By Disun Amosun
Worried stiff by the incessant fatal boat accidents across the country’s water ways, the House of Representatives Tuesday charged the National Inland Waterways Authority NIWA to step up standards for passenger and goods- ferrying boats construction and effective licensing procedures on their operations.
This is sequel to a motion of urgent public importance of a boat accident involving 300 victims in Egbajibo, Mokwa LGA Niger State, tabled on the floor of the House by Rep Joshua Gana.
He said in the presentation of the motion that no fewer than 80 bodies have been recovered, 74 dead, 6 alive with 200 still missing in the boat accident that occurred on Tuesday on the Niger River of the Jebba Dam at Gbajibo community in Mokwa Local Government Area of Niger State.
According to the motion, the boat which was conveying about 300 passengers going for a Maulud celebration from New Gbajibo in Kwara state to Old Gbajibo in Niger state, populated mostly by youths from Kwara state, when it capsized at around 8:30pm
Members during debate expressed concern that mostly women and children were on board in a wooden vessel that capsized in Mokwa, locally made with a capacity for 100 passengers, but had about 300 people on board when it overturned in the rural Mokwa.
They further expressed worries about boat accidents becoming rampant and fatal, mostly attributed to overloading and lack of safety measures required for boat travelers.
The latest mishap is the second such major disaster in Niger in 18 months after more than 100 people were killed in an earlier boat accident.
“Most of the boat disasters in Nigeria in recent years increasingly point to regulatory failures and are often attributed to overloading, poorly maintained boat and it’s high time NIWA and other regulatory agencies effectively play their roles.
The House further urged the National Inland Waterways Authority NIWA to step up enforcement and establish training centres across the country to educate boat operators, especially on safety.
It also urged the Nigerian Navy, as the police of the nation’s waterways and the Coastal Guards to set up a Command in River Niger flank of Niger state.