By Roland Ekama
Seasoned maritime lawyer , Barrister Osuala Emmanuel Nwagbara has called on the newly appointed Minister of Transportation, Mu’Azu Sambo to prioritize and device a means of preventing the Incessant boat accident in the nation’s brown waters from further occurrences.
Nwagbara in chat recently, expressed worries over the high rates of boat mishaps in the country, noting that the situation calls for urgent attention that must be addressed by the once Area Manager, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) in Lagos State.
According to him, the Minister as an expert in the maritime industry should prioritize the safety of water transportation in the country while in office adding that with the political will power in place, passengers and operators should adhere strictly to the rules and regulations.
The legal counsel noted that boat mishaps was not limited to passengers alone, pointing out that barging operations have also suffered numerous setbacks through the waterways by accident.
He also seek for the Minister’s attention to standardize barge operations in the waterways, noting that some of the accidents that have occurred are not limited to passengers alone but barging activities.
“With Sambo background as retired senior personnel from NIWA,we are reading reports about accident on our waterways. Recently we had about 17 passengers losing their lives at Mile 2 waters and I am yet to see NIWA enforcers on that waters.
” Luckily NIWA is under his supervision, and we are looking at how he can focus on this area as an in house person.
“There are number of barge accidents unreported as well, These are the things we want him to look into we will like to see a standardized barge operations this time around.”
Nwagbara reiterated that the waterways transportation should be encouraged also through inter- state movement of passengers and goods urging that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the Nigeria Navy should be reached in furtherance to securing movement of lives and properties.
He said water transportation has the potential to provide massive job creation for youths in riverine communities, saying that with proper dredging and channelisation of the brown waters for optimal utilisation, revenue generation for the government can improve from his supervisory ministry.
