The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the operators took the action to mourn those who lost their lives in the incident.
The ill-fated boat, owned by Bell Marine Company, which had about 28 passengers on board, broke up and sank in the Majidun River in Ikorodu.
The National Emergency Management Agency had confirmed earlier that eight out of the passengers had died, while 20 others were said to have been rescued, and that six people had yet to be accounted for.
NAN recalls that a similar incident had occurred barely three weeks ago when a canoe capsized on a canal at 4th Avenue, 42 Road, FESTAC Town, Lagos, resulting to the death of about 18 passengers.
A NAN correspondent, who visited the scene of the incident at Majidun, observed that more than 30 ferry boats were idle on the shores of the Majidun River.
Also, hundreds of intending passengers who usually patronised the private boats at the Majidun Jetty trekked to other neighbouring jetties at Ibeshe, Baiyeku and Ijede to board boats to Lagos.
Some of the commuters told NAN that the boat accident would have been avoided if necessary precautionary measures were taken by the ferry operators.
Miss Claire Uche, a school leaver, who works on Lagos Island, said that the operators were "just being nonchalant in their attitude.
"Some of the life jackets they gave us were not good. There were some that were stuffed with ordinary foam.
"Yesterday, for instance, some people, despite wearing the life jackets, could not stay afloat when the accident occurred.
"I am even scared now to board this boat because I don't know what can happen. I don't know whether I will be given a bad jacket.
"For me, I don't know a good life jacket and I don't know a bad one. I don't know a good boat, and I don't know a bad boat.
"It will make a lot of difference if the Lagos State Government can establish agencies whose sole duty will be to inspect these boats and the life jackets inside them before they take off from the jetties.
"There should be various checkpoints on the Lagoon so that there can be quicker response if this sort of mishap happens,''she said.
Another commuter who witnessed the rescue effort but did not want to mention his name, told NAN that he had a traumatic experience.
"There was this man who used his slippers to remain afloat as he swam toward a group of fishermen in order to be saved.
"The only thing I know about the incident is over speeding. It happened around 5.30 p.m.
"The boat took off from Ebute-Ero. At least as at 6.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 10 passengers including a pregnant woman had been rescued.
"But I learnt this morning that the woman had passed on."
He blamed the boat's captain for the mishap, saying that some of them often failed to take to corrections from passengers.
"As at yesterday morning when the boat was leaving Majidun, some passengers told the captain that water was percolating into the boat but he ignored the advice.
"So later in the evening, after the boat had taken off from Ebute-Ero around 5.30 p.m., the captain kept speeding, despite the high wave.
"It was this that caused the boat to break into two and sink. So, those in the front were those that were rescued.
"But it was the fishermen on the lagoon then that really saved the situation."
Meanwhile, neighbouring ferry operators had recorded high passenger traffic since the suspension of services at the Majidun Jetty.
Mr Sakari Dejina, an official of Metro Ferry Services, told NAN that his company had ferried more than double the usual number of passengers.
"We have ferried over 2,500 passengers this morning alone. Usually, we used to ferry a little over one thousand.
"But we expected this high number of passengers today because the other operators didn't work.
"There is no doubt that the pressure is enormous but passengers will have to be patient so that we will be able to ferry them to their destinations.
"We expect this to happen today and we are adequately prepared to do our best.
"Boat remains the safest. For about a month now, a Malaysian aeroplane had been declared missing and nothing had been known about its passengers till now,'' Dejina said.
Meanwhile, family members of the deceased have thronged the Ikorodu General Hospital, where the corpses of the victims were deposited.
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