The House of Representatives has called for the urgent enforcement of all safety rules and regulations on the Nigerian waterways.
To this end, the House Tuesday mandated its relevant committees to ensure that violation of boating laws and regulations by operators who board excessive number of passengers in such boats are checked and penalised where necessary.
It has also urged the Federal Ministry of Transportation and its agencies to enforce safety regulations through constant checks on boats, and to remove pollutants in the waterways.
The resolution came following a motion presented by Hon. Hamisu Ibrahim on the “Need to Enforce Safety Regulations in the Nigerian Waterways.”
He noted that boat accidents in the Nigerian waterways are caused by overloading, as well as lack of maintenance.
He added that the development was becoming dangerous with reports of over 300 fatalities in 2020 and over 100 deaths from May to September this year.
The lawmaker recalled that on May 26, 2021, an overloaded boat carrying more than 160 passengers broke into two, and sank in River Niger, leading to the death of 100 people, while on 27 September, 2021, another mishap occurred in Lagos with one person confirmed dead after a boat capsized.
The lawmaker who partly blamed the incessant occurrences on over speeding, careless driving and bad weather, also expressed concerns that “the incessant boat mishaps occurring within the country’s waterways is as a result of the quest to boost income.”
