Lagos State is confirming its status as “The State of Aquatic Splendour”, with the launch of an upscale transportation project in its waterways sector. It is achieving this in partnership with the French Development Agency, AFD, the European Union, EU, and European Investment Bank, EIB.

Tagged the “Omi Eko” Project, and operated by the Lagos State Waterways Agency, LASWA, it consists of 78-capacity electric ferries, electronic ticketing systems, floating jetties, intelligent terminals and safety facilities. They will serve 15 routes when fully operational. The project, financed mainly by the foreign partners with over 410 million euros, and with full technical support, will make Lagos a “global gateway”, according to Jean Noel Barrot, France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Oluwaseun Osiyemi, assured that it will take smart water transportation to remote riverine communities whose indigenes will be trained to sustain its operations.

Lagos, the nation’s political capital for 77 years and with estimated 20 million inhabitants, remains the state with the most developed multimodal transport system spanning roads, bus rapid corridors, railways, waterways and, of course, airports and extensive highways. Strong efforts being made to modernise the rails and waterways are gradually helping to ease the nightmares of almost total dependence on road transport. With the coming on stream of this project, we hope the service will bolster the confidence of Lagos residents to embrace waterways transportation. The only way this will be possible is when the public confirms their safety and comfort while using the service, especially during rainy weather.

We hope the personnel who will operate the service are properly trained, not just to operate the system but also to do so with best practices, also bearing in mind that foreign interests are involved. This is the kind of innovation we need on our waterways throughout the country. We call on other state governments, especially those with large water bodies such as Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Anambra, Kogi, Benue, Niger and Kebbi states to consider adopting similar upgrades of their river transportations systems.

aterThe near-total dependence on primitive dugout boats for water transport, with minimal regulatory efforts by government, makes our waterways transportation very risky. Every year, we lose hundreds, if not thousands, of people to avoidable boat mishaps. We commend the government of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, which has shown uncommon interest in developing the transport sector for ease of movement through the metropolis. His steady implementation of the state’s strategic transport plan made Lagos the first state to commence its own train service. We, however, urge him to do more on the roads. That is an area of particular weakness. As the dry season comes in, efforts should be made to upgrade Lagos roads, particularly the inner city roads.