The Lagos State Government has revealed that it is developing and implementing safer, more effective, and sustainable solutions to improve water transportation. These plans are now in different phases of development.

Oluwaseun Osiyemi, the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, made this statement on Sunday during a tour of the Lagos State Waterways Monitoring and Data Management Center Control Room, which was built by the Lagos State Waterways Authority, according to a statement released on Sunday.

The commissioner clarified that the state government will be putting a number of plans into action to make water transportation a practical and dependable choice for residents of Lagos.

“Explaining the functions of the WMDMC control room, the General Manager of LASWA, Damilola Emmanuel, stated that the control room was set up to manage movement on the Inland Waterways.

“To further assess real-time safety measures on the waterways, the tour entourage, which included the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transportation, Olawale Musa; LASWA boat operators, and Caverton Marine representatives, embarked on a boat ride in one of the Caverton locally-made boats to Badore Ferry Terminal to inspect the boat yard where the construction of the ferries are taking place,” the statement said.

During the 35-minute boat voyage to Badore, Musa made hints that the state administration was finding it more cost-effective to hire local boat builders to construct its boats rather than paying extra to import them from abroad.

About fifteen recently constructed boats will soon be launched and used on inland waterways, according to Olabode Makanjuola, Chief Executive Officer of Caverton Offshore, who was present at the boat yard. He said the boats were built in accordance with international standards.

Seventy-five percent of the boats operating on the Lagos Waterways were deemed unseaworthy by the National Inland Waterways Authority in February.

NIWA’s Lagos Area Manager, Sarat Braimah, revealed this to the media at a meeting with representatives of the Lagos-based Association of Tourist Boats Operators and Water Transport. Boat upkeep has decreased, Braimah continued.

“75 per cent of the boats on the Lagos waterways are not seaworthy. The time they bought them, we registered them but the maintenance has dropped and their life span has also dropped. So, we want a way that even if it is 20 boats that are fit to operate let it be so,” she said.