In the Niger River in Nigeria on October 1, 2024, a boat carrying around 300 people—mostly women and children—capsized, resulting in a death toll that is allegedly higher than 100. In Niger State, the travellers were travelling to celebrate Mawlid, a Muslim holiday. Rescue personnel have pulled 150 people and 36 bodies out of the water as of October 4, 2024. Recovering bodies is currently the main focus of rescue efforts, with limited chance of discovering further survivors given that the disaster happened three days before.
Although the actual cause of the evening’s tragedy is unknown, poorly managed waterways, overloading, and nighttime navigation are major causes of boat accidents in Nigeria. Authorities in Nigeria, notably President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have condoled with the victims and demanded that this and previous boat incidents be looked into. In addition to praising local divers and emergency personnel for their assistance in the rescue attempts, Tinubu stressed the need of enforcing laws governing movement at night. Nigeria’s rivers are notoriously dangerous, especially in isolated and rural places. This is mostly because of inadequate regulations, unpredictable weather, overloaded boats, and antiquated or dangerous watercraft.
These incidents highlight the perils of travelling on Nigeria’s waterways.
Most times, boat accidents happen frequently when rivers flood during the rainy season, increasing the risk of collisions. Over 100 persons lose their lives in boat accidents every year in Nigeria, according to the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA). Although nighttime cruising is prohibited by legislation, many of these tragedies are related to the lack of life jackets, Overcrowding of boats, and risky boating practices. Tragic boat accidents with large fatalities have historically occurred in Nigeria. In June 2023, in Kwara State, one of the bloodiest occurrences happened when a boat carrying over 250 passengers collapsed, resulting in the drowning of over 100 individuals.
Overcapacity on Nigeria’s waterways is a recurring problem, as seen by the overloaded vessel that sank when the passengers were returning from a wedding. Over 40 persons were killed when an overloaded boat carrying more than 50 farmers across the Gummi River capsized in September 2023, in Zamfara State. A severely packed boat capsized in the Niger River close to Kebbi State in May 2021, leaving 150 passengers missing and perhaps dead. The recurrent incidents highlight the continuous peril encountered by travellers on Nigeria’s waterways, where safety protocols are inadequately implemented and boats are frequently utilised beyond their reasonable limitations, particularly in the rainy season.
Lack of funds and supervision has made it difficult to enforce NIWA laws.
Alarmingly, frequent fatal incidents persist in spite of requests for tighter safety regulations. Residents of the area regularly complain that boat operators frequently disobey safety laws. According to a survivor of the most recent River Niger catastrophe, there were too few life jackets and too many people crammed in. “The operators assured us we would not have any problems even though we knew the boat was full. One of the rescued passengers,” Musa Sani, stated, “We had no choice but to board.”
According to theories, overloading and nighttime navigation—both of which are prohibited by Nigerian law—may have contributed to the most recent accident in Niger State. Three times the boat’s safe capacity was allegedly being carried. Emergency personnel think that inadequate nighttime vision and the boat’s incapacity to support the passengers’ weight may have contributed to the accident, even if the precise cause has not been named. Lack of funds and supervision has made it difficult to enforce NIWA laws even when they are in place.
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Many times, boat operators operate their vessels without doing routine maintenance or safety inspections, breaking the law. Officially, major waterways cannot be travelled at night, and overloading is illegal; nonetheless, outside of major cities, these restrictions are hardly enforced. Boat operators continue to prioritise profit over passenger safety in more isolated places due to a lack of regulations and corruption. Furthermore, without providing alternate modes of transportation, compliance becomes challenging in many local communities that rely significantly on water transit for everyday travel and commercial operations.