The 16 passengers that perished on the eve of Eid-el-Kabir festival while sailing from Mile 2 to Ibeshe, Ojo in Lagos State, were same family members from Ibeshe, Mile 2 of the State, LEADERSHIP has learnt.
Speaking, when the officials of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Lagos Area Office, led by the area manager, Engr. Sarat Buraimah, paid a condolence visit to Ibeshe town on Wednesday, the Ovori of Ibeshe, Oba Alani Gausu, said the victims, who were from the Sumola Aniajogun family of Ibeshe, were travelling for Sallah when they perished in boat mishap on Friday.
However, NIWA also revealed that the jetty where the ill-fated boat departed last Friday had been shut down since June 2021 with policemen permanently stationed at the jetty for enforcement.
According to the traditional ruler, the ill-fated boat sank after carrying passengers beyond its capacity as well as operating outside the time of safe navigation.
Oba Gausu also blamed lack of training, drug abuse and operating after regulatory hours by boat operators as challenges responsible for boat accidents on Lagos waterways.
He said, “The boat tragedy that resulted in the death of 17 boat passengers last Friday was down to human error. The boat driver failed to do what he ought to have done before loading passengers on the boat and pushing the boat into water. How can a boat driver load passengers on a boat, push the boat into the water before checking if he has the correct mixture of engine oil in the boat engine?”
He continued, “Due to this error from the boat driver, the tide pushed the fully loaded boat underneath a barge and the entire passengers, including the boat driver drowned. It all comes down to lack of training for boat drivers. Many of them are not educated, they operate under the influence of drugs and it is important that NIWA, Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), and other stakeholders provide training for boat skippers.”
He, however, enjoined the NIWA boss to ensure adequate training for boat skippers, saying the boat that sank operated above its capacity.
“If boat skippers are well trained, the scenario where drivers operate outside the 6:30am to 6:30pm stipulated time won’t occur. The ill-fated boat that sank was carrying passengers beyond its capacity. The boat was overloaded and was operating outside the time for safe navigation. We need more training for boat drivers to ensure incidences like this does not repeat itself,” he added.
Speaking earlier, the NIWA area manager, Engr. Braimah, assured the monarch of increased patrol of the waterways to forestall future occurrence of such incidences.
She also stated that they will intensify training for boat skippers, the Authority will take advocacy and training to riverine communities to forestall reoccurrence of the Ibeshe incident.
“We are here to condole with you over the death of 16 members of the Ibeshe community in a boat mishap in Mile 2 area of Lagos. I bring you words of condolences from my managing director, Dr. George Moghalu, over the boat mishap that occured in Mile 2. Going forward, we will be intensifying patrols on our waterways,” she stated.
On the area of training, she said, “In the area of training, we have been conducting training for boat drivers and was supposed to begin enforcement this July, but for plea from some of our stakeholders who said some of their members couldn’t partake in the training due to various reasons, but we are embarking on enforcement because we have been training boat skippers and drivers and we will continue training them.
“From what happened at Mile 2, we have now promised to take training of boat drivers to the riverine communities. The jetty that the ill-fated boat departed last Friday had been shut down since last year June till December. Policemen were positioned there to stop usage of that jetty. How they used the jetty illegally without being caught still baffles me.
“Now, we will be increasing patrol and taking training of boat drivers to riverine communities,” she concluded.
The NIWA delegation also visited the Sumola Aniajogun family house of the 17 deceased boat passengers, who lost their lives alongside the ill-fated boat drivers.
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