Ayodele Olalere
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Tuesday handed over the seven newly procured high capacity passenger boats by the state government to the management of Lagos Ferry Services, LAGFERRY to improve water transportation in the state.
The governor also launched Cowry Card for Water Transportation. Both events took place at the Five Cowries Ferry Terminal, Falomo Ikoyi Lagos.
Sanwo-Olu was represented by his deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat. The Seven new boats were MF Elegushi (30 passengers), MF Apapa (30 passengers), MF Onigando (30 passengers), MF Majidun (30 passengers), MF Zangbeto (50 Passengers), MF Eko Akete (50 passengers), and MF Ehingbeti (Utility boat)
The seven new boats were built by Nigerian boat builders as promised by Mr Governor who had promised to support local manufacturers.
In his speech, Governor Sanwo-Olu said the presentation of the boats was in tandem with the first ‘T’ in his THEMES Agenda, which stands for Traffic Management and Transportation, of which water transportation is key.
“The procurement of these new high capacity boats is in fulfillment of
our promise to double the number of boats in the fleet of LAGFERRY
within the shortest time and increase its capacity to daily transport
more Lagosians to reduce traffic congestion on our roads.
The impressive performance of LAGFERRY in the last one year is an
indication of the growing confidence of our people in water
transportation. It also justifies our decision to procure additional boats to enhance LAGFERRY’s operations and capacity to meet the
transportation demands of its teeming passengers,” Sanwo-Olu said.
He urged “the organized
private sector to invest in water transportation, as the economic
potential is limitless.”
“I urge
Lagosians to embrace water transportation as it remains the fastest, most reliable and safest means of transportation within our dear State,” he added.
The Managing Director, LAGFERRY, Hon. Abdoulbaq Ladi Balogun said in the last One year, the agency have ferried over 524, 000 passengers through the waterways with an increasing daily average passenger flow of over 1,500.
” A total of our 12 passengers boats have collectively ran 7,061 hours spanning 286,280 kilometers for 10,182 trips. We boost of an impressive safety record as we can proudly tell you that we have never recorded any accident since the agency started commercial operations on the 6th of February, 2020!!
To date we have successfully moved over 41,040 trucks from our terminal. Over 2,308 cleared goods containers have been received from the port and well over 941 containers have been loaded back to the port. We have also been able to create 284 employment directly and indirectly, and of course, paying taxes to the coffers of Lagos State,” the MD said.
