A tragic boat accident in Agaie Local Government Area (LGA) of Niger State has resulted in the confirmed deaths of 22 people, with several others still missing.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Thursday, around 2 a.m., along the Dambo-Ebuchi section of the River Niger.
Abdullahi Baba-Arah, the Director-General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), reported that the boat was en route from Kogi State to the Katcha market in Niger. The vessel, carrying approximately 50 passengers—primarily women—capsized, leading to the devastating loss of life. As of Friday, 22 bodies have been recovered, and eight survivors have been rescued.
Baba-Arah confirmed that the majority of the deceased, 18 in total, were from Kogi State, while the remaining four victims were from the Akwanu community in Agaie LGA. Rescue operations are ongoing in the hopes of locating additional survivors.
The director-general also noted that none of the passengers were wearing life jackets at the time of the incident, raising concerns about safety protocols on Nigeria’s waterways.
This latest disaster is part of a troubling trend of boat mishaps in Niger State. In September, 42 people died in a similar accident in Gbajibo, Mokwa LGA, and in October, over 200 passengers were reported missing after a boat capsized. While 150 of them were rescued, the fate of many others remains unclear.
Boat accidents have been a persistent problem across Nigeria, with over 701 deaths reported in 53 separate incidents between January 2020 and October 2022. The year 2024 has already seen more than 100 lives lost to such disasters, continuing a tragic pattern from 2023, when over 300 people died in boat accidents nationwide.
The series of incidents has raised alarms about the state of Nigeria’s waterway regulations, with investigations revealing systemic failures in safety measures. As rescue operations continue in Niger State, calls for stricter enforcement of boating safety standards are growing louder.
