Enhancing Water Travel Safety In Metropolitan Lagos During Rainy Season

By Dr. Ehimen Agboga 

Harboursandport.com: Lagos - July 15, 2024: Inland water transportation has significantly impacted Nigeria’s social and economic development. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) report for the year 2023 revealed that water transportation contributed N5.47B to the Real Gross Domestic Product (Real GDP) of the country’s economy.

Water transportation aims to increase people’s accessibility to goods and services and remove the barriers to land transportation, especially the gridlocks on Lagos roads.

Lagos is generally described as an aquatic environment and most places within the metropolis can easily be reached by water transportation. 

While inland water transportation in Lagos has gained increased patronage due to some recent interventions by the State government and organized private sectors, commuters have a rising phobia about the chances of water accident occurrence, which has now gained more popularity due to the death of the popular Nollywood celebrity “Junior Pope”. 

A recent publication by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) revealed that in Nigeria, an average of 17 people die every month because of inland water accidents.

As a result of the increasing death tolls due to water accidents, the Federal and Lagos State governments through their agencies - National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) respectively, have made efforts to reduce the rate of water accidents by enacting laws, safety regulations and enforcement for compliance. 

For instance, LASWA prosecutes boat operators in Lagos who fail to provide life jackets to their passengers. 

The Lagos State Government, beyond building terminals in the five divisions (Marina and Ikorodu having mega status) of the state for the seamless onboarding and alighting of passengers, has also ensured the registration and training of boat operators. 

They also require a detailed manifest of passengers before boarding and have appointed water guards who enforce safety compliance and occasionally patrol the waterways.

Despite these efforts by the federal and state governments, there are still high chances of water accident occurrences, especially in the rainy season because the increasing water volume makes water travel more dangerous. 

The ratio of water accident occurrence in the rainy season to dry season as extracted from figure 1 is 2:1. 

Fig 1:Cumulative monthly accident occurrence between 2015 to 2019

(adapted from Lagos State Bureau of Statistics, 2020)

Other factors that may affect water travel safety in the rainy season include:

Unstable current due to flooding: Heavy and continuous rainfall leads to flooding which can further cause varying water levels and unstable currents at different points on the waterways.

Poor visibility: Rainy seasons are sometimes characterized by fog which impacts visibility, making it difficult for boat operators to spot obstacles or navigate through narrow channels.

Filling of the water channels with debris: Debris such as trees and branches are carried by rainwater which could obstruct navigation or damage boat engines during navigation.

Slippery decks: Rains increase the wetness of the deck; making it slippery thus increasing the risk of skidding into the water and drowning.

To ensure inland water transport safety during the rainy season, the following are important:

Regulators must carry out improved safety checks along the waterways of Lagos State before the commencement of daily operations during the rainy season.

NIWA and other regulators must carry out regular boat worthiness checks which should incorporate checks for leakages and boat engine checks and must ensure that safety equipment/features of the boat are in a useable state.

Inland water transport regulators should engage in regular dredging of the waterways to ensure removal of debris to improve navigation.

Inland water commuters must comply with safety instructions during travel such as wearing life jackets before onboarding and documenting their biodata on the manifest before onboarding.

Rescheduling of trips should be considered if the rainfall is high and sailing conditions are poor and dangerous. LASWA officials may also delay take-off time in cases of fog.

Boat operators should travel with much lighter loads and reduce the number of passengers to ensure boat stability and easy sailing of boats against the strong currents.

Passengers should consider the weather forecast before planning their trip. Should the forecast not look favourable for water travel, other modes of transportation should be considered.

Passengers should use footwear with rough soles and apply more force when walking on the wet decks at the jetties/ terminals to avoid falls.  

Boat operators should move at reduced speed and exercise caution while navigating flooded areas with strong water currents.

While water transport provides competitive usage in response to overcoming the road transport gridlock, especially in Lagos, safety should be a prompt priority when engaging in inland water transport during the rainy season.

Dr. Ehimen Agboga who is a researcher, holds a PhD in Transport & Logistics from the Lagos State University writes in from Lagos.