NIWA Waterways of Death: Agency Begins 2024 with Boat Mishaps, 8 Deaths Recorded in Anambra Accident

By DAPO OLAWUNI

The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has started year 2024 on a bad note with the sad report of a boat mishap at Umumu Anam, Anambra West LGA, Anambra state betwen Thursday the 4th and Friday the 5th of January, 2024 at about 7am.

In 2023, the regulatory competence of NIWA was highly in doubt as dead bodies of innocent Nigerians plying the waterways littered the waters with one mishap after the other. These Nigerians and their families were victims of poor government regulation and lack of compliance by greedy boat operators.

As usual, NIWA, the agency in charge of the inland waterways, has come out at the weekend to regret the Anambra
accident.

In a statement issued by Jibril Darda’u, the General Manager Corporate Affairs of NIWA on Sunday, he said the Authority is aware that the sad incident involved a passenger boat travelling from Idah in Kogi state to Onitsha in Anambra state.

“Upon the receipt of the sad report, relevant personnel from the marine department were deployed for rescue, recovery, and proper investigation.

“Preliminary reports indicated that the wooden engine boat rammed into a snag on the water channel and capsized with about 50 passengers on board. From the records, 8 persons were confirmed dead at the scene, while 38 others were rescued immediately.

“The recovery efforts are ongoing and the Authority will provide detailed information to the public as soon as the field officers report back to the headquarters.

“The Authority sincerely commiserates with the friends and families of the deceased and prayed to God to rest their souls.

“In the meantime, we want to reassure the general public that NIWA is doing everything possible to ensure safer inland waterways for the movement of people and goods across our inland waterways” he said