By; MATTHEW UKACHUNWA, Lagos In expression of concern for safety on waterways, Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) is collaborating with
By; MATTHEW UKACHUNWA, Lagos
In expression of concern for safety on waterways, Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) is collaborating with Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) and Interferry Association to find solutions to the problem.
On Monday 23rd June 2025, the representatives of those organizations held a conference in LASWA office, Falomo, Lagos where they discussed on how to improve safety on Lagos Waterways through partnership and knowledge sharing.
Members of Transportation Correspondents Association of Nigerian (TCAN), led by the Chairman, Mr. Tola Adenubi, were also present on the occasion.
At the end of the conference the delegation went on a facility tour of Lagos State waterways assets.
General Manager of LASWA, Mr. Damilola Emmanuel, in his presentation during the conference explained that the facility tour is aimed at looking at the safety levels on the States inland waterways as well as exploring areas of improvement.
The LASWA General Manager said: “Ferry safety is very important to inland waterways operations.”
While giving an account of how the idea for the partnership for the conference began, Emmanuel declared: “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? 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.
The LASWA chief described Interferry Association as an international safety body which promotes ferry safety from Europe to America, to Asia and to Africa, and identified it as “a big ferry safety body which has been in practice all over the world.”
The LASWA general manager disclosed that Interferry Association has not been to West Africa before the conference, and, therefore, felt they need to come to the sub-region and have a ferry safety conference in Lagos, Nigeria.
Highlighting the safety measures put in place on Lagos inland ferry service, Emmanuel said: “”First things first is wearing of life jackets,” adding, “We ensure that our water guards ensure that people wear their life jackets.”
He pointed out that the second measure that the Authority also introduced is “what we call a bi-annual inspection of boats every year.”
The third step, according to him, is that LASWA has introduced technology.
He said that technology “is the way the world is going now,” stressing: “You have to use technology to make things much smarter. So what we have done is being able to monitor real time some of our jetties and even have communication with some boats operators as we go on the waterways.”
Emmanuel disclosed that LASWA continues to talk about safety to the passengers, and organize training and workshops for the captains and the deckhands in partnership with companies like Yamaha which have organized a deckhand and captains training over time.
Speaking further on the safety enlightenment campaign programmes, the LASWA general manager said, “Our Control Room has also been of help to our safety campaign.
“Data from our Control Room helps us make informed decisions always. And that’s very, very important because once you have data, you can make informed decisions.
“With data, we are able to now know that we have more people in certain areas using waterways transportation, and we need to ramp up safety in those areas and several others.”
On plans to bring in electric boats, Mr. Damilola Emmanuel narrated that “Under the Omi-Eko project, in few years, we will be bringing in electric boats.”
According to him, Omi-Eko is a project that seeks to basically revolutionize water transportation in Lagos with the introduction of electric ferries, upgrading of the existing jetties and terminals, dredging of the inland waterways, and capacity building for LASWA personnel..
He highlighted that “The electric ferries won’t phase out the current petrol boats. It will work side by side with the existing boats. That is why we’ve encouraged the informal sector.to go and form cooperatives so that it will be easy for government to support them.”
Also speaking on the occasion, the Chief Executive Officer of Interferry, Mike Corrigan, explained that his company came with 12 safety experts to help LASWA improve its safety operations.
Mike Corrigan 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 facets 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.
“LASWA is now a member of Interferry. Interferry is a worldwide ferry trade association. We represent the ferry industry around the world with almost 300 members. We have a great opportunity to be able to share and learn on both sides.
“For now, Lagos is the only African city we have this with. However, we want to come into Africa more often to be able to help improve the waterways in Africa.
“We’ve had a couple of conferences now. This will be our third conference and we hope to come back and offer our services to anybody who would like to partner with Interferry.”
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