The Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) has disclosed that more than 200 persons died in boat mishaps between 2020 and 2022 in the state.
A survey by NAN reports has revealed that Kastina, Kano, Yobe, Sokoto, Kebbi were experiencing boat capsizes due to lack of maintenance, irregular removal of weeds and wrecks as well as other impediments from the waterways.
Also lack of proper dredging and channelization of waterways and non-implementation of waterways codes are some other causes of boat capsizing.
The spokesperson of the agency, Mr Ibrahim Hussaini said that the figure was alarming, although the agency was finding ways of stemming boat mishaps on inland water ways in the state.
According to him, apart from the lives lost, property worth millions of naira were also lost to the mishaps.
He said that there was the need for the federal government to also regulate the activities of inland water ways to ensure that only the professionals at all the water fronts supervised operators of boats, canoes and commuters.
He advised the government to subsidise prices of life jackets, make them available and make the use of the jacket compulsory in regular service of canoe and boat.
Hussaini said speed boats, construction of local canoe and boats sold at subsidised rate, installation of navigation and weather reading equipment would enable operators and other stakeholders to effectively navigate the waterways.
He also called for effective synergy between National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), on the siltation of the water ways for easy movement.
In attempts to reduce boat accidents, in 2021 the Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPADEC) in collaboration with NIWA, resolved to clear trees and rocks responsible for boat mishaps along riverine areas across the country.
A representative of Kogi government, Isah Salami during a stakeholders meeting, observed that the clearing of trees and rocks became imperative to avert boat mishaps that had claimed many lives along riverine areas in Kogi, Kwara, Niger and Kebbi.
He called on boat users to always wear safety jacket as a precautionary measure to avoid unnecessary death on waterways.
“What we want to do now is to see how we can remove some of the shrubs and trees that grow along the riverine beds so that we can avoid future boat mishaps.
“We want to also make sure the people entering the boats take precaution by wearing safety jacket, while on the boats to save life whenever such mishaps occur.
“Safety on the waterways is very important and we will not take that with levity and right now along river Niger, we are doing some survey on some of the trees we will remove.
“In view of this effort, the NIWA has also declared their readiness to break rocks that can constitute hazard to boats.
“I am advising communities along the riverine areas in Kogi to take all the necessary precautions,” he said.
In Lokoja, NIWA expressed sadness and disgust “over incessant boat mishaps on our waterways across the country.’’
The spokesperson of the authority, Mr Jibrin Darda’u said that the recent boat mishap in Mai-Adua local government Area of Katsina in which 15 persons died was unacceptable.
“We are greatly pained that these mishaps are still occurring, in spite of all the measures the authority has put in place to forestall such mishaps.
“Only recently, the authority distributed life jackets and some patrol vessels to all our area offices across the country to enhance surveillance and monitoring of activities on the waterways across the country.
“NIWA as a regulatory agency will ensure that passengers and boat drivers obey the rules and guidelines regulating passenger transportation on the waterways.
“We shall also ensure strict use of life jackets, ban on sailing at night, the use of standard boats and not overloading the boats as our key guidelines for safe passenger transportation.
“Life is precious, so NIWA shall in no way relent on its efforts to curb these unfortunate and painful occurrences within our inland waterways.”
However, some stakeholders proffered solution to the problem, citing overcrowding of boats and a lack of passenger safety rules, among other causes of boat mishaps on Nigeria’s waterways.
In Adamawa, the Maritime Union Workers of Nigeria, Adamawa chapter appealed to the state government to provide the union with speed boats and life jackets for emergency response against boat capsizing to save lives and property. Mahmud Abdullahi, the chapter Chairman made the plea.
He said that providing speed boats would enable them to double efforts in monitoring activities in the riverine areas of the state.
According to him, this will also complement their efforts against boat capsizing in the state that have been claiming lives and property of people.
He said that the union was doing its best to curb high cases of boat mishap by ensuring that there were no overloading and that every boat had spare engines in case of mechanical problems among others.
Abdullahi also urged state government to also evacuate sands in the river to ease the flow of boats for successful operations.
According to him, these will help to boost the economy of the state.
He further expressed the need for government to work in partnership with the union, NiMET, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and NIMASA on the way forward for the development of the state and country at large.
In Sokoto, the Director-General Sokoto State Emergency Agency (SEMA), Nasiru Aliyu said the state government had engaged professionals on finding solutions to recurring boat mishaps.
Aliyu said that professionals were engaged to advise the state government on best apparatus to assist boat operators and communities to safeguard lives in the future.
Aliyu said the effort was to safeguard to lives and property of people of the riverine areas that use river transportation system.
He said that the regular boat accidents was a source of concern to the state government.
“The state government has concluded plans to provide modern ferries to the riverine communities in the state, especially Shagari, Goronyo and Gada local governments.
”The state government will also provide adequate life jackets, and properly train the ferry drivers on modern techniques.
”The state government will also ensure the strict observance of all the globally-acceptable safety rules and regulations,” he said.
Aliyu explained that state government in collaboration with NEMA and other-related agencies had mapped out emergency plans for all the 23 local governments.
“This is to safeguard the lives and property of the people of the state in the event of any natural or man-induced emergencies like flood, fire disasters and other natural occurrences,” Aliyu said.
A local canoe driver in Muhammad Shehun-Sharu of Modiyawa village, called for the provision of modern ferries and life jackets to the communities.
Shehun-Sharu said they used locally-made canoes and driving them with their physical energy, as their source of livelihood was difficult, “and passengers have no alternative than to patronise them to cross the waters.’’
He said the provision of the ferries and life vests would go a long way in saving lives in the event of unforeseen circumstances.
He said that 13 persons had also died as a result of boat mishap at Doruwa village in June 2021 on their way to Ginga village in Shagari local government area.
Another boat driver, Wali Hassan, noted that the boat drivers had been abandoned by authorities only to contact them when was a sad incident.
Hassan said a responsible government institutions should ensure routine contacts with boat operators, community leaders and other citizens living in the riverine areas, educate them on safety measures to curb the ugly incidences.
Hassan said that provision of safety materials, modern ferries and others subsidised means should be adopted to ensure only qualified persons were engaged in local ferry business.
He said that most of the accident occurred when boats were obstructed by a tree or big stone inside the river, adding that clearing such obstacles would serve as one of the measures of ensuring accident-free river transportation.
”Experts need to assess the water, identify those trees, and remove them to provide safe routes for boats.
“We cannot remove all the trees in the river, but at least we will create a safe route for them, and we will use some devices to mark out the safest routes for the boat operators,” he said.
Muhammad Awwal, the Village Head of Gidan Magana village in Shagari local government area where 29 youths mostly women died on April 14, when a boat capsized, urged the government to urgently address the menace.
Awwal described boat operation as a lucrative business in the area, saying the river had been the only alternative route for members of his community to reach neighbouring villages where some of them have farmlands.
The village head, who lost eight members of his family in the tragic accident, appealed to the state government to construct a bridge across the river for ease of movement and establish a school and clinic for the community.
According to him, the only means of transportation to the next village is through the river as there is no road network in the area.
He however said that in spite of the accident, residents of the community could not abandon the water transportation in the area.
A resident of Gidan Magana, Mr Muhammad Danmaimota, described the incident as unfortunate and attributed it to poverty that had ravaged the area.
Danmaimota said the village lacked functional school, clinic, electricity and potable water, a situation that forced residents to engage in firewood business.
According to him, young girls before marriage mostly engage in hawking firewood for living.
He said that boys also join in the business because of the absence of schools.
Danmaimota said Gidan Magana village roads were inaccessible, especially when it rained, and residents faced hardships due to the lack of social amenities.
He said that residents paid fare of N50 to cross the river by boat.
Danmaimota said though the firewood fetching business was dangerous, the people had no other option.
He said Shagari Dam constructed by Federal Government aimed to facilitate irrigation had relocated many villagers and disconnected, making them to depend solely on boats transportation.
Recall that the Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC), donated life jackets to Garin Magana community for people to use while in the boats.
In Kebbi, the government said it had mapped out precautionary measures to curb the menace of incessant boat mishap in the riverine areas in the state.
Abbas Surajo-Kamba, the Executive Director of Kebbi State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) said in Birnin Kebbi that all the boat operators must comply with laid down measures.
“As part of our efforts to curb the recurrences of boat mishaps; we had a meeting with the traditional rulers and boat operators and we came up with the solutions to the problem of incessant incidents of boat mishaps in the riverine areas.
“We resolved that henceforth, no transportation in the river of any kind after 6 p.m. and passengers must not carry heavy loads.
“The number of passengers to be taken in any boat must specified and written on the boat to prevent overloading, life jackets must be worn by all the passengers in addition to the extra three jackets for emergency in the boat,” he explained.
Surajo-Kamba said the mapping out of the precautionary measures was necessary in view of the findings made by the agency of the causes of the mishaps in the areas.
“We discovered that a boat that carries 40 passengers is loaded with over 100 passengers and not only the passengers but with their loads including goats, sheep, cows and camel all in one boat on a river voyage,” he said.
He said that some boat operators had a superstitious belief that they would not die in river because they inherited the business from their ancestors.
“They think the river will not kill them since the business was passed to them from generation to generation.
“We will not fold our arms and rely on superstitions while people are dying,” he said.
According to him, the agency will collaborate with the local government councils and NIWA to ensure the compliance of the measures.
The executive director said the agency would embark on sensitisation campaigns for the operators and local divers on the safety of water transportation and emergency rescue operations.
He said the agency had adequate staff and well-funded to carry out the exercise.
“There has never been any request we sent to the Kebbi governor, Atiku Bagudu, that has never been approved; we will always thank him for that,” he said.
Surajo-Kamba, however, said that the agency would create emergency response offices in the riverine areas to help tackle the menace.
The director of state Fire Service Department, Ahmed Zagga said the department had been carrying out sensitisation campaign on the menace of man-made disasters and how to avert them.
According to him, the department has inadequate personnel and is poorly funded to tackle some of these challenges.
On his part, Muhammadu Audu, a local diver in Birnin Kebbi urged the state government to make life jacket compulsory to passengers to use before entering the boat.
“Most of the passengers do not know how to swim and when an accident happens even if you know how to swim, you can be exhausted before getting out of the river because it is wide,” he said.
He also called for the establishment of task force dealing with the over-loading and emergency intervention in river.
Also contributing, another local boat operator, Nasiru Nura, advocated for training and retraining of boat operators on safety measures, especially while on wheels, adding such training would avail them the opportunity to save lives and property.
He cautioned his colleagues against overloading to avert any form of eventuality.
NEMA pledged to collaborate with NIWA and other stakeholders to sensitise the general public on the importance of using life jackets to stem boat capsizing in the state.
The NEMA Kano Territorial Coordinator, Dr Nura Abdullahi, said collaboration would minimise the recurrence of boats capsizing in Kano State.
“The main reason for boat capsizing in state is mostly overloading, inexperienced board operators and bad weather condition.
“The boat operators and communities will be sensitised on the importance of life jackets on water transport and the implications of overloading in a boat.”
He however called on boat operators to avoid overloading and strictly comply with the established regulations and guidelines of operating boats.
Furthermore, he stressed the need for the boat operators to be conversant with the use of personal flotation device and life jacket.
Most of the people in the riverine areas he noted, barely knew the implications of overloading and not using life jackets on water transport.
“Yes, it is possible NIWA and NiMet partner to create awareness on weather condition so that operators can know when tide is too high to avoid boat capsizing” he said.
Also, the Kano State Fire Service, advised that the boat operators must operate within convenient hours and not odd hours.
Mr Saminu Abdullahi, the spokesperson of the Kano State Fire Service, said regulating boat operations within regulated hours would stem boat capsizing.
He said that operators must desist from overloading passengers on the boats to cross the dams and rivers.
According to him, regulatory bodies need to train boat operators on safety measures, provide safety life jackets to them and passengers.
“Government should provide new sophisticated boats and other equipment to enable operators to drive with care for safety.”
Some of the users of boats in Bagwai area of Kano State, such as Mr Musa Muhyi, advised that boat operators be sanctioned, whenever there was boat capsize.
“There is need to sensitize us the locals on best practices and safety measures of using boat for transportation.
“Modern boats should also be provided to us along with other safety equipment in case of any mishap,” Muhyi said.
Mr Abdulmumin Yahya, a boat operator also in Bagwai area, admitted that most of the local operators just learnt the skill but were never trained professionally.
He explained that he learnt boat operation from his friend’s father who was a long time operator in the area.
Yahya appealed to the government to provide them with training to upgrade their operation skills for their safety and that of the passengers.
“We suffer a lot of trauma when a boat capsizes because whenever we are operating, we feel that the lives of those in our boats are in our hands,” Yahya said.
An older boat operator, Mr Muhammad Adamu, said that there was need for government to intervene in providing better equipment for them.
