FG, Lagos govt and development of inland water transport

For some time now there has been strife between National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), the inland waterways regulatory organ of the Federal Ministry of Transport, and the Lagos State government over regulation and building of water transport infrastructure in Lagos.

Just few months back, NIWA threatened to institute a legal action against the Lagos State government over alleged encroachment on a parcel of land on the Lekki Phase 1 Housing Scheme near Banana Island, which the authority claimed ownership of.

The Act that set up NIWA stipulates that anybody, including states and private bodies, must get due approval from the authority before going ahead to build any form of jetty or bridge that would aid water transportation. According to the Act, even state governments also lack the independent power to develop their own internal waterways infrastructure without NIWA’s approval.

Industry close watchers believe that this section of the NIWA Act has been of huge impediment to the growth of inland water transport in the country. This is as a result of the bureaucratic bottlenecks involved in documentation process in the civil service which, instead of aiding development, ends up hindering it.

Specifically, one issue that impedes the growth of Nigeria’s inland water transport business is that of multiple taxes imposed on water transport operators by the federal and state governments. In Lagos, for instance, water transport operators are taxed by NIWA and Lagos State government as well.

Highlighting this, Ganiyu Tarzan Balogun, CEO of Tarzan Marine, an operator in water transport business in Lagos, affirmed that multiple taxes and levies that operators pay to both state and federal waterways authorities not only make the business unprofitable to investors, but have also made many operators to close shop due to high operating cost.

Other stakeholders who spoke to BusinessDay believe that for Nigeria to effectively develop its municipal water infrastructure, there is need for states to be given free hand to build and run water transport infrastructure independently. The states, they say, also need to create enabling environment for the private sector to come in and help to develop the water transport sector.

At the 13th National Council on Transportation meeting, Babatunde Raji Fashola, governor, Lagos State, criticised the NIWA Act that mandates state governments to obtain licence from the authority before developing intra-city water transportation.

Governor Fashola said this before the transport minister, Idris Umar, who swallowed the criticism on a parastatal under his ministry without response.

The governor further said his government would not adhere to such rules and regulations which, according to him, have become a clog in the wheel of progress in the area of developing water transportation in Lagos State.

“We want the Federal Government to reflect on the role of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) as regards municipal water transport services within the state. We believe that if a state is capable of operating a municipal road transport system, it will also be capable of operating a municipal water transport system as well,” he explained.

The governor made it clear that Lagos State government would not subscribe to the rules of NIWA which stipulate that the state must take permission or must be licensed before it can proceed to build jetties and bridges over lagoons inside Lagos to boost the state’s water transportation, advising the Federal Government to review the roles of NIWA as regards states inland water transport.

On how to move the transport sector forward, the governor noted that Nigerian transport system needs to be regulated and legislated in a way that would create an enabling environment for private sector people to come and invest in the sector to create jobs, grow the economy as well as the gross national product (GNP).

“Nigeria can develop a public transport system that promotes people’s safety and security, creates jobs and promotes economic growth. We need to also review our transport policies, train our drivers appropriately and build a healthy transport system,” he said.

Given the above scenario, analysts have suggested that the minister of transport under whose ministry and leadership NIWA is needs to help remedy the situation by drawing a line between those areas that NIWA should build and the areas the state governments should be given free hand to operate. This, they added, would help to remove bureaucracy, duplication of functions and waste of resources.