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The Rotary club of Lagos has donated about 40 units branded lifejackets to the Lagos State Ferry Services<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The club President, Mr Babawale Agbeyangi, presented the life jackets on Thursday during a visit to the public water transport service\u2019s Cowrie Terminal in the Falomo area of the state.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Speaking on the initiative tagged “Project Save,” the Rotary Club of Lagos President, Babawale Adeyanju said they decided to make the donation because water transportation would go a long way in solving the traffic gridlock on Lagos roads.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cOne of the areas of focus of Rotary is protecting the environment, and in protecting the environment means protecting our waterways as well.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cWe are here today to support Lagos State Ferry Services in ensuring that they provide safer environment for Lagos citizens and Nigerians at large who want to use the waterways. We are here to donate some life jackets and other safety equipment to Lagos State Ferry Services.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe have had a lot of engagements with LAGFERRY. We asked them how we could\u00a0 support them, not only this year, but on a continuous basis. So every year you will see us here supporting them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYou cannot but know how important it is for us to have alternative means of transportation. Considering the number of time being wasted in traffic on daily basis, having the waterways means of transportation is the only way out,\u201d he submitted.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Receiving the kind gesture, LAGFERRY Managing Director, Mr Abdulbaq Balogun, thanked the Rotary Club for the initiative as he noted that other corporate organisations, as well as individuals should emulate them by assisting the public sector.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe commitment and passion being displayed by members of the Rotary Club of Lagos in donating lifejackets to us today is a significant step in ensuring that passengers and people of Lagos State in knowing that they are safe on the waterways.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been sailing for the past two years without incidents, but again, this would reinforce the fact that we take safety concern as a priority in our operating procedures.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe encourage what they are doing today. We like what they are doing today, we appreciate what they are doing today and we are asking for more, not only from them but other individuals and corporate bodies who want to do their CSR so that we can actually decongest the traffic on our roads and make use of the waterways.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe have water in abundance in Lagos state, such that all the five divisions of Lagos State are connected by water.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAbout 30 percent of Lagos landmass are covered by water. We have 22 million rising population in Lagos. So there\u2019s no way we can rely on only one mode of transportation. That\u2019s why the natural track that\u2019s available to us on our waterways, we need to explore it. The more reasons our Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu is trying to do whatever he can in ensuring that we are not only paying lips service to diversifying the mode of transportation, but we actually see it working. That was what Lagos State Ferry Services has been demonstrating in the last two years, bringing people off the road onto the waterways and that\u2019s the only thing we know how to do. As we are doing that for the people, we are also doing it for Lagos State by ensuring that their logistics and cargoes get to their destinations in no time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Balogun said the state has witnessed tremendous improvement in the usage of waterways as a means of transportation in the last two years that Lagos State Ferry Services started.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThis is because we presented to Lagosians state of the art boats, which give them the convenience and confidence that they needed to travel. And they get to their destinations very fast and they remain very productive throughout the day.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s also health concern, when you are traveling by road, the carbon emissions and the rest, but when\u00a0 you come on the waterways, there\u2019s zero emission of carbon. So it is good for your well-being, it\u2019s good for your health. It is very safer and faster. When we want to convey people especially those that have water phobia, it is to say that when you have your lifejacket on, be rest assured, even if there are any incidents, they would rescued and no life would be lost.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to Balogun, \u201cBefore the advent of Lagferry commercial operation in February, 2020, there was 0.8 percent contribution of water transportation to the entire transportation matrix in Lagos State public transportation. But when we started operation in February 2020 till now, it has increased to 3.8 percent water transportation contribution to the entire public transportation matrix in Lagos State. And by that the contribution of water transportation to the GDP of Lagos economy has also improved from 0.25 to 1.2 percent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Rotary club of Lagos has donated about 40 units branded lifejackets to the Lagos State Ferry Services. The club President, Mr Babawale Agbeyangi, presented the life jackets on Thursday during a visit to the public water transport service\u2019s Cowrie Terminal in the Falomo area of the state. Speaking on the initiative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[1234,1233,1232,1235],"class_list":["post-2151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transport","tag-lagferry","tag-life-jackets","tag-rotary-club-of-lagos","tag-water-transportation"],"yoast_head":"\n