TRAGEDIES ON THE WATERWAYS

Regulators should do more to ensure safety standards are maintained

It is understandable that boat accidents are inevitable in the creeks and coastlines especially given the fact that the people living in those areas have no alternative means of transportation. And perhaps because of that, they tend to pile into whatever watercraft happens to be moving towards their destinations. In the latest of what is becoming a festival of deaths on the nation’s waterways, the National Inland Waterways (NIWA) last weekend confirmed that no fewer than 200 market women from Kogi State lost their lives last Friday. The unfortunate victims were on their way to the Katcha weekly market in Niger State, riding on a boat when it capsized along the Dambo-Ebuchi sections of River Niger. A day earlier, according to the Niger State Emergency Management, another set of 22 passengers had lost their lives in a boat mishap on the same River Niger.

Although reports of these accidents are hardly released to the public by NIWA, most people know the cause. 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 50 or more passengers especially at peak periods when people are in a hurry to get back to their places of abode. Consequently, when the canoes encounter stormy conditions along the water, the sheer weight of the human cargo and other luggage could make them easily susceptible to capsize.  

Aside from overloading, most of these boats 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 of ferrying people through the waters. This is where a lack of regulatory oversight comes in. Established in 1997, NIWA is saddled with the task of managing the nation’s 3000 navigable waterways from the Nigeria/Niger Republic and Nigeria/Cameroon borders to the Atlantic Ocean. These comprise Rivers Niger and Benue as well as the creeks, lagoons, lakes, and intra-coastal waters. NIWA’s mandate also includes providing “regulatory, economical and operational leadership in the nation’s inland waterways system and develop infrastructural facilities for efficient intermodal transportation system that is safe, seamless and affordable”. But the agency has been reduced to counting bodybags after these tragedies. 

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 water transportation by heavily investing in our waterways with a view to making them safe. That sadly is not the case despite the fact that water transportation is one clear source of de-congesting the roads in places where road travel could result in frustrating hours on the traffic.

Going forward, we reiterate our call that operational standards be enforced nationally for those in the business of ferry and canoe transportation. Provision of emergency services along the waterways is also worth considering. 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. If they are marine police, shouldn’t they be permanently stationed around waterways and swiftly swing to action when tragedies occur on the waters by promptly rescuing victims?   

The authorities must put in place the necessary safety measures. Travelling by water should not be a suicide mission.