•Regulators should enforce minimum standards for water transportation

A ‘Leadership’ newspaper report has put the death on the nation’s waterways between January and November this year at 911. With the highest number of fatalities (285) in Niger State, others include Kebbi (144), Kwara (125), Sokoto (117), Lagos (92), Anambra (80), Bauchi (76), Adamawa (60), Taraba (50), Kano (45), Bayelsa (40) Benue (34) and Ondo (34). Considering that many accidents go unreported, especially when casualty figures are not high, more than a thousand fatalities may have been recorded in what has become avoidable tragedies. Stakeholders blame the situation on the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) whose regulatory lapses remain glaring.

Established in 1997, NIWA manages 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 by most accounts, NIWA’s presence is hardly felt.

As we have highlighted repeatedly, 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 40 persons could be loaded with over a hundred 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 would make them easily susceptible to accidents. Furthermore, the fact that most often, there are no lifejackets on board is a sure guarantee that casualty was bound to be high.

Aside from overloading, most of these boats that ply our waterways 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. To compound the problem, the absence of any search and rescue agencies often contributes to the high casualty figures recorded since the operators have little or no knowledge about what to do when faced with emergency situations. It is even more disturbing that we have marine police who always seem to be nowhere to be found in environs where water tragedies occur.

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 this mode of transportation by heavily investing in our waterways with a view to making them safe. Unfortunately, that is not the case in Nigeria today, even though water transportation is one clear source of de-congesting the roads across the country.

We reiterate our previous calls that operational standards be enforced nationally for those in the business of ferry and canoe transportation. There should also be regular inspection of these boats just like motor vehicles are inspected and deemed road worthy. Provision of emergency services along the waterways is also worthy of consideration. We therefore call on NIWA to come up with strategies that would help to keep our waterways safe, especially for the most vulnerable of our society in rural communities who are usually the victims of these recurring accidents.

Update news