The National Inland Waterways (NIWA) has confirmed a boat accident that claimed the lives of at least 200 market women from Kogi State.
The Head of Media Department of NIWA, Suleman Makama who confirmed the incident on Friday, explained that the deceased were on their way to the market in Niger yesterday morning riding on a boat when it capsized along the Dambo-Ebuchi sections of River Niger, killing yet to be ascertained number of women.
Also, on Friday, the Niger State Emergency Management confirmed that 22 passengers died in a boat mishap which occurred on the river on Thursday night.
According to a statement made available to newsmen, the capsized boat was sailing from Ebe community in Kogi state to Katcha market in Niger state with 50 passengers on board.
The statement signed by the Director General of the Agency Alhaji Abdullahi Baba Arah, stated that 22 bodies have been recovered while eight persons were rescued alive
He said “NSEMA is directing and monitoring search and rescue operations in collaboration with Agaie Local Government Emergency Committee” adding that, brave local divers and other community volunteers were also involved.
Commenting further on the accident in Kogi, Makama said: “It’s true that there was a boat mishap on Thursday involving quite a number of women going to the market in Niger State, we are still investigating to ascertain the number of people involved as well as what led to the accident.”
According to eyewitnesses, the boat which belonged to one Musa Dangana was carrying over 200 passengers, including market women and farm labourers, en route to the Katcha weekly market in Niger State.
As of the time of this report, eight bodies were said to have been recovered while search and rescue operations continue to look for the remaining passengers.
He said that he is still waiting for clearance from the management before he will issue an official statement where details of the incident would be provided.
Asked how long that would be, Makama said that he can’t give a specific time frame but promised to get back as soon as possible.
The Managing Director of NIWA, Mr. Bola Oyebanji, had identified human errors, drugs and disobedience to the rules and regulations as the major causes of boat mishaps that have occurred in the past three years .
Oyebanji, who disclosed this while fielding questions from the members of House Representatives Committee on NIWA who were on oversight function to the Headquarters of the Authority in Lokoja on Wednesday, said that the NIWA was committed to the safety of the Nigerians using water transportation .
“Ninety-nine per cent of the mishaps on the waterways were a result of human errors,” noting that research has shown that the operators are committing avoidable mistakes which shouldn’t have caused havoc.
He noted that some of the operators lived on drugs to influence their activities to make them high and eventually make unpardonable mistakes.
Oyabanji added that some operators are repugnant to following rules and regulations,stressing that “imagine wooden boats taking over 150 to 200 passengers at a go over and above its capacity.”
He said that the Transportation Code requires revalidation because the operators have not been strictly following the code recently signed while some are not providing required life jackets for their passengers.
Ibrahim Oyewale and Laleye Dipo
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