The Waterfront Boat Owners and Transporters Association (WABOTAN) has created a N10 million Multipurpose Cooperative Society to meet the financial needs of its members.
The National President of WABOTAN, Mr Tope Fajemirokun, said this at the inauguration of the Lagos State executive of the association on Wednesday.
Fajemirokun stated that the multipurpose cooperative society was officially inaugurated by the Lagos State government two months ago.
He said the subscription fee for membership of the cooperative society was N25,000, while the capital share was expandable upon exhaustion of N10 million.
“In an association, you cannot just be collecting money from your members, the cooperative society is coming up for us to generate more money and for our members to make more money.
“If you want to buy a Yamaha engine for your boat now, it is very expensive. But with this cooperative society you can borrow money, use it for that purpose and pay back later.
“The Lagos State Cooperative Society inaugurated us two months ago. Our executive members are undergoing training, and will be rounding up soon,” he said.
Speaking on the inauguration, Fajemirokun said the step was necessary in order to concretise the association’s organogram that comprised the Board of Trustees (BoT), national, states and zones.
“We are just coming up, the BoT has inaugurated the national body that also inaugurated the state body.
“This is for them to carry out state activities, as the national body cannot be everywhere, the state executives have to control matters concerning the state.
“We expect them to work closely with the Lagos State government, regulators and boat operators at their own state level and there must not be any conflict of interest.
“As national president, I cannot be doing the work of state executive.
“What we are targeting now is membership drive; we want to reach out to more boat drivers and expose them to our plans for the profession and for the waterways,” he said.
He said to ensure identification of members, stickers were launched to be placed on members’ boats, adding that a data base of members was being complied to be sent to regulatory authorities.
In his contribution, Chairman BOT of WABOTAN, Comrade Paul Gwam, stated that the association was targeting the establishment of executive committees in all litoral states.
According to him, the inauguration of the state executive is to assist the national executive, which is already on ground, so that they can address some of the challenges on ground.
“When you are given a position, it is for a responsibility, and right now, we need to meet up with the challenges ahead, especially from the boat drivers.
“For instance, we have called for their certification, organised a lot of courses for them to get their basic requirements and have their drivers license, but they are reluctant to come for that test,” he said.
On his part, the newly inaugurated Lagos State Chairman, Comrade Doubrah Jacob, promised that his executive would promote safety and peace on the Lagos waterways and represent the less privileged.
“We have been on this project to ensure that there is safety on the waterways and to improve the movement of people from one place to another.
“We are not in competition with any group; within a short time people will see what we are up to,” he said.
Other members of the inaugurated Lagos State executive are: Abraham Mesu as Vice Chairman, Ganiyu Jinadu as secretary, Aiyeyemi Omosuyi as Assistant Secretary, Oluwaseyi Samuel as Treasurer, William Emasoga as Financial Secretary, Ramon Babatunde as public relations officer and Daniel Abayo as provost.
