The Special Adviser to the Governor of Lagos State on Blue Economy , Oluwadamilola Emmanuel has disclosed that the Omi Eko Project which was initiated by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is an initiative implemented to ensure that Lagos State has a multimodal transport system to reduce traffic congestion and harness the economic potentials of Lagos waterways.
Emmanuel who spoke during the Blue Economy Academy Monthly Intelligence Brief on 28th August, 2025 said there are 25 million potential commuters in Lagos and 22% of the waters in the state are lagoons and creeks. He revealed that 15 out of 20 local governments in Lagos are accessible by water whichs shows that over 70% of the local governments are accessible by water. He stated that obviously, this creates an opportunity to ensure that Lagos fully optimises water transport space.
Emmanuel explained that for a long while, efforts have been made to create the enabling environment to attract sustainable investment, and make Lagos a safe haven for water transport.
According to him, another goal of the project is to achieve zero accidents on Lagos waterways every year as about seven years ago, constant accidents of about eight to ten cases on the waterways occurred .He said presently, just one to two cases occur in a year.
He announced that €410 million investment has been made in the water transport space. He said the amount will be used to dredge 140km of the navigable inland waterways as 25 ferry terminals and jetties will be constructed with connection to the road networks adding that ten of the ferries will be equipped with electric production and charging infrastructure.
He noted that drones that can help monitor the waterways have been deployed to track any occurrence on the waterways. According to him, LASWA has designed a two-week program tagged as Water Savvy Kids which is aimed at training kids across the divide of public schools in Lagos State how to swim.
Emmanuel further disclosed that Lagos state government is partnering with an NGO called MitiMeth that transforms water hyacinth into marketable art and craft products. According to him they turn the hyacinths into things like mats , rugs and stationaries. He said findings have revealed that the water hyacinth can be transformed to biochar which is a kind of manure used in farms.
The Special Adviser to the Governor of Lagos State on Blue Economy highlighted challenges facing the Lagos water transportation system as low public awareness and patronage, behavioural resistance ,inadequate funding for large scale ferry infrastructure which the Omi Eko is going to solve, jurisdictional overlaps, issues with several federal bodies ,environmental and climate threats ,poor integration with land transfer system which the legal system is trying to resolve now with joining roads and terminals and large with limited data for decision making.
He also said the opportunities include increased revenue generation because inland water transport is just one subsector of the blue economy, employment and diversification livelihood support ,innovation and technological adoption ,regional and international collaboration and public private partnerships.
He spoke about the E1 race which is the world’s first all-electric powerboat championship hosted in Lagos, in partnership with global stakeholders. Emmanuel said it involved youth activations for understanding the innovation behind electric boats.
“The whole idea of the Omi Eko Project is to ensure that these ferries that we’re bringing in are going to be hybrid electric ferries. One, to reduce carbon emissions and two, to manage the whole idea of fuel subsidy which has greatly affected the current operators who largely use petrol engines.
“Two terminals will be equipped with routine vessel maintenance facilities. Seventy of these vessels which I mentioned will be catamarans of 50 passengers, 130 passengers and 400 passengers. The commercial speed will be about 30km per hour.
“We will achieve financial sustainability with no or limited operational subsidy because the whole idea is to front load it with all of the capital infrastructure already built. There is an ITS system to support efficient and modern operations and very importantly, this is the last point there, a fund for the Vessel Industry Transition Program.
“Currently as we speak we have to shut down one of our major jetties because of water hyacinth infestation . This year, the infestation has been massive.”, he said.
Ubong Essien, the founder of the Blue Economy Academy appreciated the Federal Government’s port modernization project with the investment of $1 billion .He expressed hope that the investment will move the ports into functional operational status.
He affirmed that Lagos can choose to make itself the blue economy engine for the country.
“We need to become a lot more aggressive if we are to make the blue economy a reality for Nigeria and Lagos has to lead. Lagos is in that position of leadership to inspire others and to govern collective effort and collaborative imputes across states , sectors ,players or policy makers.”
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