The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has said it will build a jetty in Patigi Local Government Area of Kwara State for safer water transportation.
The move is coming days after the boat accident in the area that claimed 106 lives.
Casualties were majorly women and children.
Managing Director of NIWA, Dr George Moghalu revealed this in Ilorin, the state capital, while briefing newsmen shortly after his visit to the affected communities and bereaved families.
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He said the “Jetty was in response to the demands of the locals, which was in line with the decision of NIWA to make water transportation safer.”
He said the construction would commence immediately after his team had visited the scene of the accident to carry out an environmental impact assessment (EIA).
“Once the EIA is done, the authority will make available a jetty or a boat ramp for the communities and we are starting immediately,” he noted.
He said “Over 95 per cent of accidents that happen on our waterways occur either in the night or very early hours of the morning for lack of navigational aid at night.”
According to him, preliminary investigations have shown that the accident was avoidable if specific protocols were followed.
The NIWA boss therefore cautioned boat operators and owners to restrict their movement to between 6am and 6pm, urging them to avoid night navigation.
“The vessel in question was very heavily overloaded with over 250 passengers. It was practically impossible for it to operate safely without having a hitch. Apart from passengers, we had leakages in the vessel.
“Most unfortunately, all the passengers were not wearing life jackets and it was a very rainy night. The rain came with wind.
“Apart from increasing water level, the wind was tossing the boat here and there and eventually smashed it on a tree,” he said.
He expressed President Bola Tinubu’s shock, concern and sadness over the incident.
“The president himself was very worried. Most of you have seen his reaction where he had gone to the extent of public investigation so that we can know exactly what happened to prevent such an ugly situation in future.
“In the course of our discussion, the communities also requested lifejackets and I instantly made 100 available to them.”
He said that NIWA had been embarking on aggressive training and retraining of boat owners and operators for effective standardisation of travels on inland waterways in the country.
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