Boat Mishap As Pang Of Christmas

The Yuletide season has remained a period during which the enigmatic scourge of accidents paint the memory of men and women. It comes in the form of road and ferry accidents and or mishaps.

In Nigeria, the problem of road and maritime accidents has continued to create an atmosphere of pain, anguish and sorrow amongst citizens. And this happens more often during the Christmas and New Year celebrations or a few weeks before the celebrations actually commence. This, indeed, has been attributed to many factors.

One of the obvious factors emerged last Tuesday when a passenger boat capsized at Chiogbonna waterfront in Mgbuodohia, near Rumuolumeni in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area in Rivers State. The incident occurred at about 11.30pm. The boat was said to have been travelling from Eagle Island to Mgbuodohia-Rumuolumeni axis of Port Harcourt. The Tuesday’s tragedy is the third of such incidents on that waterway over the last couple of years. The boat mishap has reportedly claimed no fewer than 30 lives of the suspected 40 passengers on-board the ill-fated boat. Of the 10 rescued passengers as at last Wednesday is a two-year old baby and a 27-year old Samuel Amaechi while an NYSC member serving in the state, Mrs Neebari Samuel-Bema, who got wedded just three months ago, is yet to be recovered.

Virtually all the passengers were said to be returning from market, other businesses and work in Port Harcourt. A resident of Mgbuodohia, Mr Collins Onunwo and the Chairman, Community Development Committee in Rumuolumeni community, Chima Amadi, said in an interview that “the boat is the only reliable means of transport to Port Harcourt from the village because of the bad condition of roads in the area. More than 40 passengers were on the boat. It is quite painful and sad.” This mood of the community is reflected in the Paramount Ruler, Eze Nwabueze Wobo’s painful and sorrowful remarks, when he sobbingly but gaily said that the incident was unfortunate and a has brought great mourning to his community. He expressed concern that if nothing is done to check any reoccurrence, the ugly spectacle may happen again.

By Wednesday morning, a Navy team from NNS Pathfinder, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), marine police from the state police command, and divers were working round the clock to rescue any survivors. And all they could confirm alive were 10 passengers. Navy Information Officer, Lieutenant Commander Bassey Ayi, Police Public Relations Officer, Ben Ugwuegbulam and NEMA South South Zonal Coordinator, Emenike Umesi, who confirmed the combined efforts to save more lives, after the 10 already rescued, and pointed at the number of those rescued already, also blamed the incident on overloading. Specifically, NEMA spokesperson, Yushau Shuaib noted that, “the boat was overloaded with passengers, some standing”.

One of the survivors, Samuel Amadi sang praises to God for being merciful and saving his life, even though he could not swim. But just as Amadi is rejoicing because God has granted him more days, months and perhaps years, the youth corps member’s husband, Mr Kpegele Samuel-Bema, is still battling to come to terms with the impact of the incident. Sharing Kpegele’s pain is Wari Asamowei. Wari, brother of one of the deceased, Talayefa Asamowei from Izonfu Ogiama in Bayelsa State, said only God knows why Talayefa decided to join the ill-fated boat despite his earlier warning that she should not make the trip, and noted that her death will create an irreplaceable vacuum in the family. Talayefa’s corpse was recovered last Wednesday with two others holding her legs tightly, even in death.

This, indeed, is the sombre state of Rivers State Government and people, especially those whose loved ones were on-board the locally-dog out cruise boat. Even the state governor, Chibuike Amaechi was not left out in the mourning for the souls of the fateful departed. He was at the scene of the incident last Wednesday to console those who lost loved ones and facilitate the rescue of survivors. Although, represented his Commissioner for Health, Dr Sampson Parker, the governor said his government would leave no stone unturned to unravel the root causes of the incident, and proffer solutions to check any further mishaps.  Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Council, Prince Timothy Nsirim, while expressing regret that such catastrophe occurred within his domain at this time when residents were supposed to be celebrating Christmas, promised to provide, at least, two speed boats to make movements across the river easy for those who prefer to travel to Port Harcourt by ferry.

Just about 24 hours earlier, wife of the Rivers State Governor, Dame Judith Amaechi, had launched the “Safe Roads To School Project”, during a road safety awareness workshop for head teachers from selected local government areas of the state at Shell Residential Area Club, on Monday. The workshop was aimed at creating a litany of teachers that would inculcate in school children a culture of good road safety habits in the state.

The idea was to ensure that school children were conveyed to and from their respective schools in a safe fashion during and after the Yuletide season. At that gathering was the wife of FRSC Corps Marshal, Barrister Chidinma Chidoka, and Assistant Corps Marshal, Mrs O. Ewhurudjakpor, Rivers State Corps Commander, Osas Osadebamwen, and the Assistant State Coordinator, Special Marshals, Mr Robert Effiong Hogan, among others. The “Safe Roads To School Project” is the first of such initiative in the country, and possibly in Africa, and focuses principally on the safety of children, both those in school and others who do not have the opportunity of enjoying any educational career in the state.

But before that Monday gathering of more than 1,000 school teachers from Emohua, Port Harcourt City, Obio/Akpor, Eleme, Oyigbo and Ikwerre local government areas, officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), and Shell staff, the Rivers State Governor, Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi had used the occasion of the Shell’s “Safe Road Show” on Saturday, to emphasise the importance of sound road safety practices during and after the Christmas season. He had cautioned drivers against over-speeding, wrong overtaking, driving without following and complying with standard rules and procedures. He had also challenged passengers to call reckless drivers to order, while those at vantage positions should intervene when drivers are seen to be taking their passengers’ lives for granted.

Organised by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) in partnership with the FRSC, Nigerian Army, Rivers State Ministry of Transport, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and the state Ministry of Sports, the road show was meant to sensitise motorists and other road users on the need to maintain acceptable safety practices and comply with all safety rules and regulations on our roads and waterways during and after the Yuletide season. Amaechi had said the government would domesticate the Shell’s safety policy and practices in its governance structure, and ensure that Rivers residents internalise best road and marine safety processes in all their undertakings.

The road run is one in a series of safety awareness campaigns by Shell, Rivers State Government, FRSC, and other stakeholders to contain the scourge of deaths arising from unsafe road and marine transport activities in the state, particularly at this critical time in the year. Of course, billions of Naira had been spent on such campaigns across the state by stakeholders. But even with so much money expended on efforts to curb unwanted carnage on our roads and waterways, every Christmas period has always been painted with one road or marine accident or the other, with deaths of loved ones.

This, indeed, has become the unsolicited pang of Christmas. It has ironically made Christmas, and perhaps, end of every year, the chest board of deaths. This is because it is usually a period when desperate motorists and boat drivers take advantage of their passengers to either overload their vehicles or boats in the guise of helping those who must make their trips at a particular point in time to get to their destinations. It is also a time when such drivers, in a bid to make quick turnovers, indulge in over-speeding and dangerous overtaking, which often result in unnecessary accidents, and loss of lives, such as the present Mgbuodohia case. This current incident is no doubt, a serious setback to the government, Shell and FRSC’s commitment to ensure road and marine accident-free Christmas season for Rivers residents.

There is no gainsaying the fact this is one accident so many. To loss so many persons, most of whom are women at this time of the year, does not show a evidence of good ending for 2011 in Rivers State. Those who have died as a result of this present boat mishap could have made a difference, one way or the other in the development process of their families, communities and states. This sad ending, could have been avoided, if care had been taken to check the many excesses of the driver on such a short distance journey. An about 30-minute boat cruise that has sent many promising Nigerians to the world beyond, in such bizarre fashion.

Of course, boat mishaps are a regular occurrence, especially in the Niger Delta, where marine transport is a major source of transportation to and from mostly riverine communities for millions. These mishaps happen more frequently at periods like this for very obvious reasons, some of which have been listed above as over-speeding and overloading. The rest are drunken driving, lack of good navigational aids, driving at night without good lighting system, lack of understanding of water routes and dangerous spots, poor dredging of the rivers and creeks, and use of improper live jackets and vests.

Most hit usually are those travelling to Bonny, Opobo, Andoni, and most Kalabari communities in Rivers State. Elsewhere in Bayelsa, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Ondo and Lagos states, the story of boat mishaps is the same. And such stories bring to the fore the very critical importance of good road and marine transport systems that meet international best practices, which FRSC now advocates.

Let’s look at why the records may not be one to be joyous about. In September, 1997, 130 persons died when a ferry boat, Olodiama, collided with a tugboat off Port Harcourt, Rivers State, while on October 12, 2003, 150 persons were killed when a ferry sank after hitting a bridge in eastern Nigeria.

Between 2000 and 2010, in Rivers and Bayelsa states, a number of boat mishaps occurred, killing several persons. In October, 2000, four persons lost their lives when a boat collided with a sea truck mid-sea along Abonnema waterways in Rivers State. By November 2001, 19 students of Kings College of Commerce, Buguma, drowned following a boat mishap. About 40 persons also died in 2002 when a boat travelling from Port Harcourt en route Brass and Akassa in Bayelsa capsized.

Besides, 2005 also heralded bad news for boat travellers. That year, 24 persons perished Epellema in Opobo, Rivers State when a boat capsized while another four died along Brass river when two boats collided due to bad weather. Just August last year, four toddlers, their mother and another passenger met their untimely death along Opobo/Kono waterways when the boat they were travelling in capsized on their way to Port Harcourt for a holiday. These statistics are not exhaustible but they point to the fact that marine accidents have constituted serious threat to our population and development. And this cannot be allowed to continue.

The state government has done a lot to tame the monster of road and marine accidents by providing   boats and ensuring training for boat drivers through the Ministry of  Transport.

But the government cannot stop this catastrophe alone. Every citizen must join hands to put a stop to both road and marine accidents, especially at this period of the year. Passengers could help check the ugly development by compelling drivers to maintain speed limits, not carry overloads  and report erring drivers at sea to marine police at strategic locations, and traffic police or road safety personnel on the roads for proper reprimands as a means of reducing carnage on our waterways and roads.

Nelson Chukwudi, with reports from Boye Salau