Lagos – The Association of Tourist Boat Operators and Water Transportation of Nigeria (ATBOWAT) on Sunday urged the Lagos State Government to provide more boats to boost water transportation.
The President of the association, Mr Ganiu Tarzan, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He said Lagos State has the highest number of residents who commute daily using water transportation in the country, adding that there was need for government to intervene to boost the sector.
” More boats are needed now that passenger traffic is increasing day by day because water transportation is a fast and cheap alternative to road transportation,” Tarzan said.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
Tarzan, who said passenger traffic was on the high side in majority of the jetties around the state, called for more boats to accommodate the rising demand.
“We have more passengers than the boats available. We need more boats to tackle the increase in traffic,’’ he said.
He suggested Public Private Partnership with the Lagos State Government in the provision of more boats.
Tarzan, who noted that the cost of a new boat was prohibitive, said locally manufactured ones should also be encouraged.
He added that investing in water transportation business would promote aquatic tourism activities as well as boost government revenue. (NAN)