
The Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Bola Oyebamiji has placed human errors, drugs, and disobedience to the law as the major causes of boat accidents that occured in the past three years.
Oyebamiji made this known while on oversight function to the headquarters of the authority in Lokoja, Kogi State capital on Wednesday.
Oyabamiji added that some operators are appalling to following rules and regulations, stressing that some use wooden boats taking over 150 to 200 passengers which is above their capacity.
He noted that some of the operators lived on drugs to influence their activities to make them high and eventually make unpardonable mistakes
READ ALSO
- NIWA Begins Water Hyacinth Removal On Lagos Creeks, Channels
- NIWA Flags Off Water Hyacinth Removal On Lagos Waters
- NIWA To Phase Out Wooden Boats On Inland Waterways –MD
“99 per cent of the mishaps on the waterways were a result of human errors. Research has shown that operators are committing avoidable mistakes which shouldn’t have caused havoc,” Oyabamiji noted
He said that the transportation code requires revalidation because the operators have not been strictly following the code recently signed while some are not providing required life jackets for their passengers.
The Chairman of the House Committee on NIWA, Mr Ojema Ojotu, who led a team of seven members to Lokoja, explained that the inland waterways are an integral part of Nigeria’s transportation framework, offering immense potential for enhancing connectivity, reducing road congestion, and stimulating economic growth.