Posted on July 5, 2021
The Emir of Birnin Yauri, Dr. Muhammad Zayyanu, whose domain has witnessed series of tragic events in the past with the recent boat mishap, which claimed the lives of over 100 persons, he spoke to AHMED IDRIS on how these unfortunate incidents could be prevented
Recently there was a boat mishap in your domain, where about 100 people lost their lives, Your Highness, how do you feel about this tragedy?
Like I said in other platform this could have been prevented if some proactive measures have been taken earlier. When Kainji Dam was constructed attention was paid only to the dam itself while attention was not paid to the River Niger itself. Normally when there is a dam, there is abstraction to the flow of water, therefore other parts of the dam in Kebbi State, northern part of the dam, there has been accumulation of water. This form a covering for a large number of trees, which over the years have broken down to ground level but this variant of trees don’t rust in the water and for more than 50 years stems of these tree are still standing and that could have resulted in the mishap as the boat may have colluded with the tree stems.
Are you saying that could have been the cause of the boat mishap?
I can say that the causes of this incident are mainly negligence and lack of commitment. We have been reporting to NOA and also government about these dangers. Boat mishaps have been happening in this area since the construction of the dam but I could recall in 2003 there was boat mishap where about 50 peoples lost their lives but nobody heard of it accept people here because communication wasn’t as it is today but now because of social media the whole world was aware of what happened. I hope and pray this incident will be a wakeup call to the authority for them to do something about it. About a week ago I contacted the managing director of IFAD to start cutting down the trees now because this is the right time since they have appeared and I hope both NOA and IFAD are properly funded to enable them to clear the trees.
It was reported that the boat was over crowded could this not have also been any source of worry?
Apart from over loading, nobody can ascertain the number of the people involved and as I said earlier if it’s due to overloading the boat could had sunk to the bottom of the river but i n this case a n eye witness said that there was a loud sound which means the boat mishap collided with foreign object. Overloading, of course, can cause accident but in this case most people believed that it was not overloading. I think the best way around it is to dreg River Niger, cut down the trees, block those rocks and enforce the use of life jacket because it will prevent people from sinking once there is a mishap. I could recall that about two years ago the state government brought some boats to be used by marine police for them to patrol easily. I don’t know what happened that they are not patrolling the water way anymore. In the case of overload if marine police are around they could have stopped the boat. They should work together with local people to make sure there is no overloading and most importantly there should be maintenance of t h e river.
Are you satisfied with the palliatives or support from both the state and federal government to the victims?
Nothing compensate for life but it just minimise the trauma that people face. I hope the money will be used by the family of the deceased to educate their children but nothing can compensate for life. When they say somebody has died that’s all there is to it, no remedy.
Your Highness you talked about dredging of the river, what role do you think the federal government should play in order to make water transportation safe?
Rivers in Nigeria are underutilised unlike countries like Sudan, and Egypt where they entirely depend on river Nile for education, transportation and more. If water transportation is developed the pressure on our roads will be reduced. Therefore, more attention should be given to water transportation but it is unfortunate that our rivers are not utilised.
What advice would you offer to you people in order to prevent further mishaps?
