Tinubu orders probe into boat accidents as 901 people die

According to information provided to The PUNCH, between January 2020 and September 2023, at least 901 men, women, and children perished in boat accidents nationwide.

There were over 61 boat accidents during the time under examination.

A boat carrying about 85 people reportedly collapsed in October 2022 in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, resulting in 76 deaths via drowning.

According to reports, most of the deceased were women and children who were trying to evacuate to safety after floods engulfed their community.

Only 20 people were saved when a boat carrying passengers to the market between Kebbi and Niger states broke apart in May 2021, while more than 150 people went missing.

In May 2023, a boat capsized in a river in Sokoto state, northwest Nigeria, killing 15 children and leaving 25 more missing.

According to reports, eight people perished in the disaster that happened in Gusau, Zamfara, in May 2023.

More than 106 individuals perished in the Kwara boat tragedy in June 2023. In addition, a boat accident on June 26 claimed the lives of three Calabar State students.

On August 24, 2023, a boat accident on the Kogi Kungra Kamfani river in Arikiya, Lafia LGA, Nasarawa resulted in the deaths of 12.

On September 9, 15 deaths in the Adamawa boat were verified, and 11 more perished two days later.

Over 30 individuals were rescued from a boat tragedy that occurred on September 10, 2023, in the Mokwa local government area of Niger state, where 30 people, including women and children, have been reported deceased. 

Senator Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Marine Transport, has expressed sympathy to the governments and citizens of Adamawa and Niger States following the fatalities caused by the most recent boat accidents in their respective states.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Senator queried the sea-worthiness of some of the vessels plying the nation’s waters and blamed them for engaging in overloading and lack of safety vests as the significant causes of boat accidents.

He said, “The death of 15 persons in Adamawa and 24 in Niger on our local waters is sad and regrettable. The development is a wake-up call to all to enforce extant safety regulations along our inland waterways across the nation to mitigate against the recurrence of these maritime fatalities.

“This needless loss of lives has to stop. We must do everything to safeguard lives as the lives of our people are sacred.”

Source