters and once again sought the help of Tarzan Balogun. Badore, an end post littoral community in Eti-Osa area of Lagos, was the “experimental zone” for a Banire’s gifted sight to drive rural water transportation, open up Ikoroduland and speed up development of Epe. Badore was like a dark spot with no government support, just a mere fishing community with no geographical location, visibly then on wrong side of sound, bankable investment profile.
After due assessment, Banire, supported by Tinubu, built a jetty in Badore as a fallout of the earlier recommendation by the mapping team and Tarzan Balogun came into play. He was offered a freehold by the Tinubu government but he refused the pioneering offer and chose to pay leasehold to also encourage government to know that ventures such as this could create jobs and generate revenue for the system, if the right environment is in place.
It is over two decades since that serious intervention and now; suffice to say that the present situation whereby all that is wrong on Lagos waters is blamed on boat operators is wrong. The synergy built with boat operators during the Tinubu/Banire era that crystalised in the development of Eti-Osa, Ijede and Ikorodu cannot be overemphasised.
Let me further add that the huge conspiracies to break the ranks of organised boat operators’ association and the unending controversies surrounding regulatory mandates by the various agencies of the federal government and Lagos on one hand and the consequent multiple taxes, and levies on another hand largely contributed to the many accidents and mishaps on Lagos waters.
How would a boat operator with an outboard engine worth over N5 million (borrowed), hampered by rubbish and debris on water, buys petrol like every other citizen at same pump price, pays boat driver, frequent repairs, regulated by over five uncaring regulators demanding different levies and taxes, almost at same time meet such obligations without working outside “official” time frame on water?
Last Thursday in Lagos, the Lagos Safety Commission called a meeting at Alausa to find a solution to this situation. Again, as a friend of the boatmen, I was privileged to witness the horrendous blame game against the boat operators by the key regulatory agencies of government, particularly, NIMASA, who were never noted in history to offer any helping hand to the operators.
Sadly, the regulators, having failed in their mandate to create an enabling window to grow this business into a premium economy, also failed in their assessment of the ecology of these operators, many of them sustaining a trade or vocation passed to them by their fathers and ancestors, to grow, provide jobs, and pay tax to government. They need visible intervention such as soft loans, grants, training and retraining and not criminalisation in the face of challenges.
All the regulators who spoke at the Hakeem Dickson-led Safety Commission parley failed to accept and acknowledge that there is a huge gap in knowledge, expectation and regulation as its affects all stakeholders on Lagos waterways.
Unfortunately, I left the meeting half way because of other pressing engagements; there is no gainsaying that the issues on Lagos waterways would continue to trend until someone summons courage to help the boat operators to keep their head above water and to meet all the expectations of government.
and Nigerians who love this means of transportation.
The Lagos marine police representative who spoke before I left listed so many wrongs with management of Lagos water ecosystem and except on the issue of navigating at night, overloading and over-speeding, the issues of poor funding on waterways security, water hyacinth, poor evacuation of debris on water and abandoned logs, poor mapping and lightening of the waterways, unfriendly government jetties are not the making of this overburdened boat operators. Somebody needs to invite Muize Banire and let him speak on how he did it in his time. Safety!! – Dolphin.
