Against the background of recent fatal boat mishaps on the country’s
inland waterways, Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime
Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, has said
the Agency would get tough with untrained and uncertified boat skippers,
who often ignore safety procedures and endanger the lives of passengers.
Jamoh stated this in Lagos during a courtesy visit to the Agency by
General Manager of the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), Mr.
Oluwadamilola Emmanuel.
The Director-General also suggested the development of cohesive safety
enforcement guidelines and regulations for implementation across the
littoral states. He said the harmonisation of standards and procedures
for safety in the territorial waters would go a long way in minimising
unsafe practices by operators of non-conventional vessels, which are not
subject to international standards but rely mainly on national
regulations.
He stated, “We have a number of boat skippers that are not trained, and
not knowledgeable enough, and they do not have certification. They only
know how to maneuver the boat and risk people’s lives.
“We will now start to check that. The issue is important, that is why I
would start to take it more seriously because charity begins at home. If
we have enforcement officers and they are laid back, they will continue
to watch what is happening without doing anything.”
He added, “I am glad to see the synergy and collaboration that is
developing with the Lagos State Waterways Authority because we all have
as our common mandate the job of ensuring safety in our waters.”
Jamoh said the Federal Ministry of Transportation was also in the
process of building unified enforcement guidelines for safety in the
country’s waters, stressing that the synergy between NIMASA and the
Lagos State Government would help to fast track the process.
He urged greater supervision of officers engaged in the enforcement of
safety standards.
“Our responsibility is to ensure that we monitor and supervise the staff
that is given the responsibility of enforcing the issue of safety at
sea,” he stated, adding that safety procedures, such as availability of
adequate lifejackets, good condition of the boat, and time of use, must
be verified by enforcement officers before a boat sets sail.
In his own remarks, the LASWA General Manager promised to intensify
information sharing between his agency and NIMASA as part of efforts to
improve collaboration for maritime safety.
“We have the database of small craft, which I believe that we would be
ready to share with NIMASA,” Emmanuel said.
He also elaborated on the importance of uniform enforcement procedure,
saying, “I am really excited that this is happening because overtime
what we generally tend to see on the waterways is an overlap of so many
functions. I am sure it is not news to anyone here the issues we have
had over the years between LASWA and NIWA (National Inland Waterways
Authority) and how that has affected the things that have happened on
the waterways.”