FGN DIRECTS NSIB TO INVESTIGATE KWARA BOAT ACCIDENT
“The purpose of accident investigation, however, is not to apportion blame or liability but to prevent future recurrence of similar incidents..”- Engr Olateru
Oru Leonard
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), ACT 2022 to investigate the boat mishap that occurred at Kpada community in Pategi Local Government Area of Kwara State, on Monday night, June 12, 2023.
Addressing journalists on Wednesday, the Director General/CEO of the Bureau, Akin Olateru noted that the boat was carrying about 250 passengers from a village called Egboti in Niger State.
He said information received also revealed that 106 fatalities have been recorded while 144 passengers have so far been rescued.
According to him, the NSIB is an autonomous multimodal investigation agency charged with the mandate to investigate air, rail, marine and other modes of transportation accidents and serious incidents in Nigeria with the aim of identifying the probable causes and proffer safety recommendations that can prevent recurrences.
“The purpose of accident investigation, however, is not to apportion blame or liability but to prevent future recurrence of similar incidents.
“In order to carry out this mandate, the Bureau would be carrying out a lot of fact findings through crew and passenger interviews, working with relevant authorities to be able to determine the probable cause(s) of this accident.
“We are committed to swift response to accident and serious incident occurrences through our well-equipped Command and Control Centre.
“Accident reporting has also been simplified through our Mobile Application, which was introduced to interface with the public and make it easy for them to communicate with NSIB digitally,” he said.
He solicited information from the public in the form of pictures, video or recording evidence to help assist in conducting a comprehensive investigation.
He called on other local, state, federal agencies and other relevant stakeholders to maintain effective cooperation and collaboration so as to ensure transportation safety.
Media reports has it according to local officials, the passengers decided to take the boat after a heavy downpour made roads impassable, officials said. Most of the victims, who included children, were relatives returning from a wedding in the village of Egboti in neighbouring Niger state.
“I lost 10 members of my family, including my five brothers, father, mother and stepmother,” Mohammed Modu, a farmer, told Al Jazeera. “I did not travel with them because I was in Pada, a neighbouring village for another occasion when they were going.”
