- Earlier, the Kogi governor commiserated the victims.
- Ododo urged relevant authorities to implement safety measures to minimize risks associated with water transportation.
The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has deployed an emergency rescue team to search for missing passengers of a merchant boat that capsized in Kogi on Friday.
NIWA’s Managing Director, Mr. Bola Oyebamiji, disclosed this information in a statement on Friday.
According to Oyebamiji, the boat capsized in the waters of Ebe community in Kupa South Local Government Area of Kogi in the early hours of Friday.
“Preliminary findings by NIWA indicate that the wooden boat was travelling to the Katcha market in Niger State when it suddenly went under due to poor visibility and overloading.
“There are no details of lives lost so far.
“The wooden craft, operated by an unknown boat operator, left with an unsubstantiated number of passengers, from an abandoned jetty at 1.00 a.m. on Friday morning with intent to beat NIWA’s tight surveillance on waterways.
“To unravel the cause of the accident, NIWA has set up an investigation panel to ascertain the real cause of the accident, the total number of passengers onboard and the owner of the craft,” he said.
Oyebamiji added that NIWA’s top management team was leading the rescue operations and ensuring survivors receive urgent medical attention.
He said that NIWA will release more information on the incident in due course.
“We are shocked by this incident despite our efforts to sensitize Nigerians about safety measures on waterways.
“It’s not long ago that we unveiled the National Waterways Transportation Code, visited communities, and stakeholders to make them have a buy-in to our strategy to curb accidents on water.
“We also discussed with state governors in Nigeria to partner with us in providing safe water crafts to help move people and goods safely across our waterways, but sadly, this happened.
“NIWA will investigate this accident and will prosecute the boat captain and the owner for deliberate disobedience to the extant law on waterways,” he said.
The Kogi state governor, Usman Ododo urged relevant authorities to implement safety measures to minimize risks associated with water transportation.