Ninety percent of water mishaps due to non-compliance- NIWA MD

LAGOS, Nigeria – Former Minister of Power, Works and Housing, and past governor of Lagos, Babatunde Raji Fashola, has told governor Babjide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos to prioritise the execution of state projects as there would always be competition for funding and project implementation across board.

Fashola, who was the special guest of honour and lead speaker, spoke on Thursday at 4th Lagos Traffic Radio Lecture Series, with the theme: ‘Lagos Beyond Roads; The Intermodal Option’, which held at the Radio Lagos/Eko FM Multipurpose Hall, LTV8 compound, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.

In proffering solutions to the transportation situation in the city, he admonished the governor, who was represented by his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, to blue rail project, which he described as the first city-owned project in the world without Federal Government intervention.

“The completion of the blue line (rail) project is the first city-owned project in the world without Federal

Government’s intervention. The state government should prioritise the completion of this project as it would go a long way in easing the burden of the traffic in the roads.”

He equally asked the FG to assist all states involved in rail projects ensure a fruitful completion. Fashola appealed to Sanwo-Olu to operationalise all ferry terminals in the state, expand the Bus Rapid Transit, BRT, in the state to extend to other divisions across the state.

Part of his recommendations equally include the resurfacing of road networks, especially as regards roads he termed as – central spine – such as the Lagos-Badagry Express Road, the 3rd Mainland Bridge, Apapa-Oshodi, Agege Motor Road and Ikorodu, among others.

He said if these roads were in good conditions, it would have an overall effect on the traffic situation across the state.

Fashola stated one other way to improve the traffic situation in the state is in the area of transport education. He said Lagos Traffic Radio owed it a duty to start a programme on air in that regard. He also asked the deputy governor to task the state’s Ministry of Education to develop a basic Curriculum on Traffic Education, so as to build a good traffic culture among the future generation.

Also, Managing Diector, National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA, Senator Oorunnimbe Mamora, has said that 90 per cent of mishaps on the waterways were due to non compliance of Inland Waterways transportation codes by operators.

Mamora, also identified overloading and night navigation to be among the major causes of the waterways accidents.

The former speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly who lamented a rise in the waterways mishaps, cautioned operators and other stakeholders against  violation of existing rules.

His words: “Against the existing rules that waterways navigation should stop at 9.00p.m, many boat operators violated the rules for their own selfish end, navigating even  beyond 11.00 p.m.

“Just as we have at the parks, some of the operators are also on drugs, it happens even on the waterways. Another major cause of the accident is not putting on life jacket by passengers, which could have saved them in the case of eventuality.”

He appealed to relevant Agencies of government in the country to enforce rules so as to ensure compliance which would save the lives of the people.

The NIWA boss also expressed the willingness of his Agency to go into partnership with state government’s, particularly in the area, of enforcement.