June 11, 2022, was meant to be a memorable day for the Irinedu community in Kogi state as two residents — Muhammad Zeid and Muhammad Sulaimon — were set to get married. Zuleiha, one of the brides, couldn’t wait to forgo her maiden name and adopt “Zeid” as a surname. The other bride, Hauwa, was also eagerly waiting for Sulaiman to pay her bride price.
Kaka admitted that a mishap would have been forestalled if only the boat was not overloaded and passengers wore safety jackets before boarding.AdvertisementExactly one year after the tragedy befell the Irinedu community, Dansebe Adamu, a commercial helmsman, was sailing via the coast of the River Niger in Lokoja when he saw bloated corpses on the water. But 19-year-old Adamu wasn’t all that surprised.
Across the 21 LGAs in Kogi, Ganaja village jetty is regarded as the biggest in the state. However, a 48-hour stay with the boat operators and the leadership of the jetty revealed that their operations lacked a standardised regulatory framework.Siaka Musa, the maritime unit chairman of Ganaja Jetty, told TheCable that there are no documented laws guiding the operations of either commercial or private boats at the terminal.
“Seeing my daughter’s lifeless body being removed from the deep water was the saddest moment of my life,” the bereaved father said. 35-year-old Umar Faruk , head of Dundeji village, where fifteen children died in a boat accident, said the memory remains darkest day of his life “A similar incident occurred at Dangawa village with seventeen people dead,” Aminu Magaji Mode, a 30-year-old fisherman, said.In October 2022, no fewer than 15 people were killed in Shagari LGA when a boat carrying 25 people sailing to Mauludi village went under. In April 2022, 29 people also suffered a similar fate at Gidan Magana.
“The problem started when an artificial dam was constructed on the river in 2006 by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Then, Barrister Mukhtari Shagari was in charge as minister of water resources,” Kokani said. Uamr Dan Magaji, a resident of Gidan Magana who lost five siblings during a boat mishap that claimed 29 children in May 2022, said the dam was not completed to specification. He asked both state and federal governments to consider providing road networks within the riverine communities as alternatives for safer transportation.
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