4 September 2025 - At least 27 people have been confirmed dead following a boat accident that occurred earlier this week in Niger State, prompting renewed concern over safety practices on Nigeria’s inland waterways.
The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has expressed deep frustration over what it described as widespread disregard for safety regulations among local boat operators and passengers. Speaking on Thursday, the agency’s General Manager for Business Development, Olawale Adetola, said the tragedy could have been avoided if basic safety measures had been followed.
“We are tired of hearing all these fatalities coming through boat accidents,” Adetola said during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief. “We’ve done enlightenment and sensitisation of all boat operators to be safety conscious while using their boats on water. We have distributed life jackets to protect lives in case of this kind of accident. But by and large, people don’t adhere to the safety regulation that we have put in place.”
The fatal incident occurred at Gausawa, along the Malale–Kainji Lake route in Borgu Local Government Area. According to eyewitness accounts, the wooden boat, which was reportedly carrying 138 passengers, capsized around 11:49 a.m. along the Shagunu–Dunga axis of Kainji Lake. NIWA’s rescue team arrived at the scene at approximately 1:33 p.m.
Emergency responders managed to rescue 46 men, 58 women, and an undisclosed number of children, many of whom were wearing life jackets. Adetola noted that some survivors who did not have life jackets were saved by clinging to others who did.
“I believe what must have caused this accident is still under investigation,” he said. “But from the look of things, I think the boat ran into a log or a hard object in the water.”
The Manager of NIWA’s Niger-Kwara Area Office, Akapo Adeboye, confirmed that the sunken boat had been removed from the water, but added that rescue operations were still ongoing. So far, 27 bodies have been recovered—eight on Monday and 19 on Tuesday.
In response to the tragedy, NIWA is considering the establishment of community safety committees to improve awareness and enforcement of water transport regulations at the grassroots level.
The Niger accident is the latest in a string of deadly boat mishaps across Nigeria. In August, more than 40 people were reported missing after a boat carrying over 50 passengers to a market in Sokoto State capsized. Only 10 survivors were rescued, according to the National Emergency Management Agency.
Earlier that month, 16 farmers drowned when a canoe ferrying them to rice fields overturned in Sokoto. And on July 29, six girls lost their lives after a boat taking them home from farm work capsized midstream in Jigawa State.
These recurring incidents have raised urgent questions about the enforcement of safety standards and the need for more robust oversight of water transport systems, especially in rural communities where boats remain a primary mode of travel.
NIWA has reiterated its commitment to improving safety on Nigeria’s waterways but insists that lasting change will require cooperation from local operators and passengers alike.
“We are doing all we can as an authority to make sure that things like this don’t happen,” Adetola said. “But safety is a shared responsibility.”
0 Comments