Business

Lagos, Coscharis, Samsung woo more passengers into water transportation

Published

3 years ago

June 13, 2021

L:R: General Manager, Marketing and Corporate Communications, Coscharis Group, Abiona Babarinde, General Manager, Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency, Afolabi Solebo, Senior Legal Officer, Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority, kanyinsola , Managing Director, Lagos Ferry Services, Ladi Balogun, Chairman, Ikoyi Obalende LCDA, Rauf Atanda Lawal, General Manager Lagos State Waterways Authority, Damilola Emmanuel and MD, energicity elivate 9ja, George Ogan during a press conference on lagferry " smilin and sailing raffle promo" at the five cowries terminal Falomo.

As part of efforts to decongest the road and increase the number of commuters of water transport, the Lagos State Government has kick-started a raffle promo, Sailing and Smiling raffle to encourage more people to embrace water transportation.

Speaking at a press conference held at the Five Cowries Terminal to commence the promo at the weekend, the Managing Director, LAGFERRY, Ladi Balogun, said commuters stood to win a lot of prizes when they purchased Lagos Ferry Services (Lagferry) tickets.

He said the mega promo being held in conjunction with a private firm, Elivate9ja, and supported by other companies such as Coscharis Group and Samsung, was designed primarily to attract more commuters into waterways travel as well as reward them for their patronage.
His words: “As you are all aware, we recently took delivery of seven additional new boats to increase our fleet to 20. These boats will be deployed in several routes within the state. We will have more capacity to ferry more people; so we decided to use this promo as an incentive to attract more Lagosians to embrace a means of transportation that is safe, fast, devoid of traffic and very reliable.”
Balogun, who used the opportunity to reel out some of the agency’s achievements in the last one year, informed that they had moved about 502,000 passengers across the waterways between February 2020 and now.
He said, “Since commencement of operation, the agency has never recorded any accident. We are enabling commerce by providing logistics solution to business owners, moving their trucks and cargoes through the waterways within Apapa. We are the only operator that can boost of having 20 number of boats in its fleet, thanks to Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu who is showing unrivalled commitment to improve water transportation. “And of course, we are promoting tourism through regular charter services and we recently ferried the Nigeria male soccer team, the Super Eagles, to Benin Republic for their AFCON tournament.”
In his goodwill message, the General Manager of LASWA, Mr Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, commended the collaboration from both the public and private sector, adding that no single sector could harness its potential alone.
While calling for more private sector participation in the water transportation business, he commended Lagferry for the initiative and the support of other agencies to making the promo possible.
On why the ultimate weekly price is a car, Emmanuel explained that the government was trying to promote the “park and ride” culture, “where you drive to any jetty in the state, park your car at the ample park space provided at the jetty and board a boat to your destination, come back, pick your car and head home.
“The Lagos State Government is committed to the intermodal transport system of road, rail and water, all to be connected through one means of payment system called the cowry card.”
He said
Also speaking, the General Manager Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency, Mr Afolabi Solebo, said that with the involvement of consumer protection agency that it had showed the level of sincerity of all the stakeholders involved in the promo.
Solebo assured passengers of protecting their rights to the last minute and urged them to embrace water transportation as alternative to road.
The Chief Executive Officer, Lagos State Lottery and Gaming Authority, Mr Bashir Are, represented by Senior Legal Officer, Oyinkan Kusamotu, said they would ensure compliance to the promo rules.
He commended the Lagferry for creating awareness for Lagos residents to shift from road to water transportation in the state.
Chief Executive Officer of Elivate 9JA, Mr George Ogan, said the partnership would bring excitement for ferry users through the buying of Lagferry tickets.
He explained that there were lots of prizes such as microwaves, washing machines, television sets and cars.
Ogan said that there would be refreshment for early passengers of Lagferry during the promo.

Business

Nigeria’s foreign reserves in marginal increase, now $40.88bn

Published

2 hours ago

November 27, 2024

Trends Admin

Nigeria’s foreign reserves in marginal increase, now $40.88bn

Nigeria’s foreign reserves rose to $40.88 billion as of November 21, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, has said.

Cardoso disclosed this on Tuesday at a press conference after the Monetary Policy Committee’s 298th meeting in Abuja.

He said the external reserves grew from $40.06 billion at the end of October to $40.88 billion in November.

The amount represents an increase of $82 million or 2.05 per cent in 21 days.

“The external reserves rose marginally to 40.88 billion as of 21 November 2024, from 40.06 billion at the end of October 2024, available to finance 17 months of imports,” he said.

However, from the apex bank’s website, the increase in Nigeria’s foreign reserves showed $40.27 billion on November 22.

Cardoso also said, “The process of getting us where we are in terms of reserves has been a long one”.

“It is a clear indication that the policies we have put in place are certainly yielding fruits,” he added.

“However, and it’s very important to make a distinction here and to reiterate the fact that reserves are there for a multiplicity of different purposes, not least of which is to create buffers in the event of unanticipated shocks.

“So they are not there to simply whittle away. They are there to be used to more or less defend yourself where that becomes necessary

“And when we talk about shocks that are not anticipated, I think we can see how the global economies are.”

Cardoso also said the bank would continue to intensify efforts to stabilise the currency and prices.

The CBN governor said, “The currency has been stable compared to what it was in June”.

But he said for the value of the country’s currency to be stable, there must be increased exports and diversification of the economy.

Cardoso said diaspora remittance had increased due to policies put in place.

He commended those in the diaspora for helping the country accomplish over $600 million in remittances.

Business

Naira rises to N1,755/$ in parallel market

Published

2 hours ago

November 27, 2024

Trends Admin

Naira rises to N1,755/$ in parallel market

The Naira yesterday appreciated to N1,755 per dollar in the parallel market from N1,770 per dollar on Monday.

Business

PH refinery to blend 1.4-million litre petrol daily – NNPC

Published

3 hours ago

November 27, 2024

Trends Admin

PH refinery to blend 1.4-million litre petrol daily – NNPC

Rehabilitated old Port Harcourt refinery is currently operating at 70 per cent of its installed capacity, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has said.

The Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) operates two refineries: the old refinery with a capacity of 60,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd) and a new refinery with an installed capacity of 150,000 bpsd.

The NNPCL in a statement on Tuesday, said it planned to increase the operation to 90 per cent of the refinery’s capacity.

“The Board and Management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) express heartfelt appreciation to Nigerians for their support and excitement over the safe and successful restart of the 60,000 barrels-per-day Old Port Harcourt Refinery,” the statement reads.

“This achievement marks a significant step forward after years of operational challenges and underperformance.

“We are, however, aware of unfounded claims by certain individuals suggesting that the refinery is not producing products. For clarity, the Old Port Harcourt Refinery is currently operating at 70% of its installed capacity, with plans to ramp up to 90%.”

According to NNPC, the refinery has commenced production of daily outputs of straight-run petrol (naphtha), which is blended into 1.4 million litres of petrol.

The national oil company said the refinery has also started producing 900,000 litres of kerosene per day and 1.5 million litres per day of diesel.

The NNPC said 2.1 million litres daily volume of low-pour fuel oil (LPFO) would also be produced at the refinery, adding that additional volumes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will be refined at the plant.

“It is worth noting that the refinery incorporates crack C5, a blending component from our sister company, Indorama Petrochemicals (formerly Eleme Petrochemicals), to produce gasoline that meets required specifications,” NNPC said.

“Blending is a standard practice in refineries globally, as no single unit can produce gasoline that fully complies with any country’s standards without such processes.”

Additionally, the NNPC said it has made substantial progress on the new Port Harcourt refinery, “which will begin operations soon without prior announcements”.

“We urge Nigerians to focus on the remarkable achievements being realized under the able and progressive leadership of President Bola Tinubu and to support efforts aimed at delivering more dividends to the nation,” the energy firm said.

According to the statement, malicious attacks on “clear progress” only undermine the “significant strides made by NNPC Ltd and the country”.