By Steve Agbota
The Lagos area office of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), on Thursday, said that the Nigerian Navy had deployed 72 personnel to implement the inland Waterways Code in Lagos State.
Speaking during a sensitization tour of some of the jetties in Lagos, the Area Manager, Engr. Sarat Braimah, said the authority partnered with the Nigerian Navy to ensure full compliance with waterways safety rules in the state.
Engr. Braimah, however, announced that the agency has gazetted waterways laws to deal with defiant boat captains.
“We are also partnering with the Niwa Navy. They have given us 72 men to be working directly with NIWA. This is just to enforce the code,” Braimah said.
The NIWA Lagos boss said that the agency would be posting 76 River Marshals to Lagos Inland Waterways to ensure full implementation of the directive.
Speaking on the gazetted laws, she explained that some of the things the agency normally tells captains orally have now been gazetted as laws, saying there are stipulated penalties for offenders.
“The transport code has been launched officially in the headquarters. This is for use to inform the boat captains and passengers, among others in the Lagos office, that there is a code now, and it has already been gazetted and it has become a law,” she said.
According to her, anybody found guilty would be penalized, stressing that the move also intends to sensitize boat users on the importance of safety on the waterways.
She said that EMBER month is known for vacations and travels adding that the agency intends to ensure that there is no casualty recorded during this period.
“We all know we are in the EMBER month, and this month is very important because people do a lot of vacations, and we don’t want any casualties on our waterways. That is why we are going around all the jetties in Lagos State to sensitize them,” she explained.
She stated that the agency has also embarked on the training and retraining of the boat captains and also informed them of the code.
Braimah reiterated that there is a penalty for offenders.
“And in the code, you will see that there are penalties for any offense, like carrying overloads and all that. All these things that we have been telling them orally, it is now in the law,” she stated.
She warned that using an unregistered boat on the waterways is now a crime that attracts a penalty.
