Blue Economy
LAGOS WATERWAYS: State Unveils Lekki Water Taxi, Targets Two Million Monthly Passengers
LAGOS WATERWAYS: State Unveils Lekki Water Taxi, Targets Two Million Monthly Passengers
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News Correspondent,
Lagos, May 13, 2026
Introduction of High-Speed Corridor Service Anchors Sanwo-Olu’s Third-Year Transport Reform Record
The Lagos State Ministry of Transportation has unveiled an ambitious 2026 waterways expansion programme anchored by the introduction of a dedicated Lekki Water Taxi initiative, signalling a decisive push to transform the state’s inland water transport from a supplementary option into a mainstream urban mobility solution.
The disclosure came at the 2026 Ministerial Press Briefing held to mark the third year of Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu’s second term in office, where the Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Oluwaseun Osiyemi, outlined the administration’s scorecard on multimodal transport and presented a forward-looking agenda for the remainder of the year.
Lekki Water Taxi: What Is Being Proposed
The Lekki Water Taxi initiative is designed to introduce dedicated high-speed water taxi services along key waterway corridors within the Lekki axis — one of Lagos’s fastest-growing residential and commercial districts. The corridor, which connects densely populated communities along the Lekki Peninsula to the Lagos Island business hub, is among the most traffic-congested routes in the metropolis, making it a strategic priority for waterway intervention.
Although specific vessel specifications and terminal locations were not disclosed at the briefing, the initiative is understood to be part of a broader effort to provide scheduled, point-to-point water transport services as a credible alternative to road travel — particularly for commuters navigating the chronic gridlock that defines the Lekki-Victoria Island corridor during peak hours.
The water taxi model, when fully operationalised, is expected to significantly cut commute times for residents travelling between Lekki Phases 1 and 2, Ajah, and the commercial centres of Victoria Island and Lagos Island. Industry observers note that a well-managed water taxi service on this route could serve as a proof-of-concept for replicating the model on other high-density waterway corridors across the state.
Near Two Million Monthly Passengers on Lagos Waterways
Commissioner Osiyemi disclosed that Lagos waterways are now serving close to two million passengers monthly — a milestone that underscores both the growing public appetite for water transport and the cumulative impact of infrastructure investments made under the current administration.
The figure represents a substantial increase from earlier ridership benchmarks, with the Lagos Ferry Services Corporation (LAGFERRY) having previously recorded an average daily throughput of 2,000 passengers in 2025. The aggregation of LAGFERRY operations, private ferry operators licensed under the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), and emerging water taxi services has collectively pushed monthly usage toward the two-million mark.
The Commissioner attributed the growth to a combination of expanded route coverage, improved safety standards, and sustained public confidence in water transport following the introduction of mandatory life jacket distribution at ferry terminals across the state.
Cowry Card Integration: Linking Water to Rail and Road
A significant element of the 2026 waterways agenda is the planned integration of ferry and water taxi services into the state’s unified Cowry Card payment ecosystem. The contactless smart card, which already interconnects Lagos Rail Mass Transit’s Blue Line and Red Line services with the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) fleet, is set to be extended to cover ferry terminals — enabling commuters to use a single payment instrument across all three transport modes.
The integration is considered a crucial step toward seamless intermodal mobility in a city where many commuters combine bus, rail, and water transport within a single journey. For maritime operators and terminal managers, the Cowry Card rollout will also generate real-time ridership data that can improve scheduling and fleet deployment decisions.
OMI-EKO Electric Ferry and the Green Transition
Alongside the Lekki Water Taxi, the ministry highlighted the OMI-EKO electric ferry initiative as a cornerstone of its sustainability agenda. The programme, which introduces zero-emission electric vessels into the Lagos waterways fleet, reflects a deliberate alignment between the state’s transport expansion goals and broader environmental commitments.
The push toward electric ferries and cleaner propulsion technologies positions Lagos as an early mover on green maritime transition among Nigerian states, and mirrors global trends in urban waterway transport where cities such as Oslo, Amsterdam, and San Francisco have pioneered electric ferry deployment. For LASWA and maritime regulators, the OMI-EKO programme will also test the operational and maintenance infrastructure needed to support electric vessel fleets at scale within a West African urban context.
Safety Campaigns and Life Jacket Distribution
The ministry also reported sustained progress on water transport safety, with widespread life jacket distribution at ferry terminals forming the centrepiece of ongoing safety campaigns. Nigeria’s inland waterways have historically recorded preventable fatalities attributable to the absence of personal flotation devices, making the distribution programme both a regulatory and humanitarian priority.
The safety drive complements the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and the National Maritime Safety Administration’s (NIMASA’s) own vessel safety inspection mandates, and will be critical to building the passenger trust required to sustain the ridership growth trajectory the state is targeting.
Modernisation of Ferry Terminals
Commissioner Osiyemi confirmed that ferry terminal modernisation remains a priority for 2026, with upgrades planned to improve passenger processing capacity, berthing facilities, and real-time scheduling displays at major terminals. While specific terminal locations undergoing upgrades were not itemised at the briefing, the modernisation drive is expected to address longstanding infrastructure gaps that have historically undermined service reliability.
Improved terminals will also support the planned integration of the water taxi service, which will require dedicated berthing infrastructure distinct from standard ferry operations.
Technology Upgrades Across the Transport Ecosystem
Beyond waterways specifically, the Commissioner highlighted technology-driven efficiency gains across the broader transport network. These include the E-Call Up system for truck scheduling — a digital queuing platform aimed at reducing congestion at port access roads — and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras deployed at strategic intersections to improve traffic enforcement and flow.
These upgrades, while road-focused, have direct relevance to port logistics and maritime trade facilitation, as smoother truck movement between the Apapa and Tin Can Island port complexes and the wider Lagos road network reduces dwell time and lowers cargo handling costs for importers and exporters.
Nigeria Watch: What the Lekki Water Taxi Means for the Blue Economy
The announcement of the Lekki Water Taxi initiative is more than a Lagos transport story — it is a bellwether moment for Nigeria’s inland and urban waterway economy.
With Lagos Harbour and the surrounding waterways sitting at the intersection of the country’s busiest cargo port complex and its most populous urban agglomeration, the commercialisation of water taxi services represents a tangible extension of the blue economy concept into everyday urban life. It signals to federal policymakers, private investors, and development finance institutions that Nigerian waterways can generate sustained commercial revenue beyond cargo transit and industrial use.
For the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, the Lagos model — if it delivers on ridership and safety targets — offers a replicable template for other coastal and riverine states including Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Cross River, and Akwa Ibom, where inland waterway potential remains largely untapped.
NIWA, which holds the federal mandate for inland waterway development and route licensing, will be watching the Lekki corridor closely. A successful water taxi operation on a high-density urban route could strengthen the case for accelerating private sector participation in waterway transport under NIWA’s licensing framework, and provide evidence to justify increased capital allocation to jetty and channel maintenance.
For NIMASA, the expansion of passenger vessel operations in a major urban market reinforces the need for robust vessel safety certification standards and crew competency requirements specifically calibrated for high-frequency, short-haul urban ferry and water taxi operations — a regulatory sub-segment that has historically received less attention than deep-sea and offshore shipping.
The roll-out of the Cowry Card across water transport is also worth monitoring from a fintech and maritime logistics perspective. Digital ticketing and payment systems, when properly integrated, generate the transaction data and commercial discipline necessary to attract institutional investment into waterway infrastructure — a funding gap that has constrained development across Nigeria’s inland waterway network for decades.
Ultimately, Lagos is betting that the water is the road. If the Lekki Water Taxi launches on schedule and meets its ridership projections, it will mark a watershed in Nigerian urban maritime history.
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Oyetola Woos Turkish Investors for Fisheries Sector, Vows to Protect Artisanal Fishers
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr Adegboyega Oyetola, has thrown Nigeria’s fisheries sector open to Turkish investment, insisting that any fresh capital coming into the industry must strengthen and not sideline the millions of Nigerians who depend on artisanal fishing for a living.
Oyetola made the pledge while receiving a delegation from Turkish fisheries and aquaculture firm CRD Impex, led by the company’s General Manager for Fisheries, Cem Tarhan, at his Abuja office. He told the investors the Federal Government was ready to create an investment-friendly climate for credible local and foreign players willing to bring capital, technology and modern value-chain solutions to the sector, on condition that such investment remains inclusive.
“We welcome investors who can bring capital, technology, expertise and modern value-chain solutions to the sector. However, investment must be inclusive and sustainable. It must complement and empower our artisanal fish producers, not undermine their livelihoods,” the Minister said
He listed inadequate infrastructure, poor access to modern fishing technology, weak cold-chain systems, limited processing and storage capacity, and gaps in market access as the major constraints holding back the sector, framing each as an opening for targeted investment rather than a dead end.
The Turkish team, which included CRD Impex founder Hanefi Cardak and Tetra Underwater Services founder Ersun Buyukgoze, toured key fisheries and aquaculture points around the country to size up the terrain first-hand. Stops included the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal in Lagos, the Ozumba Mbadiwe Fish Market in Lekki, and the Esuk Nsidung Beach Market, a major waterfront seafood hub in Calabar, Cross River State.
The Ministry described the visit as part of a broader push to attract serious investment into Nigeria’s blue economy while keeping the welfare of artisanal fishers central to that growth.
Nigeria Watch
The Turkish courtesy call lands squarely in the pattern this desk has tracked all year: big-ticket investment pledges for Nigeria’s waterways, paired with familiar assurances that the small operator won’t be crowded out. The test, as always, is what happens after the photo-op.
Nigeria’s artisanal fishing communities occupy the same economic space as the informal boat operators represented by WABOTAN and ATBOWATON, river- and creek-dependent Nigerians whose livelihoods rise or fall on decisions made far from the waterfront. The infrastructure gaps Oyetola cited which include, weak cold-chain systems, poor storage and limited market access, all mirror the exact complaints this desk has documented from inland waterway operators for years but modernisation announced from Abuja rarely reache the jetties.
Turkish capital chasing Nigerian fisheries and aquaculture is a genuinely new thread, distinct from the Strait of Hormuz shipping story or the CVFF disbursement saga this desk has followed closely. But the underlying question is the same one that has defined Oyetola’s tenure at the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy: will “inclusive investment” translate into contracts, cooperative partnerships and cold-chain infrastructure that artisanal operators can actually use or will it, like so many blue-economy pledges before it, stall at the courtesy-visit stage?
Waterways News will be watching for the first concrete CRD Impex commitment — site, timeline, or local partnership — as the marker of whether this one is different.
NPERA, NPA Open Technical Talks on Handover of Inland Dry Port Functions
By Ighoyota Onaibre | Waterways News
The Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency (NPERA) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) have begun formal engagement on transferring inland dry port oversight to NPERA, marking the start of what both agencies describe as a critical phase in operationalising Nigeria’s new port regulatory framework.
At a management-level meeting between the two agencies, officials focused on the technical groundwork for the handover, chiefly how to draw clear lines of responsibility and avoid duplication among the government bodies with a stake in inland dry port administration.
NPERA’s Director-General/CEO, Dr Akutah Pius, framed the transition as flowing directly from the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr Adegboyega Oyetola, whom he credited with steering the process toward the sector’s broader development. Akutah was emphatic that NPERA could not carry out the transfer alone, and said the buy-in of every relevant stakeholder agency would be needed to see it through.
He indicated that the Ministry would stay central to coordinating the process even as specific mandates move to the agencies best placed to execute them. Akutah also pointed to the Minister’s earlier interventions during the NPERA Bill’s passage through the National Assembly, which he said had defused inter-agency friction and set the stage for the cooperation now underway.
Describing the purpose of the meeting, Akutah said it was meant to formally kick off the transfer of inland dry port responsibilities to NPERA in fulfilment of its statutory role as economic regulator of the ports sector. He singled out Section 51 of the NPERA Act as a provision that now needs to be put into practical effect to keep the transition orderly and ensure stakeholder roles are properly aligned.
To manage the process going forward, the NPERA boss proposed setting up a joint committee drawing in NPERA, NPA, the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), and the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy. He argued that inland dry ports matter well beyond the coastline. They extend maritime sector benefits into Nigeria’s hinterland and reinforce the country’s trade and logistics chain.
Responding on behalf of NPA, Managing Director Dr Abubakar Dantsoho welcomed the move and pledged his agency’s full operational and technical backing throughout the transition. He said the process had started on the right footing, and that NPA would furnish updated data on the current state of inland dry ports to inform further discussions, expressing confidence that continued engagement would help the agencies meet their shared objectives.
NPA’s Executive Director, Engr. Lekan Badmus, also commended NPERA for setting the collaboration in motion, calling the meeting a solid first step toward a smooth integration. He noted the two agencies have now moved into the technical phase of the exercise, with close attention being paid to eliminating overlapping functions.
Closing the meeting, Akutah said the proposed joint committee would reconvene with the Minister to seek further guidance and agree on next steps to keep the transition on track.
Nigeria Watch
This meeting is the first visible test of whether the NPERA Act’s promise of a rationalised port regulatory architecture can survive contact with Nigeria’s crowded agency landscape. Section 51’s transfer of inland dry port functions to NPERA looks straightforward on paper; in practice, it touches NPA’s traditional port administration turf, NIWA’s inland waterways mandate, and the Ministry’s coordinating role all at once, precisely the kind of overlapping jurisdiction that has bedevilled reform efforts elsewhere in the sector, most visibly in the long-running NIWA-LASWA tussle that only the Supreme Court could settle.
The proposed joint committee of NPERA, NPA, NIWA, and the Ministry, is a sensible mechanism, but Waterways News readers who have followed the CVFF disbursement saga know that Nigerian maritime governance has no shortage of well-designed committees whose outputs never quite reach implementation. What will matter is whether Akutah’s “technical phase” produces a binding timeline, not another round of goodwill statements.
For inland dry port operators and the hinterland trade corridors that depend on them, the stakes are practical: unclear jurisdiction between NPA and NPERA has historically meant slower cargo evacuation, duplicated levies, and uncertainty for freight forwarders planning routes away from the congested Lagos ports. If this transition is handled well, it strengthens the case for dry ports as genuine pressure valves for Apapa and Tin Can. If it stalls in inter-agency turf negotiation, it becomes one more entry in the gap between policy pronouncement and delivery that this desk continues to track.
Worth watching: whether Minister Oyetola’s office sets an explicit deadline when the committee reconvenes, and whether NIWA, whose inland waterways mandate intersects with dry port hinterland connectivity, gets more than a seat at the table.
Two More Tankers Struck in Strait of Hormuz as Attack Count Hits Five in a Week
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
Two more tankers have been hit while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, leaving two seafarers with minor injuries and pushing the number of reported attacks or security incidents against commercial vessels in the waterway to at least five since 16 September.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre said an inbound tanker was struck by an unidentified projectile on Monday. Two crew members sustained minor injuries, but the vessel stayed under its own power and continued to its next port, with no environmental impact reported.
Hours later, UKMTO issued a second alert after an outbound LPG tanker reported being struck by debris from unknown projectiles. All crew were reported safe and the vessel also continued its voyage. Authorities are investigating both incidents, and UKMTO has not attributed either attack to a specific actor.
The two strikes build on a Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) advisory covering three earlier attacks between 16 and 18 September, one of which saw a tanker’s hull breached by a projectile, sparking a fire. JMIC continues to rate the threat level in the strait as “severe,” citing a high likelihood of deliberate hostile action and pointing to a pattern of harassment by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — drone overflights, surveillance of merchant vessels and VHF hailing, alongside the direct attacks.
Traffic through the chokepoint remains sharply depressed. Only 17 commodity vessels were visibly transiting over the weekend, down from 37 the week before and against a pre-war daily average of roughly 125. That figure excludes vessels sailing with their AIS transponders switched off, and JMIC notes a persistent gap between visible and actual traffic.
Nigeria Watch
For Nigerian maritime stakeholders, the Hormuz crisis is no longer a distant Gulf story. It is a cost line. Every fresh escalation feeds directly into the war-risk insurance premiums and freight rates that Nigerian importers, refiners and shipping agents ultimately absorb, since global tanker and container capacity pulled off the Hormuz route tightens supply elsewhere and pushes rates up across long-haul trades, including those serving West African ports.
The renewed attacks also sharpen the stakes around Nigeria’s push for a stronger voice at the IMO Council table and its broader blue-economy diplomacy under Minister Adegboyega Oyetola. A sustained Gulf disruption is exactly the kind of systemic shock that tests whether Nigeria’s seat translates into influence over how global shipping risk, insurance and rerouting decisions are made, rather than Nigeria simply absorbing the downstream cost.
Locally, the episode is a reminder of the layered nature of “maritime security” as a policy word: the Deep Blue Project and Gulf of Guinea security architecture address piracy and armed robbery close to home, but Nigeria’s ports and shippers remain exposed to security failures thousands of kilometres away in the Gulf.
Waterways News will continue tracking how the Hormuz situation feeds into freight cost pressure at Nigerian ports and NIMASA’s public messaging on the issue.
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