*Bodies recovered from the Gbajibo River rises to 70
* NIWA deployed additional Water Marshals, modern ferry to Niger
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By Femi Akinola
The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has accused the operators of the ill-fated both mishap in Niger State of illegal operations.
The Authority noted that all the local wooden boats used in the area where the ugly incident took place on Tuesday evening are sub-standard and they don’t have any navigationl aids to sustain night travel.
A wooden boat carrying about 300 passengers on Tuesday evening at about 8.30 pm capsized on Gbajobo rivers in Mokwa Local Government Areas of Niger State. More bodies have been recovered from the river totalling 70 while 150 have so far rescued.
NIWA has deployed a modern ferry and more River Marshals who will be on 24 hours surveillance in the state as rescued efforts continued in search for the remaining missing passengers with the collaboration of the Niger State Nationl Emergency Management Autgority (NEMA).
Reacting to the boat mishap, the Lagos Area Manager of NIWA, Mrs.Sarat Braimah, accused the operators of the capsized wooden boat of illegal operations for saialing at 8.30pm saying this was against water transportation code which has outlawed night sailing.
Braimah, who absolved NIWA of complicity in the ugly incident following public outrage over what was described as negligence of NIWA, disclosed that the four Water Marshalls deployed to the Gbajibo River where the boat capsized had already closed from duty for the day and left the jetty by 8 pm while the boat loaded at 8.30 pm.
However, the NIWA Area Manager explained that the Marshals went to the other side of the jetty while the ill-fated boat was loading passengers without the Marshal’s knowledge.
Owing to the Tuesday boat capsized in Mokwa LGA, NIWA has deployed more Water Marshals to Niger State and other states in the northern part of the country where night sailing is prevalent for 24-hour surveillance, Braimah disclosed.
” NIWA just constituted river marshals who were posted to every state and Niger State in particular has 24 Water Marshals in Mokwa local government area where the incident happened. NIWA will now make 24-hour surveillance on waterways in that area to prevent reoccurence,” she noted.
Braimah noted that not quite long, NIWA launched the recently gazetted transportation code and its contents particularly the penalties for infractions of safety standards and made it available to every state state of the federation.
” Last month, NIWA was everywhere on sensitization of the revering public on this code. But, unfortunately, this tragic incident happened. From now on, night sailing is our target. We are going to recruit more Water Marshals who will be working on 24 to 24 hour basis. This will hopefully deter people and boat operators from night sailing,” Braimah said.
Gbajobo river in Mokwa local government area of Niger State is known for being notorious for boat accidents. It would be recalled that a little over a year ago (September 2023), a similar boat mishap happened when a boat carrying 50 passengers capsized, killing 24 persons who were on their ways to their farms for harvest.
