Boat Mishap Claims 26 Lives in Sokoto Community

 By Onuminya Innocent In Sokoto

A boat carrying unspecified number of passengers  capsized in Magana village of Shagari Local Government Area of  Sokoto state.

The boat, which capsized in the early hours of Wednesday was  transporting locals from neighbouring villages to hinterland enroute major towns for their daily activities.

Confirming the accident, the Director General, Sokoto State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) Alhaji Nasiru Ahmed, told newsmen  that they have received the report of the boat accident in Shagari Local Government and the agency has since joined forces with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to visit the area and ascertained the situation.

” As am speaking to you, I am in Abuja for official engagement but we have make all necessary arrangements to continue searching for survivors and dead bodies still laying beneath water,” said the DG.

” SEMA will make necessary provision to the river rine area to forestall other future occurrence,” he stated.

Reacting to accident, the Secretary to Shagari LG, Alhaji Mas’oud Shagari said over 26 bodies were so far recovered from the river while searching continues for survivors and lifeless bodies .

Shagari LG is not known for such accidents, until the establishment of  Dam in the area by the former Minister of Water Resources, Mukhtari Shehu Shagari during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. The dam was established amidst resistance from the locals in the area who believed  that it  would take over their ancestral farmlands and defraud them of their farming activities.

Since the establishment of the Dam in the year 2005, the area has witnessed a number of boat accidents, killing a number of people trying to cross to their villages.

 Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has ordered the purchase of motorized boats for the people of the area when a similar accident occurred  in the year 2020.

The area is known for using old and local boats to ferry passengers across the dam especially on market days and other festivities.

It could not be confirmed whether the state emergence management agency (SEMA)  has provided the motorized boats to area as directed by the Governor.