The consequences of our sole dependence on crude oil money are many. Some of them are obvious to every observer while others hide in plain sight. One of such masqueraded ones is beginning to unravel, and one can only hope that we learn our lessons early enough in order to change course before it is too late. The Igbo have a proverb, “a na eji ehihie achu ewu ojii”, translated “it is wise to track the black goat in the daytime” – because during the night its colour will make it near impossible to be seen. Hence, we have to make hay while the sun shines.
I am talking about our inland waterways. According to the National Inland Waterways Authority, the country is blessed with a large resource base of waterways spanning 10,000 kilometres, and about 3,800 kilometres is navigable seasonally. While 28 of the nation’s 36 states can be accessed through water, Nigeria can also link five of its neighbouring countries–Benin Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic by water.
The Rivers Niger and Benue constitute the major channels for inland navigation which include but not limited to the Cross River, Port Novo-Badagry-Lagos waterways, Lekki and Lagos Lagoons, Ogun-Ondo waterways, Benin River, Escravos channel, Nun River, Imo River, Orashi River, Ethiope River, Oguta Lake, Lake Chad and the numerous creeks in the Niger Delta.
However, while other countries utilise these natural endowments for trade facilitation, regional integration, climate change mitigation and resilience, poverty reduction and innovation, ours have been, at best, left to decay; and, at worst, used to siphon government funds. But now, because we have failed to do the needful with what God has given us, the chickens are coming home to roost. The waterways have become toilets and dustbins for all sorts of waste. Then, intermittently, citizens who risk using the channels for local transportation end up dead in unfortunate and avoidable man-made accidents.
The tragic death of 106 citizens in a boat accident in Niger River near Pategi, Kwara State, last week, is still a fresh wound that would take quite some time to heal. Although, there have been some official reactions from government quarters blaming the accident on the boat operator’s “gross overloading and misconduct,” yet, there is no explanation cogent enough to totally absolve the government from every blame in the unfortunate incident.
Granted, the accident happened in the unholy hours of 3am; but there was no rescue of any type apart from the locals, showing that there is no government presence in the NIWA officially-covered area, with a designated Area Office for Niger/Kwara. There was no patrolling boat from NIWA or proximate emergency safety island, as required by international best practice. Unlike what is obtainable in road transport routes, there was no “water-safety” unit to join the rescue effort, and so those that could not swim were all dead before help came from clansmen in neighbouring villages.
The NIWA, previously the Inland Waterways Department of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, was established by an act of the National Assembly, 2004 (Decree No. 13 of 1997), with the primary responsibility to improve and develop Nigeria’s inland waterways for navigation.
According to the law establishing NIWA, the government agency is to, among other things, design ferry routes; survey, remove, and receive derelicts, wrecks and other obstructions from inland waterways; operate ferry services within the inland waterways system; undertake installation and maintenance of lights, buoys and all navigational aids along water channels and banks. This means that in a country with a vast maritime environment with a sizable chunk of it in the Jebba/Patigi zone, the agency should have ample presence therein, operating lighthouses, buoys and safety islands for citizens.
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In my view, the first thing President Bola Tinubu’s administration should do to save the sector is to create an independent Ministry of Maritime Affairs, under which NIWA should function. The second is the formation of a National Coast Guard whose standard role is to support access to navigable inland waterways for mariners, facilitate movement of commerce, and support environment protection all our almost 4000 kilometres of navigable inland waterway. For instance, when the Patigi accident occurred, it was a coast guard that would have been dispatched and not a police team.
There is potential Nigeria must not allow to waste especially in these hard times that we are looking for alternative sources of revenue for the country. Obviously, it was for this same reason that the Ministry of Aviation was separated from the Ministry of Transportation. What the government did not see then was that the maritime industry was indeed more expansive than the aviation industry. The opportunities hide in plain view. But let us look at a few of them.
As one of the most densely populated and climate-vulnerable countries in the world, Nigeria faces huge challenges, including poor transport links which are tied to trade, growth and job creation. Our roads have become death traps for travellers and booby traps for trucks and articulated vehicles hauling manufactured goods, farm produce and imported items across the country. Therefore, smartly designed inland waterway transport projects will unblock supply chain bottlenecks and improve multimodal transport and logistics systems in the country.
Second, a proper inland maritime system would improve climate change resilience and mitigation which are essential to the survival of the Niger Delta, and Lagos lagoon and channels. If Nigeria incorporates climate resilience into port infrastructure and promotes the use of inland water transport, there would be an offset in the country’s carbon footprint, because waterway transport emits less greenhouse gases than road transport. Not also forgetting, that cumulatively, there is a cap on carbon emission because waterways do not require reconstruction as roads do – thereby saving the climate from the emissions that would naturally have occurred through the construction of roads, culverts, and other physical infrastructure required for land transportation.
Third, inland waterway transport has a strong pro-poor dimension. The passengers using inland water transportation are among the poorest in Nigeria. Take for instance, the wedding party that perished in Patigi. These victims were all from rural communities and depended on boat transport all their lives. Many live in remote locations that do not have access to any other modes of transport. They rely on water transport to go to school, hospitals, farms, worship centres and markets. The traders amongst them rely on it to purchase food and consumer goods. They also need it for social outings, funerals, parties and visiting friends and families.
The same in the creek towns of the Niger Delta, and the floating ghettos of Lagos. Indeed, the sounds and sights from these communities are disheartening to say the least. Their homes are makeshifts. Their boats are makeshifts. They are at the mercy of the climate. Not to talk of their environmental health. They are already used to open defecation as a way of life, and drinking and cooking with dirty water is a daily routine.
Fourth, inland waterway transport is a money-maker. It could bring innovation and international best practice to Nigeria because it will introduce performance-based contracts to make dredging more cost-effective and maintain the waterways for year-round day and night navigation. In this way it will open up a new stream of revenue through tourism, while opening up hinterland cultural clusters to the world. On the same hand, it will strengthen Nigeria’s socio-economic leadership in the sub-region. Waterway routes to Cameroon, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Chad and Niger shall become a veritable ladder to regional integration while easing logistical bottlenecks that had provided the loophole for crime and terrorism to thrive.
