Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, last week ordered a probe into the July 8, Mile 2 – Ibeshe boat mishap.
The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, who disclosed this in a statement, said the governor was, “deeply saddened by the incident and commiserates with the families who lost their loved ones.”
Omotoso stated that the police were already probing what went wrong and treating the sad incident as a criminal offense, saying that the boat which was said to be unlicensed obviously broke the waterways rules of “no night travel,” and no overloading.
General Manager, Lagos State Waterways Authority, Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, also confirmed that 15 bodies were recovered from the 16-passenger boat.
LASWA had earlier reported that the boat took off at 7.45 pm penultimate Friday carrying a full capacity of 16 when tragedy struck.
Thereafter, the Lagos Area Manager, National Inland Waterways Authority, Sarat Braimoh, said investigations on the boat mishap revealed that the boat loaded at a containerized jetty that was shut down last year June.
Braimoh, who spoke to newsmen during a tour of the area, said the jetty was supposed to be loading containers but was shut down because it was not certified for container operations.
She said the NIWA and the joint committee on barge operations made up of the Nigerian Ports Authority and The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, closed down the jetty and stationed police officers there to prevent operations.
“The growing statistics of fatalities on the waterways put at over 500 in the last few years, is not only scary to local or foreign investors but have also culminated in the low patronage recorded in the sub-sector with passenger count on a downward spiral”
Frequent boat accidents on the nation’s waterways have been blamed on substandard boats, overloading of passengers and goods, disregard for safety guidelines and lack of boat maintenance, water hyacinth, night voyages by ferry operators, obstructions on waterways, violation of route usage, faulty boat and ferry engines, non-usage of life jackets and other life-saving appliances and fueling of boats on the water, among others.
Regrettably, in spite of campaigns being carried out by NIWA, NIMASA and other agencies to engage in enlightenment and education of ferry operators and passengers on safety, rules and regulations, some recalcitrant boat owners and drivers are still flouting the rules.
The act of defiance of these boat operators has sent thousands of innocent people to their early graves.
Data from Nigeria Watch showed that 1,607 lives were lost in 180 boat accidents between June 2006 and May 2015.
Between 2017 and 2018 alone, hundreds of Nigerians lost their lives across the riverine communities of the country due to boat/canoe accidents. Within the same period, industry watchers put the figure of those who died in water accidents at 1,005.
No fewer than 99 persons died in six boat mishaps that occurred in Kebbi, Niger and Lagos states between April and September 2017, according to a survey.
Several boat accidents claimed hundreds of lives between 2019 and 2020.
In July 2019, 15 people died after a boat carrying 21 passengers capsized, three people survived while others were missing.
In July 2020, no fewer than 10 passengers escaped death when their boat capsized on Lagos waterways.
Also, four died while 14 were rescued in a 20-seater passenger boat mishap in Lagos. In August 2020, 10 died in another boat accident in Lagos.
In September 2020, two died and four were rescued as another boat capsized in Lagos.
In August 2020, nine died in a Sokoto boat accident. In 2021, more than 250 people were killed as a result of boat mishaps on Nigerian waters.
As boat accidents become rampant, experts have urged the government to prosecute and jail boat owners and operators who refuse to abide by the laws of water transport in the country, to curtail the menace.
Yearly, scary figures continued to tumble out of the waterways of the numbers of deaths lost to shoddy operators on our waterways.
Frequent accidents on the waterways have continued to put a wedge on the activities of the regulatory agencies to grow the transportation sub-sector to its full potential.
Travelling on Nigeria’s waterways whether for leisure or business can be fun, yet very scary. More for the latter, waterways transportation, despite its huge prospects, has remained stunted compared to the other two modes of transportation – air and land.
Statistics showed that despite its over 10,000 kilometers of inland waterways, Nigeria has the least developed waterway transportation with only 3,000 kilometers navigable and viable. Arguably, at its best, Nigeria’s waterways are globally acknowledged as the most unsafe.
While nations have continued to innovate and improve commuters’ travel experience by building adjunct economies around their waterways, Nigeria has only negative and fatality reports year-on-year to show for its massive inland water network which traverses over 20 of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
This speaks to the scant attention the sub-sector has continued to get from regulators against the sharp practices of operators whose mindless operations continued to imperil the sub-sector.
The trend in the last one decade is a litany of deaths on the nation’s waterways.
It is very scary nowadays to travel on the waterways in Nigeria as death seems to be on the prowl, just as the fear of abduction and attacks from pirates persist.
It is disturbing that the causes of waterways accidents are repeatedly common, requiring government intervention to avert them.
Despite her rich water resources, the country is known more for unsafe waterways than for breakthroughs by marine technology that can boost waterways transportation by local engineers and architects or shipbuilding, marine efficiency, shipwreck removal and recycling.
The growing statistics of fatalities on the waterways put at over 500 in the last few years, is not only scary to local or foreign investors but has also culminated in the low patronage recorded in the sub-sector with passenger count on a downward spiral.
We urge NIWA and other state actors not to be overwhelmed by the challenge but to turn it around to develop a vibrant waterway to stimulate the economy.
LASWA should also continue to collaborate with NIWA and other stakeholders in the efforts to make the waterways attractive to new investors.
LASWA should drive a well organised and properly regulated sub-sector of transportation while making the waterways safer and cleaner for operators.
Passengers have also decried the substandard life jackets provided by private boat operators as well as the untrained personnel working on the waterways.
We also call on the relevant authorities to investigate this issue of substandard life jackets, because a large number of passengers who patronize water transportation are worried about the situation.
