Leadership of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Rivers State Chapter, has called on the Federal Government to improve on inter-state water transport services to reduce insecurity and attacks on train passengers in the country.
MWUN also condemned the recent gunmen attack on a passenger train enroute Abuja/Kaduna that claimed lives and valuables being carted away by hoodlums.
Comrade Harry Waite, Trustee, Dockworkers Branch, MWUN, Rivers State Chapter, stated this during an interview in Port Harcourt.
Waite called on Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety agency (NIMASA) and state governments to embark on ferry services to reduce unnecessary attacks on passengers on inter-state journey.
The Trustee Dockworker, who decried the killings by the bandits, described the act as wicked and barbaric to the modern day civilisation.
He further said the attacks and killings show that the nation is lacking on improved security and modern means of transportation across the States.
He appealed to the federal and state governments to embark on ferry services that can carry passengers from Port Harcourt to Lagos, Port Harcourt to Bayelsa, Port Harcourt to Ondo, Calabar to Akwa Ibom and Akwa Ibom to Warri to decongest the roads and eliminate unnecessary attacks on travellers
“We need a ferry service that ferry passengers from Port Harcourt to Lagos, Port Harcourt to Bayelsa, Port Harcourt to Akwa Ibom and Calabar to Warri to better the lives of innocent Nigerians”, he said.
The Dockworker noted that ferry services were in existence before, but wondered why the service has been abandoned by governments.
Waite noted that an improved water transport is capable of generating more revenue to federal and state governments, and enhance Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), as well as create employment for the teeming unemployed youths.
He commended the Lagos State Government for its improvement in water transport service across the riverine communities in the State to ease the lives of residents.
The Mariner urged Niger Delta States to embark on massive ferry services scheme in the region to secure lives, reduce gridlocks on the road, increase IGR and create jobs for the youths.