Nigeria has more than 10,000km of navigable inland waterways. This ‘wealth’ comprises of rivers, creeks, lagoons, lakes and intra-coastal waters. The nation’s main rivers are Rivers Niger and Benue. Both rivers form a confluence at Lokoja, in Kogi State. Several brown waters across about 28 states flows in both Niger and Benue rivers.
Available facts indicate that River Niger is the longest river in West Africa and eleventh longest in the world. The river and its main tributary (which is River Benue), the delta creeks as well as the lagoons bordering the coast form the principal navigable waterways in Nigeria.
It is also instructive that these principal navigable waterways are the major transportation routes linking Apapa, Tin Can, Warri, Port Harcourt, Onne and Calabar seaports and the numerous river ports and jetties.
Through the Lagoon and Delta creeks, a water transport route is established between the hinterland and urban centres of Nigeria on River Niger. This goes as far as Niamey in the Republic of Niger and Garua in Cameroon on River Benue.
To oversee these and activities pertaining to them, the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) was established by Decree No. 13 of 1997 (now an Act) with a clear mandate to manage Nigeria’s vast inland waterway resources.
The law vests in NIWA the power of exclusive management, direction and control on the Nigerian inland waterways. This power is exercised on Nigeria’s 3000km of navigable waterways from the Nigeria/Niger and Nigeria/Cameroon borders to the Atlantic Ocean.
Nigeria is blessed with a river configuration very suitable for North-South movement of people and goods. It is therefore the responsibility of NIWA to ensure that there is safe navigation.
But it can not be said that navigating through Nigeria’s inland water channel is safe. Sadly, users of waterways transportation face the uncertainty of safe departure and arrival every day. This is the most glaring demonstration of the failure of NIWA to deliver on its mandate.
The undoubted confirmation of the fact that our waterways are not safe is the rate at which accidents occur on these waters.
With increased patronage of water transportation in the country, there has been a corresponding rise in fatal accidents.
Official records indicate that 28 out of the 36 states in the country use water as a means of transport. The states cut across all the six geopolitical zones of the country. Reports say that about 1,429 casualties were recorded in four years.
A few weeks ago, this newspaper came up with an investigative report of deaths on Nigerian waters, since the appointment of the incumbent Managing Director of NIWA, Mr. Munirudeen Oyebamiji.
Our findings revealed a staggering fact that more than 320 people have died in boat accidents since September 2023, when he was appointed as Managing Director of the agency, with hardly a month passing without reports of fatalities on the country’s inland waterways.
Sadly, a few days after the publication, tragedy struck again in Lagos and Kwara and Niger states.
The incident in Niger state where the boat capsized affected travelers from Kwara state who were in wooden boat carrying nearly 200 people. About 100 persons were reportedly rescued from various points along the water channel.
NIWA confirmed that the boat capsized due to suspected overloading.
Also, last week Monday, a fiber boat carrying 13 passengers, along with a deckhand, captain and cargo was travelling from Ebute Ero to Badagry when it collided with a wooden boat. The accident recorded casualties.
According to a preliminary statement from NIWA, the tragic incident which occurred in Niger state is attributed to night voyage and overloading.
In the case of the accident in Lagos, NIWA blamed it on non-adherence to safety guidelines and over-loading.
Sadly, NIWA is almost sounding like a broken record, once an accident occurs. In what appears like a prepared statement waiting to be adapted to location of accidents, NIWA always says: “The Authority therefore warns boat operators to desist from flouting safety rules, including ban on night travel and overloading of boats”!
NIWA would always stress “the importance of adhering to safety guidelines”, and remind “boat operators to avoid overloading and the dangers of night travel”.
The nation’s waterways lack monitoring to enforce adherence to these guidelines from point of departure to point of arrival of the boats.
By its own admission, NIWA has often acknowledged that many boat operators still defy safety requirements and travel at night and also operate without passenger manifest and use of life jackets. It was also found out that some boats were ‘over-boarded’ beyond their designed capacity. These are manifest violation of safety guidelines as spelt out by the agency itself, and a clear invitation for accidents.
We are sure that the various associations of ferry operators are aware that most accidents are caused by a combination of the factors mentioned above. The regulatory agency; NIWA is aware too.
The NIWA needs to get more serious about enforcement of safety regulations; it is not enough to identify the problems as has often been done.
It is worrisome that for many years, NIWA has been shouting about non-compliance, yet it has not done anything about it, beyond going to jetties to educate passengers and operators and hand-out life jackets. We believe that, after education and enlightenment, NIWA should have commenced enforcement.
The regulations are there, so why is it difficult for NIWA to make it mandatory for all the ferry operators to always comply with all the rules and regulations that guide the subsector?
Without necessarily being judgmental, what these mishaps imply is that NIWA has failed in its statutory duties of safeguarding navigation through the nation’s inland water channels.
Yes, we agree with those who posit that most boat accidents occur as a result of human error. But it means that, with adequate monitoring, and enforcement, the human errors can be reduced.
We urge that NIWA should (in addition to ensuring that operators and boat handlers are adequately trained) engage the locals at both end of the journeys and at the various jetties as partners in the enforcement of basic safety rules.
Finally, NIWA may also need to seek the cooperation of governments of all the littoral states in the country. It is obvious that NIWA can not from its headquarters in Lokoja in Kogi state, perform its statutory duties at all the jetties and monitor all actors involved in waterway navigation in Nigeria
Perhaps, the Federal Government (through the National Assembly) will tinker with the exclusivity which NIWA currently enjoys with regards to navigating the nation’s waterways.
