I cannot swim. I do not know how to. Maybe I will be able to bring myself to swim someday soon but for now, the waterways are the most unlikely place for me to be anything close to brave. As someone who works in Lagos, enduring a few minutes of slight uneasiness may seem to be a small price to pay in order to get to your destination 90 minutes earlier!
I work in Apapa and I needed to get to Lekki from the office on a Monday evening to catch up with an appointment I was running late for. I knew that I may not be able to make the journey in less than two hours by road, so it only made sense to join the ferry which would get me into Lekki in less than 30 minutes.
I had commuted by ferries before this time. So I knew it was not strange to hear the engine of the ferry start with a loud noise and then stop in a few seconds, then start again and stop in a few seconds: this usually continues till the end of the journey.
So on this fateful day, about five minutes into the journey, the engine of the ferry started and stopped, and then I did not hear it start again. I sat there watching and hoping I was just being pessimistic. At this point, I had paused the music I was listening to. After another minute of silence, I completely took off my earphones and at this time, I could not pretend to be unconcerned.
I noticed that other people were looking worried as everyone that had earphones on had taken them off; probably hoping to hear something from the ‘captain’ of the ferry. At this time, the other two men who work for the ferry transport company apart from the ‘captain’, were pacing around the ferry.
After about another five minutes of silence from the engine, with the ferry floating on the not so rough lagoon waters, the murmurings from the passengers began to rise above the lagoon’s tapping on the sides of the ferry.
Finally, ‘the captain’ of the ferry stood, turned around, faced the passengers and said with a coy look “ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, one of the engines have gone bad. We have called our company and they are sending another ferry”.
‘Was I really just told that the engine of the ferry I am in is bad when we are already in the middle of the lagoon?’ I asked no one particularly, suddenly remembering that I cannot swim even if my life depended on it. I wished I was dreaming and while I waited to wake up from this nightmare, I reached out to a few friends to let them know that I was stuck in a boat in the middle of the lagoon.
Whenever, a ferry was in sight, we gazed on in expectation till the ferry was out of sight, hoping that it was the ferry sent to pick us. This happened twice. They were ferries from other companies and they already had passengers on board. When one of those ferries came close enough to ours, I tried getting their attention for them to know that we were stuck in our ferry. “Help!” I shouted.
To my surprise, some of my fellow passengers found my gesture highly amusing. One of the passengers boldly told me “this is not a big deal, I have witnessed this happen severally” as he spoke, some other passengers confirmed what he was saying. They were trying to assure me that there was no cause for alarm and after a while, this will be sorted out as usual.
At this time, my issue was not just the possibility of us losing our lives because the transport company did not ensure that the engine of their ferry was in perfect condition, I was bewildered that fellow passengers had come to accept such incidents as a normal thing! I got even more afraid when it occurred to me that the waterways may not be as regulated as I thought. That those who operate the boats are just untrained men trying to make a living from the water ways.
It suddenly hit me “there is government! We are supposed to have a government that should regulate this transport service! Where are they? How many more mishaps would they like to hear of before they step in and put the right professionals in the right places to ensure safe water transportation?”
As our ferry floated helplessly over the waters for about 15 minutes, it dawned on me that it was the longest 15 minutes of my life; waiting for another ferry to come and rescue us from the faulty one we were in. But finally, one came. And we jumped into it. Finally, I was on my way out of my evening nightmare. The therapeutic sounds of the ferry brushing against the waters and the caress of the winds that followed, helped to soothe my already aching head as we approached Lekki.
I finally got to my destination alive! I excitedly picked my phone and announced to my friends that I had made it out of the ferry and out of the water. It had been the longest 15 minutes of my life!
However, I knew in my heart that I could not promise not to go back on the ferry again. The time and trauma of traffic it saves one from will make me not keep that promise. How I wish the government will just live up to its responsibility of making water travels safe. For now, it looks like a tragedy waiting to happen.
