The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, CON has constituted a Special Committee to review the operations of commercial boat operators in Coastal and Inland Waterways with a view to addressing incessant boat mishaps across the country.
This was made known in a statement titled: OYETOLA SETS UP SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO ADDRESS INCEESSANT BOAT MISHAPS.
The statement, signed by the director (Information & PR), Anastasia Ogbonna and shared with Africa Health Report on Thursday, contains full names of members of the six-man committee with details of their terms of reference.
“In a meeting today in Abuja with Heads of Agencies overseen by the Ministry, Oyetola, noted that it has become a matter of urgent concern, hence the need to proffer solutions to reduce it to the barest minimum”, read the statement.
The Committee has been directed to review and come up with recommendations and actionable plans that would checkmate the menace.
The Committee has 21 days to complete the assignment and submit a comprehensive report to the Ministry.
The committee is headed by the Managing Director, National Inland Waterways (NIWA), Bola Oyebamiji as Chairman. Others members are as follows:
- Mr. D. Mobereola DG-NIMASA (Member);
- Prof. S. Abiodun ED-NIOMR (Member);
iii. Dr. A.M Sule ED-NIFFR (Member);
- Dr. B.D. Olaosebikan P-FCFFT (Member);
- Prof. B. Fakinlede TA-HM-FMMBE (Member); and
- Mr. A. Offie DD-IWW (Secretary).
The Committee has the Managing Director, National Inland Waterways (NIWA), Bola Oyebamiji as Chairman.
The Terms of Reference to guide the Committee include but not limited to:
- Review the existing commercial boat transport operations and assess:
- Boat mishaps and its causative factors;
- Current boat operations safety & security compliance; and
iii. Existing boat specifications in relation to acceptable standards.
- Develop a comprehensive plan to address the findings from the assessment and guarantee safe commercial boat transport operations in Coastal and Inland Waterway;
c.. Develop standard design specification for basic categories of commercial boats for Coastal and Inland Waterway; and
- Consider any other related measures/issues as may be deemed appropriate for a safe and viable commercial boat operations in our coastal and Inland waterway transport system that would address incessant boat mishaps.
It would be recalled that Africa Health Report had urged the Federal government to be accountable by taking urgent action to checkmate the alarming crashes on the nation’s water ways, resulting in countless deaths and wanton loss of properties estimated at hundreds of millions of naira.
Under the headline: Nigeria’s Unsafe Waters: One Way Track to Early Death with Sector in Jeopardy, Africa Health Report’s story drew attention to the series of accidents on the Nigerian Inland water ways that constituted challenges for not only the travelling public, but also discourage potential tourism, with a negative impact on national economic growth.
