The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has confirmed that the death toll from the boat mishap in Niger State three days ago has risen to at least 70.
The unfortunate incident occured at the Gbajibo River, Mokwa Local Government Area of Niger State, after a wooden boat carrying 300 passengers capsized, on Tuesday night.
While rescue efforts are still ongoing by joint efforts of NIWA, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and local divers, at ĺeast 150 of the 300 passengers have been brought to safety
While, President Bola Tinubu has sent condolences to the Government and people of Niger State over the boat accident, the state Governor, Mohammed Bago has expressed sadness over the incident and vowed to redouble efforts to enforce laws in line with water transportation.
Speaking on the incident, the Lagos Area Manager of NIWA, Mrs. Sarat Braimah, accused the operators of the iboat of illegal operations by sailing at 8:30p.m., which is against the water transportation code.
She disclosed that the four NIWA water marshalls deployed to the Gbajibo River where the incident occurred had already closed from duty for the day and left, before the boat embarked on the journey.
She said that the Marshalls went to the other side of the jetty while the ill-fated boat was loading without their knowledge.
Braimah said: “NIWA just constituted river marshalls, who were posted to every state and Niger State in particular has 24 water marshalls while in Mokwa LGA, where the incident happened, they have four Marshals.
“NIWA will now make it 24-hour surveillance on waterways in that area in order to prevent reoccurrence.”
