Ikorodu boat operators resume 2 months after mishap

Boat operators at the Tarzan Jetty in Ijede, a suburb of Ikorodu, have resumed work after a boat mishap which claimed seven lives on January 30.

Activities were suspended after the ill-fated boat conveying 17 passengers capsized. The boat, which was operated by Aki Marine, was heading for Badore in Ajah from Ijede town.

Hakeem Balogun, operations manager of the company, told NAN on Monday that partial boat services had resumed.

“Although, other operators resumed a week after the incident, I resumed just last Monday because the incident really shook me,” he said.

“Our customers should be rest assured that our boat services to all routes, especially Ikorodu to Victoria Island, will resume before the end of April.

“It has taken us this long to resume because we needed some time to pull ourselves together.”

He said the tragic incident did not diminish the number of passengers plying the route on a daily basis.

“As a matter of fact, I was warmly surprised to see three of the survivors at the jetty on the day we resumed operations,” he said.

“So, people need to understand that water transportation remains the safest means of transportation in the world.

Balogun, who added that the incident was the first in his over three decades of offering boat services, said he was shocked by the casualty figure.

“I had been contemplating pulling out of the business altogether because of the challenges; so when it happened, it was as though that was the last straw,” he said.

“It took the intervention of friends and customers to talk me out of it; and the fact that disasters still occur in the aviation industry, no matter how tightly regulated.

“The sand dredgers have been at work since the incident occurred, evacuating the filth. So, it is no longer noticeable and we have been operating without any problem.”

He added that the company would stop at nothing to ensure families of all those involved in the incident were compensated.

“We are still waiting for the insurance company to complete its investigations and documentation, after which the victims’ families would be compensated,” he said.