NIWA to spend N16bn on boats, others amid surge in waterway deaths

The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has set aside N16 billion for inland waterways maintenance, boat procurement and other capital projects for the current year amidst rising deaths from boat accidents across Nigeria, largely occasioned by poor enforcement and non-compliance with safety rules. The sum pushed NIWA’s budgetary allocation since 2022 to N59.5bn as the […]

The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has set aside N16 billion for inland waterways maintenance, boat procurement and other capital projects for the current year amidst rising deaths from boat accidents across Nigeria, largely occasioned by poor enforcement and non-compliance with safety rules.

The sum pushed NIWA’s budgetary allocation since 2022 to N59.5bn as the death toll from boat crashes during the period tragically hovered at 1,000.

An analysis of the agency’s budgets reveals that a chunk of the N59.5bn was budgeted for the maintenance of waterways, including clearing of water hyacinths, wreck and waste, procurement of security and safety equipment as well as monitoring and evaluation.

Experts say if well implemented, spending in these areas, coupled with effective enforcement, should drastically curtail accidents on water – considered globally as a safe means of transportation.

• ‘We are still burying the dead’: Inside Kwara’s massacre
• Minority caucus: Senate approved e-transmission of election results

Some of NIWA’s budget items for 2026 include N245 million for the acquisition of security/revenue patrol boats (ongoing); N294m for the establishment, equipping of search and rescue stations, sensitisation and other relevant exercises (ongoing); and N105m for monitoring and evaluation.

Others are N210m for mapping and charting of waterways and right of way nationwide (ongoing); N147m for the purchase and installation of marine navigational aids, signs and signals nationwide; N105m for research and development and N140m for computer software acquisition.

A further analysis shows a steep rise in NIWA’s budgets since 2022, when it earmarked N4.2bn for capital expenditures. The budget rose to N5.4bn in 2023, N6.4bn the following year, and jumped to N22.9bn in 2025. Though it fell to N16bn in 2026, the sum equals the agency’s budgetary allocations for 2022, 2023 and 2024 combined.

 

Harvest of deaths on waterways

Despite billions of naira earmarked for waterways maintenance and operations, incessant fatal boat crashes have blighted the water transportation sector in the country, no thanks to abysmal adherence to safety measures and poor enforcement by NIWA, the regulatory agency.

At least 972 persons, including children and family members, lost their lives in reported boat accidents in Nigeria between 2022 and 2025. And one month into the New Year, two fatal crashes have been recorded. At least 29 people died while several others were missing after a boat capsized en route to Garbi, Yobe State, around 8pm on January 3. Two weeks later, on a Sunday night, six students returning to school drowned when the boat they were travelling in sank at the Buruku crossing point in Benue State.

While most of these accidents are linked to human factors such as overloading, use of rickety (wooden) boats, night travels and non-use of life jackets, stakeholders blame NIWA and other regulatory agencies for inefficient enforcement of safety guidelines.

In 2022, at least 227 persons died in more than 20 boat accidents across 13 states – Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Delta, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Lagos, Niger, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe – between March and October. Three of these incidents were most heart-wrenching. In Yauri, Kebbi, four siblings drowned when a boat ferrying them, their father and two other passengers to the farm capsized on March 23.

In Lagos, all 17 people, including the captain and children, on board a boat died after tides swept it into a barge during a night trip. The worst incident that year occurred in Anambra, where 76 persons lost their lives in a boat carrying 85 passengers from Onukwu to Nkwo Ogbakuba.

In July 2022, the agency announced it would begin enforcement of the new water transport code to curb the incessant loss of lives resulting from non-compliance with waterway regulations.

“The Ministry of Justice has gazetted a new waterway regulation which stipulates seven years imprisonment for community leaders who operate jetties as well as private operators where boats are overloaded. The same penalty goes for operators and passengers who fail to use life-jackets and other non-compliance to waterway regulations,” the Lagos Area Manager of NIWA, Mrs. Sarat Braimah, said during a sensitisation exercise in the state.

The situation only worsened afterwards as more lives perished in the water amidst weak enforcement. An investigation by Premium Times reveals that in 2023, 421 deaths were recorded from boat accidents across the country. The single deadliest accidents occurred in Kwara, Taraba and Kebbi, where 106, 100 and 98 persons were killed respectively.

Also, no fewer than 232 lives were lost to boat accidents across the country in 2024, according to a report by Ship&Ports. Some of the incidents occurred in Rivers, Anambra, Sokoto, Bayelsa, Niger and Lagos. On the night of 9 January 2024, 20 people died in Rivers after two boats capsized on the Andoni waterways. A few days later, eight persons were killed in another boat crash in Anambra State.

In June 2024, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, unveiled a fresh water transportation code during a one-day working visit to the head office of NIWA in Lokoja, Kogi State capital, in an effort to address the lingering crisis. He also inaugurated several projects to enhance the operational capabilities and safety standards of Nigeria’s inland waterways.

The minister unveiled 15 boats of varying capacities and purposes, designed to strengthen surveillance, safety enforcement, and emergency response on waterways. The fleet comprises three surveillance boats, five safety enforcement boats, a gun patrol boat, a 62-seater passenger boat as a pilot scheme to replace traditional wooden canoes, three water ambulances, and two hydrographic survey boats equipped with multi-beam echo sounders.

He said the new regulatory code would significantly standardise water transportation, minimise accidents, and provide a structured environment for potential investors.

Two months after the launch, in August, 25 persons died in a boat accident in Sokoto and 20 lives were lost in another crash in Bayelsa. On October 15, about 70 people were confirmed dead after a boat capsized in Niger, and two weeks later, 21 passengers died in a boat mishap in Lagos. The causes: non-adherence to safety rules and failure to enforce the guidelines to the letter.

 

A ray of hope after President’s directives

The year 2025 saw a reduction in boat accident fatalities with 92 deaths recorded from January to August, a development the agency attributed to improved enforcement, sensitisation and rescue operations. Prior to this, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had expressed concerns over recurring deadly boat crashes in the country, calling for comprehensive investigations into some of the incidents.

The president’s latest call came in July 2025 following a boat mishap in Guni village, Niger State, which claimed 25 lives, including 10 family members. Tinubu, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, lamented that despite enlightenment efforts by the Federal Ministry of Environment, the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, and NIWA, these incidents continued to happen.

“President Tinubu urges citizens and entrepreneurs using the waterways as a means of livelihood to ensure strict adherence to safety measures advocated by the regulatory authorities to put a stop to this needless loss of lives,” the statement added.

In October 2024, the President directed NIWA to investigate a spate of boat accidents in Niger State and across the country after a locally-made 100-seater wooden boat conveying about 300 people tumbled in the Mokwa area of the state.

Tinubu ordered the agency to devise modalities to check the trend and expand the scope of its surveillance of inland waters to ensure “our people’s safety and prosecute boat operators violating the ban on night sailing.”

Earlier, the President had ordered full-scale investigations into the boat accident that killed 100 persons, some of whom were wedding guests, at Egbu village in Patigi Local Government Area of Kwara State in June 2023.

In September 2023, former presidential spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, in a statement, said the President had directed maritime safety authorities to conduct an investigation into recurring boat accidents in the country following two boat mishaps in Adamawa and Niger states that claimed many lives.

“The President directs various government agencies, including law enforcement, maritime safety and transportation safety authorities to collaborate closely in identifying the root causes of these unfortunate and preventable disasters. President Tinubu underscores his commitment to holding government agencies accountable for any regulatory or safety lapses and further instructs a comprehensive review of safety measures and a strict enforcement of existing laws on boating activities in the country,” the statement partly read.

 

Expert demands accountability

Reflecting on the boat accidents and NIWA allocations, Professor of Transport Geography and acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Uyo, Prof Samuel Odewumi, said there should be safety correlations with the items voted for in the budget, lamenting poor oversight of the National Assembly.

“Perhaps only about 30 to 40 per cent of those incidents are reported. The money voted is not properly channelled because only very few people will have oversight on waterways. Our National Assembly members would not want to go up the River Gongola or the River Osun for oversight. There should be due diligence and oversight,” he said.

Drawing on research he conducted on boat accidents in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, Prof Odewumi identified high floods during the rainy season as a major cause of boat mishaps, noting that NIWA’s allocation for dredging should help remove stumps that cause many accidents.

“Boat drivers are aware of the hidden stomps and run into them. Also, there are a few signals and markings that indicate to the navigators that there are problems here and there on waterways. During the rainy season, when there is high flood, there should be more vigilance and increased patrol of waterways,” he added.

The don, however, urged that more attention should be paid to human factors responsible for water crashes, saying the competence level and mental stability of some of the boat operators are major concerns.

“Just like on the road, many of them are on substance. All these are to be added to the mix. There should be training for those people. We tend to ignore these masses of artisanal operators because they don’t have certificates. In my recommendation after the research, I noted that there should be a curriculum development that will meet their needs,” he said.

Prof Odewumi acknowledged that though there are safety enforcement officers on water, the enforcement is far less effective than on the road.

“Operators of many of those patrol boats would say they don’t have fuel or enough equipment. If the accident happens at night, it is the following morning that the rescue operation will begin. We need communication along this line,” he added.

 

We’re intensifying enforcement – NIWA

Meanwhile, the agency says it has scaled up efforts to enhance safety and regulation on inland waterways to curb boat mishaps and protect lives across riverine communities.

The Area Manager of NIWA in charge of Sokoto, Katsina and Zamfara states, Bello Muhammad, in an interview with journalists last week, stressed that the agency remained committed to enforcing safety standards on waterways.

He said the authority had intensified public sensitisation campaigns to educate boat operators and passengers on the dangers of night trips, overloading and operating boats without basic safety equipment.

“To strengthen enforcement and response capacity, we have deployed emergency response teams to complement the activities of river marshals at various loading points within our jurisdiction. NIWA is determined to bring an end to recurring boat mishaps through proactive regulation, monitoring and collaboration with local communities and relevant stakeholders.

“As part of safety interventions, NIWA has provided over 3,000 life jackets to boat operators and passengers to reduce casualties in the event of emergencies on the waterways,” Muhammad added.

The area manager also noted that NIWA had approved specific operating hours for boat operators nationwide, restricting movement on inland waterways to between 6am and 6pm daily.

Also, NIWA Niger-Kwara Area Manager, Akapo Adeoye, said the agency had launched a new safety campaign, code-named “One Man, One Life Jacket,” to ensure full compliance with the compulsory use of life jackets by boat operators and passengers on inland waterways.

Flagging off the campaign at the Zumba waterfront in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State recently, Adeboye said sustained sensitisation and strict enforcement of waterways safety regulations had significantly reduced human casualties from boat mishaps across the state.