TRAGIC DEATHS ON THE WATERWAYS
The authorities should enforce standards for water transportation
It is unfortunate that almost everything worthwhile and ordinarily should be easily achieved always looks like a mountain in Nigeria. With the existence of waterfronts in various parts of the country and the increasingly devastating state of our roads, innovative leaders would have ordinarily explored the options of this mode of transportation by heavily investing in our waterways with a view to making them safe. Sadly, that is not the case, even though water transportation is one clear source of de-congesting the roads across the country.
In the latest of what has become regular tragedies, no fewer than 70 people died last Monday after a boat carrying traders from a fish market capsized in Taraba State. That the accident occurred four months after 103 persons died in Kwara State when a boat carrying about 270 wedding guests capsized makes it even more worrying. Governor Agbu Kefas described the accident a “monumental tragedy” while lamenting the absence of safety measures which compounded the tragedy. “Our body of water, which is one of the longest in the region, should be a veritable source of wealth and not death,” Kefas said.
We commiserate with the families of the deceased as we call on the authorities to investigate the cause of the accident. As we have often highlighted, it is a notorious fact that there is hardly any ferry, canoe or the so-called ‘flying boat’ that keeps to the exact passenger number specification. In some instances, boats that were constructed to carry not more than 20 persons could be loaded with up to 50 or more passengers especially at peak periods when people are in a hurry to get back to their destinations. Consequently, when the canoes encounter stormy conditions along the waters, the sheer weight of the human cargo and other luggage would make them easily susceptible to accidents. Furthermore, the fact that most often, there are no lifejackets on board is a guarantee that casualty was bound to be high.
Aside from overloading, most of these boats that ply our waterways are old and suffer from lack of proper maintenance. Perhaps more important is the obvious lack of safety standards. In fact, not much is known about the existence of any mandatory operational guidelines for ownership of ferries and boats and the minimum standards that must be met to be in the business. To compound the problem, the absence of any search and rescue agencies often contributes to the high casualty figures recorded since the operators have little or no knowledge about what to do when faced with emergency situations. It is even more disturbing that we have marine police in the country who always seem to be nowhere to be found in environs where water tragedies occur. Following the Taraba accident, as it was in previous tragedies, authorities in the state had to deploy local divers after most of the bodies had been swept off by the currents.
Going forward, we reiterate our call that operational standards be enforced nationally for those in the business of ferry and canoe transportation. There should also be regular inspection of these boats just like motor vehicles to detect dilapidated and rickety boats which constitute serious hazard to human lives. Provision of emergency services along the waterways is also worthy of consideration.
Finally, we urge the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to come up with strategies that would help to keep our waterways safe, especially for the most vulnerable of our society in rural communities who are usually the victims of these recurring accidents.
