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LASWA, Interferry Launch Africa’s First Ferry Safety Mentorship Programme
LASWA, Interferry Launch Africa’s First Ferry Safety Mentorship Programme
18-month hybrid initiative targets 50 operators across captain, engineering and safety officer cadres
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News Correspondent
The Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) has partnered with global ferry industry body Interferry to launch what has been described as Africa’s first Ferry Safety Development and Mentoring Programme — a landmark initiative aimed at raising professional standards, improving operational efficiency, and strengthening safety culture across Lagos’s inland waterway transport network.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Blue Economy, Mr Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, disclosed the development in a statement on Monday, describing the programme as a transformative step that will “revolutionise ferry safety practices” and elevate the competitiveness of Nigeria’s ferry transport sector on the global stage.
Fifty participants — drawn from the ranks of captains, engineers and safety officers — have already been selected following a verification exercise conducted on 18 March, with the programme scheduled to commence this month, May 2026.
The 18-month programme will operate on a hybrid model, combining online learning modules, virtual mentoring sessions, and monthly hands-on practical training. Mentors will be drawn from Interferry experts as well as facilitators from maritime institutions, companies and regulatory agencies across Nigeria.
Core curriculum modules are to cover ferry design and construction, safety management systems, maritime regulatory frameworks, and both preventive and predictive maintenance techniques — competencies widely regarded as foundational to reducing the frequency of accidents and operational failures on Lagos waterways.
Nigeria Watch
The LASWA-Interferry programme arrives at a critical moment for Nigeria’s waterway transportation sector. Lagos’s ferry network — one of the busiest in sub-Saharan Africa — has long grappled with safety deficits rooted in inadequate training, ageing vessels, and inconsistent regulatory enforcement. High-profile accidents on the Lagos lagoon in recent years have intensified calls for systemic capacity building rather than reactive enforcement.
By anchoring this initiative to a structured, internationally validated mentoring framework, LASWA is signalling a shift from compliance-driven regulation toward competency-led governance — a model consistent with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) principles adapted for inland and ferry operations.
For the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy and agencies such as NIMASA, the Lagos initiative also offers a replicable template: if the programme delivers measurable safety outcomes over its 18-month cycle, it could inform a national framework for ferry operator certification — a gap that has persisted in Nigeria’s inland waterways governance architecture. NIWA and state waterway authorities in Rivers, Delta, and Cross River states would be natural candidates for replication.
The selection of 50 participants as an inaugural cohort is modest but deliberate. A targeted, verifiable cohort allows programme outcomes to be tracked and documented — building the evidence base needed to scale the model across other Nigerian waterway corridors.
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