Economy
THE National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) on Wednesday reiterated its commitment to build capacity for boat captains and skippers operating in the Lagos waterways.
The General Manager, Marine Operations, NIWA, Joseph Ororo, in a statement in Lagos said that the authority would also license boat operators.
According to the statement, Ororo made this known at a stakeholders’ meeting between the agency and boat operators in Lagos.
He maintained that the training would be compulsory for the operators, even as he noted that participants at the end of the schooling would be licensed by the agency as certified captains.
He said that NIWA would design a curriculum for the training of the skippers with support from accredited institutions.
He said the training would be categorized into three phases, including practical and theoretical methodology.
The general manager added that the training would also be extended to executive boat operators.
Ororo noted that the move was necessitated against the backdrop of the poor educational background of the skippers and captains in brown waters operations.
“This training of our boat operators is long overdue. We have started it in Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers states but Lagos is the center of excellence,” he said.
Also, the Lagos Area Manager NIWA, Mrs. Sarat Braimah, said that the training was centered on how to license boat operators.
According to her, the certification would last for three years at the end of the training.
“Our boat captains will be formally licensed by NIWA. We want them to be known in their operations. We want to hold them accountable in whatever they do and their activities on the waterways,” Braimah said.
She said that awareness on the blue waters alongside the potential was positioned for economic sustainability but the brown waters had what it required to also compete with the blue economy.
She noted that the stakeholders in the operation of the brown water had what it takes to move the sub-sector to an enviable level, adding that boat mishaps in recent times could be attributed to carelessness and other human error activities.
“Boat operators, NIWA, we are all guilty of this unfortunate incident on our waterways therefore we want to look for the way forward.
“How can we do it right. Let’s even know who are the people piloting our boats. We want to know them and that is why we want them to be licensed. NIWA wants to start from somewhere.
“We want a proper formal education for our captains because they are not properly educated,” she said.
She also noted that the training program would be devoid of language barriers as all types of dialects would complement the capacity-building project.
The Area Manager urged stakeholders to cooperate with NIWA to end the ravishing boat mishaps on Lagos waterways adding that carelessness on the part of the captains resulted to the accidents that occurred recently.
The stakeholders meeting had in attendance members of the Association of Tourist Boat Operators and Water Transporters of Nigeria.
Alao in attendance were: Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), officials from Lagos Ferry Services Company, and the service providers in the waterways transportation ecology.(NAN)
– June 03, 2021 @ 09:04 GMT
Tags: NIWA to train boat captains skippers – Official
