HARVEST OF DEATHS ON THE WATERWAYS

Regulators should enforce safety standards

No fewer than 50 persons had been confirmed dead with dozens of others still unaccounted for in the 1st October boat accident in Niger State. The boat was said to be conveying its passengers from Mundi community in Mokwa local government area after they celebrated the religious festival of Maulud Nabiyyi when it capsized on the River Niger. According to a statement by the Director General of the Niger State Emergency Authority (NSEMA), Abdullahi Baba Arah, local divers were able to rescue about 150 of the 300 passengers. It is concerning that within the past one year more than a thousand people have died on the nation’s waterways. While we commiserate with the families of the deceased, we urge relevant authorities to pay more attention to how to avert what has become a recurring tragedy.

Hardly a week passes without reports of a boat accident, and often with heavy casualty figures. This is because in most riverine communities, people tend to pile into whatever watercraft happens to be going towards the direction they are headed. This often necessitates overcrowding when wooden canoes carry passengers far beyond their capacity. From most accident reports, including the latest one, 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 40 persons could be loaded with a hundred or more passengers, especially at peak periods when people are in a hurry to get back to their destinations.

Consequently, when the canoe encounters stormy conditions along the water, the sheer weight of the human cargo and luggage would make it easily susceptible to accident. Furthermore, the fact that there are,  in most cases, no life-jackets on board guarantees high casualty figure. But aside from overloading, another cause of these marine accidents is the fact that most of the boats are old and suffer from lack of proper maintenance. Perhaps more important is the obvious absence of enforcement of safety standards since not much is known about the existence of any mandatory operational guidelines for ownership of ferries and boats.  

As we have repeatedly highlighted, water transportation could indeed be a source of decongesting the roads in Nigeria. However, there is an urgent need for the enforcement of operational standards for all ferry and canoe operators across the country’s waterways. There should also be regular inspection of these boats just like motor vehicles are inspected to get rid of rickety boats which constitute serious hazard to human lives. Provision of emergency services along the waterways is also worthy of consideration. The absence of such emergency agencies often contributes to the high casualty figures recorded when boat accidents occur. 

It is even more disturbing that we have marine police who always seem to be nowhere in environs where water tragedies occur. If they are marine police, shouldn’t they be permanently stationed around waterways and swiftly swing to action when accidents occur?

Meanwhile, with the existence of waterfronts in various parts of the country and the increasingly devastating state of our roads, some states are already exploring the options of this mode of transportation. Halting the constant and needless waste of human lives on our waterways will entail putting in place adequate safety measures. We urge the Niger State government to collaborate with the Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) for an enduring solution to the incessant boat mishaps.