Lagos lawmaker cites regulatory bottlenecks in waterways control

By Lanre Adesanya

Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu, Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Waterfront Infrastructure has bemoaned the friction between National Inland Ways Authority (NIWA) and the Lagos State Waterway Authority (LASWA) on waterways regulation, noting that it was the basis for which boat mishaps still persist in the state.

Yishawu stressed that, the fact that the state was yet to have a full control of its waterways which would have authorized it to enforce regulations and forestall waterways disasters.

He said that the substantive judgement in favour of the National Inland Ways Authority (NIWA) against the state had been hindering the state, stressing that the fallout of such made waterways not to be effectively regulated.

According to him, the state government appealed the judgement since it is well equipped to man its waterways.

On the 2016 budget controversies between the National Assembly and the executive arm of government, Yishawu urged all parties to shun politicking and face governance in the interests of Nigerians.

He said that people’s representatives at the federal level should not dash the hope of the citizens and that they should shun all controversies.

“For a responsible and responsive legislature, they need to be in tandem with the executive. Everybody should be on the same page to make the country move forward,” he said.

The lawmaker, however, described the legislature as the ‘ most battered, misunderstood and the least appreciated arm of government’.

On the need for national development, the lawmaker said that more resources should be deploy to education because a nation cannot develop more than its level of education

He added, “We need to revamp our educational policy in this country. We need to do something different.”

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He maintained that he was committed to meeting the aspirations of residents of his constituency as the people’s representative.

The lawmaker, who said that some laws were not enforced, decried inadequate workforce for the implementation of laws to restore sanity in the state.

“As a lawmaker, I see that most of our laws are not being enforced. We need to increase the workforce of our police force.

“There are not enough people to enforce these laws and this is not good for the system,” he said.

Yishawu, however, commended Ambode for his efforts to empower law enforcement agents in the state

The lawmaker, who decried the inability of the executive arm to implement most traffic laws, anti- smoking laws and others, said that the legislature only makes laws for the executive to enforce.

He said that trailers and trucks still ply roads and bridges at wrong hours, commercial motorcycles ply restricted roads, resisting helmets, and that  people smoke in public among other illegalities.