On June 12, 2023, a day that was meant to be a celebration of democracy in Nigeria, a horrific boat accident claimed the lives of 106 people on the River Niger.
The victims were wedding guests who were returning from a ceremony in Niger State to Kwara State when their overloaded boat capsized in the middle of the night.
The boat accident was one of the worst in the history of Patigi Local Government Area of Kwara State, where most of the victims hailed from.
According to local authorities and a police report, the boat was carrying 270 passengers, far beyond its capacity, and none of them were wearing life jackets. The boat hit a tree amid strong waves and sank into the river.
The rescue operation lasted for several hours and involved divers, fishermen and local volunteers.
Out of the 270 passengers, only 144 survived, mostly women and children. They were taken to nearby hospitals for medical attention and reunited with their families.
The chairman of Patigi Local Government Council, Mohammed Ibrahim Liman said that three villages in Kwara State were affected by the incident: Kpada, Ebu and Dzakan. He also said that six people from two villages in Kogi State lost their lives in the boat accident.
The Area Manager of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) in charge of Niger-Kwara areas, Akapo Adeboye, blamed the boat mishap on overloading and turbulent winds. He said that NIWA had been educating the boat operators on safety standards and imposing fines for violations, but many of them ignored the warnings and travelled at night to avoid monitoring and patrol.
He said: “This is a very sad situation that is avoidable, because what led to it was due to overloading of the boat by the operators. They want to make more money and overload their boats. We have educated them through messages in English, Hausa and other languages spoken in this area, but they won’t listen.
“We even set up a safety unit and when we apprehend any defaulter, we sanction them through payment of fines up to N100,000.
“Despite all our efforts at making sure that they comply with the safety standards that they must have life jackets, lifebuoys and other safety equipment on board, many of the operators just choose the easiest way out by travelling at night just because they want to avoid our monitoring and safety patrol.”
The Kwara State Governor, Malam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, who visited the families of the victims to offer his condolences, announced some safety measures to prevent future occurrences.
He said that the government would send legislation to the parliament that would impose punishments and fines for violations of the safety protocol. He also said that the government would deliver at least 1,000 life jackets to support safe travels on water in the area.
He added: “In addition to whatever safety measures that are in place, the government will design and roll out some statewide standard operating procedures for water travels to cover issues of boat serviceability, speed and loading limits and wearing of life jackets by all passengers. This will be the new irreducible minimum.”
The boat accident has left a deep scar on the communities affected by it and raised questions about the safety and regulation of water transportation in Nigeria. It has also highlighted the need for more awareness and enforcement of safety measures among boat operators and passengers.
In his own reaction, the Managing Director of Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission, HYPPADEC, Abubakar Yelwa, also blamed the high fatality recorded in Monday’s boat accident on failure of the victims to wear life jackets.
He stressed the need for a law that will make it mandatory for boat passengers across the country to always wear life jackets.
Yelwa also called for a law to restrain boat operators from operating at night, lamenting that the N1.6b life jackets procured last year for the use of boat passengers were not utilised.
“I want to call on the relevant authorities to legislate a law that will make the use of life jackets compulsory for boat passengers, as well as restrain the boat operators from operating at night.
“If the victims had worn life jackets and the accident occurred in broad daylight, the fatality rate would have been very minimal,” Yelwa asserted.
Meanwhile, condolence messages on the tragedy have continued to pour into the communities from prominent Nigerians across the country.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, Speaker of the Kwara House of Assembly, Engr Yakubu Danladi-Salihu, Emir of Ilorin, Dr Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun state and former governor of Anambra state, Peter Obi, among others, condoled the families of the victims, the Etsu Patigi, and the people of the communities, describing the incident as tragic and unfortunate.
