From Dickson Pat
Former Minister of Interior and Chairman of Integrated Oil and Gas, Captain Emmanuel Iheneanacho, has raised concerns over the rising number of boat mishaps on Nigeria’s waterways, warning that the trend carries significant economic and reputational consequences for the country.
Speaking at the Fellows’ Luncheon of the Centre for Marine Surveyors in Nigeria, Ihenacho stressed the urgent need for a comprehensive national policy to address the issue. According to him, such a policy should include robust risk mitigation strategies to enhance safety on the waterways.
Iheanacho, who also chairs the Waterside Centre domiciled at the Mission to Seafarers, noted that the frequency of these incidents paints a negative picture of Nigeria’s maritime industry, which could discourage investment and hinder economic development.
He explained the importance of infrastructure development and called for the establishment of emergency response systems, rescue operations, and a functional weather alert system to help reduce the number of maritime accidents.
He stated that the government must grow the capacity to strictly regulate waterways transport so these avoidable deaths can be stopped.
He said: “That capacity has to be established, what we do not to be established is that so very often we record incidents that claim lives of Nigerians.
“I make reference to the study by Premium Times which looked at the issue of waterway accidents for four years and discovered that there were 71 had occurred and 1,032 Nigerians had died.
“These Nigerians need not due if the authorities had taken precaution to ensure that we had marine surveyors.
“Marine surveyors are professionals who guarantee quality in terms of how you comport yourself in the marine environment, the type of equipment you use, the hardware you use, the type of infrastructure, the proceeded that must be followed.
“There has to be a lot of investment in the National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA. Government has to look for the money so they can develop these capacities to ensure that we have safer inland waterways transport.”
Similarly, President of the Centre for Marine Surveyors in Nigeria, Engr. Akin Olaniyan warned against the improper use of life jackets who could be more dangerous than not wearing one Olaniyan explained that it is wrong to wear a life jacket inside an enclosed boat adding every watercraft must have the lifesaving gear on board at all times.
He said: “Wearing a life jacket inside a closed ferry is a very dangerous practice. Let us look at it from another perspective, if you are on an aero plane and there is an accident, and you find yourself on the water. You are warned to get out of the plane before you inflate your life jacket. The same thing should apply on our waterways.”
