The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has called for the establishment of a Federal Maritime Safety Commission similar to the Federal Road safety Commission ?to check the proliferation of boat accidents and fatalities?.

HURIWA said in a statement issued on Wednesday that the call became necessary because the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) ?has not sufficiently confronted the upsurge in boat accidents making it imperative that a specialised boats safety commission is carved out of NIMASA as a strategic department of NIMASA to face the issues of incessant boat accidents and bring stability and safety to the operations of small boats across the waterways.?

HURIWA in the statement signed by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, told President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to task the federal minister of ministry of Blue Economy, and other maritime affiliated agencies to activate mechanisms to fast track the presentation by the Federal Executive Council to the National Assembly of an executive bill to provide for the creation of a Federal Maritime Safety Commission to stem the upsurge in deaths of Nigerians from accidents on the maritime ways by boats.

HURIWA however suggested to President Tinubu to direct that the Federal Maritime Safety Commission to be set-up should be staffed minimally with fewer staff than the bogus Federal Road Safety Commission that has become apparently over-staffed, inefficient and ineffective accounting for the constant proliferation of fatalities resulting from road accidents. ?The Federal Maritime Safety Commission shouldn?t be converted to avenues for handing out jobs to political thugs and motor park touts just like what the Federal Road Safety Commission has degenerated into due to prolonged bad governance, but the federal government should peg the staff strength to just 2,000 personnel including the management staff,? HURIWA said.

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