The staggering stats suggest a marine epidemic: 701 people, some of them children, dying in boat accidents over less than three years. Water commuting need not be so perilous, if it is well regulated, with the regulating bodies imposing strict standards.

In just two months shy of three years, these states recorded these corresponding deaths: Benue (20), Jigawa (41), Bauchi (38), Taraba (23), Niger (176), Lagos (72), Bayelsa (35), Sokoto (51), Kebbi (84), Delta (17), Kano (40), Ondo (4), Anambra (80), Kogi (4) and Rivers (16) — outside the several other cases that might have gone unreported and unrecorded.

This rather high level of marine deaths is absolutely unacceptable, for it speaks of a building epidemic which, ab initio, should not have been. All we need are right policies from the regulatory authorities and the strict implementation of these policies.

The routine causes of these avoidable deaths, from a report by The Punch of October 11: overloading, careless driving, poor boat maintenance and turbulent weather.

A fifth reason that runs through most of the mishaps is night boat travel, followed by unscrupulous diggers mining marine sand for commercial purposes, which heaps unsuspecting boat operators run into, leading to boat cascades and fatal accidents.

Overloading, careless driving, poor boat maintenance and perilous night travels are a clear result of rotten choices by operators, which a strict regulation regime could stamp out.

Turbulent weather is a natural peril. Still, strict and enforceable regulation should, in partnership with the meteorological agencies, give regular weather advisories, which marine travel operators and passengers must conform to.

Since this entire border on life and death — as the grim stats have shown — the dire consequences of failing to adhere to these advisories, particularly during the rainy season, must be made crystal clear to all.

Night travel too can be curbed by adequate regulation, followed by strict monitoring and enforcement. As part of the general marine transport policy, there should be the marine police equivalent of road traffic wardens, adequately kitted and well-motivated, patrolling the waters and promptly arresting defaulters.

As for fortune seekers digging up heaps of marine sand and endangering lives of other citizens: a charge of murder at worst; manslaughter at best. If the business is approved, then the marine policy should state clear safety thresholds below which such operators are liable for prosecution. If well enforced, it would be a straight case of crime and punishment.

But beyond all of these, desperation powered by fatalism appears a silent driver of accidents and deaths among the marine folks. You can imagine traders insisting on getting back home from their markets, with remaining wares and animals, under inclement weather, and late in the night too, nevertheless believing, in that Pentecostal-speak, death or mishap are “not their portion!”

That community is known to teem with such dangerous sentiments. So, a sustained enlightenment blitz, by marine regulators, should help to banish such fond delusions.

At the end, the fundaments of safe water travel are clear: standard, safe and secure boats and ferries, fit for commercial shuttles, solid and secure jetties to ensure travellers’ departure and arrival, safety drills and gadgets (routine life jackets et al) and the presence of adequate emergency staff among the boat crew, without which any operator may not operate — and if (s)he does, faces instant prosecution.

The fact is that marine travel ought not to be happenstance — a mere stumble, driven by the recklessness of operators and the no less delusional whims of passengers. It ought to be a safe and secure transport mode, integrated into the road and rail system, particularly in areas of the country blessed with large bodies of waters.

If all these policy reforms are put in place, marine transportation might, in a vibrant economy like Lagos, take off many cars off the road, decongest traffic, fasten travel time and lower stress levels.

Just imagine a quick and safe boat shuttle between Ijede in Ikorodu and Ikoyi/Victoria Island, both in Lagos, which appears just “a jump” away, compared to sweating and sweltering in hours and hours of traffic, en route the ever-choked Lagos-Ikorodu road!

A properly structured marine transportation, with teeming investors, bodes a good deal for the economy and citizen sanity. It’s the diametric opposite of the current water massacre.

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