ISSUES IN THE SOKOTO WATERWAY TRAGEDY
The regulatory authorities must do more to enhance safety
While no fewer than 25 people have been confirmed dead, scores of others are still missing following last Sunday’s boat mishap in Sokoto State. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) director general, Zubaida Umar, said the agency responded after receiving reports that a boat conveying over 50 passengers to Goronyo Market had capsized. That this is a recurring tragedy is why stakeholders must be concerned. Although reports of investigations into these accidents are hardly released to the public by the National Inland Waterways (NIWA), overcrowding is the usual suspect.
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 many instances, boats are loaded with passengers more than their capacity, 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 capsize.
Aside from overloading, most of these boats 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 of ferrying people through the waters. In the latest incident, there are reports that the boat operated in the dark. This is where a lack of regulatory oversight comes in.
Established in 1997, NIWA is saddled with the task of managing 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 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 the agency has been reduced to counting dead bodies after these serial tragedies.
It is unfortunate that almost everything that should be easily achieved always looks like a mountain in Nigeria. 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 water transportation by heavily investing in our waterways with a view to making them safe. That sadly is not the case even though water transportation is one clear source of de-congesting many of the roads across the country.
Going forward, we reiterate our call that operational standards be enforced nationally for those in the business of ferry and canoe transportation. Provision of emergency services along the waterways is also worth considering. It is even more disturbing that we have marine police in the country who always seem to be nowhere to be found in environs where water tragedies occur. If they are marine police, shouldn’t they be permanently stationed around waterways and swiftly swing to action when tragedies occur on the waters by promptly rescuing victims?
It is understandable that boat accidents are inevitable in the creeks and coastlines, especially given the fact that the people living in those areas have no alternative means of transportation. And perhaps because of that, they tend to pile into whatever watercraft happens to be moving towards their destination. But as we have reiterated several times on this page, authorities in the sector must put in place the necessary safety measures. The special committee recently inaugurated by the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy to enhance safety on the waterways must get to work. Travelling by water should not be a suicide mission.
