Derelict Apapa Jetty: Where is NIWA?

By Gboyega Oni

Recently, I boarded a ferry at Marina to Apapa. The travel, short, but was smooth and pleasurable. I was saved from traffic hassles often associated with the road. But the moment I disembarked at Apapa Jetty, the pleasure of riding ferry turned to displeasure suddenly by the derelict state of the jetty.

The Apapa jetty environment is dirty, unfriendly and is opposite of Marina Jetty. A section of the decking of the jetty is covered by rain water and is leaking profusely while a building on the other side is falling apart fast. The leaking can cause the decking to cave in on the passengers and traders who have turned the place to a market at any given time. This is a calamity waiting to happen.

The jetty walls are soaked by rain water and overgrown by green algae. The floor of the anchor side is rough and lacks safety grip for passengers to hold on to while disembarking.

Basic and attractive facilities such as chairs, toilet, television and others, which can make passengers comfortable while waiting for ferry, are not existing. Surprisingly, all these are available at Marina.

There is no different between the jetty and the Balogun Market in Lagos. Goods are freely displayed by traders for sale, competing with passengers on the small space.

Another sour point about the jetty is the dust from the factories around, which poses a serious health challenge to passengers. They inhale this dust while walking through the pedestrian bridge linking the road to the city of Apapa.

The derelict state of this jetty, which is under the jurisdiction of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), is antithetical and a minus to the drive of NIWA in promoting a safe, friendly water transportation in Lagos and Nigeria. It is a dereliction of office.

It is even unforgiving that such a jetty, with a large turnout of passengers, could be abandoned and not factored into various initiatives developed by the NIWA management to boost water transportation in the country .

This Apapa jetty is a wake up call to NIWA in the discharge and monitoring of water transportation infrastructure in the country. It must urgently ensure that it is rebuilt good and habitable enough for the running of human transportation. Also the pedestrian bridge must be covered with protective plastic to save passengers from inhaling dust.

NIWA must act fast to avert calamity at Apapa Jetty.