Curbing avoidable deaths on our waterways

About two weeks ago, the nation woke up to the sad news of not less than 106 people who died when their boat capsized on their return journey from a marriage ceremony in Gboti in Patigi Local Government area of Kwara State. The riverine community is said to be a border town between Kwara and Niger States.

The Police in a statement signed by SP Ajayi Okasanmi Police Public Relations Officer, Kwara State and made available to the press said that the boat which capsized between Ebu and Dzakan village in Patigi local government area was loaded with about 250 passengers out of which 106 people died.

The statement read, “Among the casualties were people from Ebu Village with 61 casualties, Dzakan Village with 38, Kpada Village with 4 dead, and three (3) other casualties from Kogi State, putting the total number of casualties at 106 and the total number of rescued people at about 144.”

The boat was said to have conveyed about 250 people from a village called Gboti via Patigi after a wedding ceremony to Ebu Village and Dzakan Village, all within Patigi’s local government area.

On leaving the shore, one part of the boat by the engine side was said to have collapsed where water penetrated the boat, which ultimately led to the boat capsizing.

Reports indicated that all the 144 survivors were fortunate to have been able to swim to the shore of the river when the boat capsized while the 106 victims including aged men, women and children who could not inevitably died from the unfortunate incident.

The grieving over this disaster was still on when there was another report of boat mishap in Cross River State involving 14 medical students who came to the state from their different universities to attend annual Health Week put up by the Nigeria Medical Students Association.

The 14 students were said to be on boat cruise at Marina Resort when the speedboat capsized, fortunately because of the help said to have been received from the locals in the area as well as some naval staff, 11 of the medical students were saved while the remaining three died.

These were said to be final year medical students who had their dreams aborted bringing untold agony and anguish to their parents and loved ones. In the two reports above, no one will say that the losses were not heavy and devastating.

The reasons largely given for these recent boat mishaps were that of overloading, refusal to use the life jackets, travelling in the night, in a nutshell, refusal to adhere strictly to the safety rules on waterways.

For instance, the Kwara boat accident was due to overloading with none of the passenger using the life jackets that could make the passenger float on top of the water for about five hours, according to expert in case of any accident. This was also worsened by the fact that the accident happened in the night when little or no help was available.

The same allegation of overloading was also levelled against the operator of the speedboat that took the medical students on the ill-fated cruise in Cross River State. The speed boat was said to have the maximum capacity of carrying nine passengers but went to carry 14 and that the saving grace was the fact that the capsize happened during day else it would have been more fatal.

In all of these, what is quite evident is that these unfortunate accidents and many before it have largely been due to human errors usually arising from failure to comply with the safety procedure guiding inland water ways transportation.

It is against this background many believe that the authority of Nigeria Inland Waterways (NIWA) will have to sit up and ensure that these grievous acts of indiscipline and outright corruption putting lives of many at grave danger is curbed.

NIWA in partnership with relevant stakeholders should use these two unfortunate incidents as a spring board to step up its advocacy programmes on standard safety procedure on our inland waterways and of course not just be a toothless bulldog, any boat operators found to be cutting corners should be dealt with decisively.

Many have attested to how water transportation could be very smooth and faster but the issue of compromised safety will certainly be a big dent on any efforts geared towards developing this sector of our economy.

Now is the time for all hands to be on deck to arrest this ugly trend and make travelling on our waterways safer and enjoyable, we really must not continue to lose our human resources in such despicable ways.