‘Poor Design, Overloading, Fuelling Boat Accidents, Not Wooden Boats’

A maritime expert, Adakole Ejegbudu, has disagreed with the federal government’s recent call to phase out wooden boats amid rising boat accidents  in the country’s inland waterways.

LEADERSHIP reports that the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has urged littoral state governments to phase out wooden boats in their respective states.

While commiserating with the victims and families of the recent boat accident in Shagari Local Government Area of Sokoto State, the minister noted that boat accidents had mainly persisted due to the widespread use of wooden boats.

The minister appealed to state governments to invest in modern, non-wooden boats for commercial operations in their states.

However, speaking to LEADERSHIP, Adakole said there’s nothing wrong with wood as a boat-building material; what is wrong is the design, engineering, and construction.

Adakole, the technical director of Flotilla Academy of Marine Technology (FAMT), said yachts were still being built with  wood and suggested that the country needed  to train existing local boat builders in best practices.

“Vessels are designed as passenger boats with a defined capacity of 10 passengers and an average passenger weight of approximately. 70kg plus a marginal allowance for personal effects. However, due to economic pressures, lack of dedicated cargo vessels, and insufficient regulatory enforcement, passengers routinely embark with large, heavy cargo—sacks of grain, motorcycles, building materials, and market goods—each item often weighing several times the passenger themselves.”

According to him, since the locals don’t distinguish between passenger boats and cargo boats, the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) should regulate loading and unloading.

“A boat designed for 1000kg (10 passengers plus some allowance for hand luggage) ends up carrying a vastly greater load, and such a massive increase in weight has catastrophic effects on a vessel’s stability.

“The vessel sits significantly lower in the water, making it susceptible to swamping by small waves or wake from other vessels.

The centre of gravity is raised, especially if cargo is stacked high, making the vessel incredibly tender and prone to capsizing even during routine manoeuvres.

“The hull and engine are placed under stress they were not designed to handle, leading to potential mechanical failure and structural fatigue. This practice, therefore, converts a passenger vessel into an unseaworthy deathtrap, directly contributing to the tragic accidents witnessed across the country.”