KATSINA BOAT MISHAP: NIWA condoles families of the bereaved, pledges stricter oversight
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A capsized boat
The National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA, has expressed its sincere condolences to relatives of the 15 passengers who were casualties of the boat mishap last Wednesday, in Katsina state, and to the state government for the avoidable but irreparable loss.
A media statement from NIWA and signed by the General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Jibril Darda’u, reiterated the authority’s “appeal to passengers and boat drivers to obey the rules and guidelines regulating passenger transportation”.
The statement reminded operators to strictly adhere to the regulations as prescribed by NIWA such as the use of life jackets, no sailing at night, the use of sails worthy and standard boats, and not overloading the boats, which were all key guidelines for safe passenger transportation.
The General Manager also highlighted some of the efforts of the authority to prevent serious incidents and accidents by “distributing life jackets and some patrol vessels to all our Area Offices across the country, to enhance surveillance and monitoring of activities on the waterways”, he said.
Recalled the accident occurred at about 11. pm, on a fateful day, Wednesday, 4th May 2022, which on its own was an infraction of the regulation that proscribed night sailing.
The statement, however, assured operators, stakeholders and the general public, that NIWA will not relent in its efforts at curbing those infractions peculiar to operators within our inland waterways.
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