Ibrahim Oyewale in Lokoja
The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has commiserated with the Katsina State Government and families of the victims of a boat mishap over the untimely death of no fewer than 15 passengers in the incident.
The management described as shock and unfortunate the boat mishap that claimed the lives of 15 passengers at Mai-Adua Local Government Area of Katsina State, saying the incident was a tragedy for Katsina State and Nigeria in general.
This was contained in a statement issued by the General Manager, Corporate Affairs of NIWA, Jibril Dadau, a copy of which was made available to journalists in Lokoja at the weekend.
He explained that the unfortunate boat mishap occurred on May 4, 2022, at about 11 p.m. in Mai-Adua LGA of the state where 15 persons lost their lives.
The head of the Corporate Affairs on behalf of the management of National Inland Waterways Authority condoled with the family of the deceased persons, Katsina State and Mai-Adua Local Government Area of the state.
The statement further read: “We wish to extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased. We are greatly pained that this mishap occurred despite all the measures the authority has put in place to forestall such mishaps. Only recently, the authority distributed life jackets and some patrol vessels to all our Area Offices across the country, to enhance surveillance and monitoring of activities on the waterways.
“We further wish to appeal to passengers and boat drivers to obey the rules and guidelines regulating passenger transportation. The use of life jackets; no sailing at night; the use of standard boats and not overloading the boats are key guidelines for safe passenger transportation.
“As we condole with the government and people of Katsina State and in particular, the families of the deceased, we shall not relent on our efforts to curb these occurrences within our inland waterways.”
