Blue Economy
PARTNERS ON THE WATER: Maritime Workers’ Unions and the Battle to Develop Nigeria’s Inland Waterways Sector
PARTNERS ON THE WATER:Maritime Workers’ Unions and the Battle to Develop Nigeria’s Inland Waterways Sector
By the Nigerian Waterways News Special Investigations Desk, Lagos | February 20, 2026
Nigeria’s inland waterways span more than 10,000 kilometers of rivers, creeks, and channels, connecting 28 of the country’s 36 states. They represent one of the most underutilized transport assets on the African continent. And as the Federal Government, through its newly established Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, pushes to unlock that potential, the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN) — the country’s principal labour organization in the sector — has been working from multiple angles to shape, support, and at times challenge that effort.
This is a report about what that engagement looks like in practice: from wage negotiations and safety advocacy to partnerships with regulators and the challenge of absorbing a workforce that, for the most part, has never held a formal contract.
The Union and Its Sector
The Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria was formed in 1996, when the Federal Government merged four separate maritime labour organizations into a single industrial union.
Affiliated to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), MWUN represents sailors, dockworkers, ferry operators, and port support staff across the country’s seaports and inland waterway terminals.
In March 2025, the union held its 6th Quadrennial National Delegates Conference at Festac Town, Lagos, at which Comrade Francis Abi Bunu was elected President-General, unopposed. Bunu succeeded Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, who had led the union for eight years. The election was notably the first time in MWUN’s 29-year history that a president-general had come from the Seafarers Branch of the union.
Bunu’s background is directly relevant to the inland waterways discussion. Before his election, he served as President of the Seamen/NIWA and Water Transportation Branch of MWUN — the branch that deals specifically with river and inland waterway workers. His ascent to the presidency was welcomed by the Barge Operators Association of Nigeria (BOAN), which had recently initiated a formal collaboration with MWUN to improve operations and strengthen engagement with government regulators, including NIWA and NIMASA.
The Scale of the Safety Crisis
Any honest discussion of MWUN’s role in developing Nigeria’s waterways must begin with the body count. Boat accidents on Nigeria’s inland waterways kill hundreds of people every year, and the data — such as it is — tells a grim story.According to the Marine Crafts Builders Association of Nigeria (MCBAN), the average annual death toll from boat accidents in 2021 and 2022 was approximately 330. In 2023, over 300 lives were lost, with Kwara and Anambra states recording the highest casualties, according to a report by The Cable.
The 2024 figures were no better: at least 326 confirmed deaths, an increase of 8.67 percent over 2023, according to The Cable’s count, with Niger and Kwara states leading casualties. Some accounts put the 2024 toll as high as 452, reflecting the difficulty of consistent data collection across remote riverine communities.
Among the most devastating single incidents in recent memory was the October 3, 2024, capsizing of a wooden dugout canoe on the River Niger — carrying an estimated 300 passengers — which resulted in nearly 200 deaths. A second major incident followed on November 29, 2024, on the Dambo-Ebuchi waterways in Kogi State, where a vessel with over 160 passengers capsized, killing approximately 54 and leaving an unknown number unaccounted for.
The root causes have been extensively documented: overloaded and poorly maintained wooden vessels, absent life jackets, unlicensed operators, no mandatory passenger manifests, night sailing on unmarked waterways, and chronic under-enforcement by regulatory agencies.
As the Independent Newspaper reported in October 2025, experts in the sector have consistently noted that NIWA, Marine Police, and State Waterways Authorities often operate in silos, with enforcement that is reactive rather than preventive.
MWUN’s Advocacy on Vessel Safety
MWUN has been publicly vocal on the need to modernise Nigeria’s waterway fleet. When Minister of Marine and Blue Economy Adegboyega Oyetola intensified his campaign in 2025 for state governments to phase out wooden commercial boats in favour of safer fibre-reinforced plastic and aluminium vessels, MWUN President-General Francis Bunu publicly endorsed the position. According to a press release published on the union’s official website, Bunu specifically lauded Oyetola’s stance on phasing out wooden boats as a necessary step toward curbing incessant waterways accidents.
“The safety of our citizens on water is not just a policy responsibility, it is a moral duty.” — Minister Adegboyega Oyetola, presenting the report of the Special Committee on the Prevention of Boat Mishaps, 2025
The Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy established a 16-member Special Committee on the Prevention of Boat Mishaps in February 2025, chaired by NIWA Managing Director Bola Oyebamiji. The committee’s recommendations fed into ongoing efforts to enforce the Inland Waterways Transportation Regulations 2023 — the Water Transportation Code — which was launched in April 2024 by Minister Oyetola at the NIWA headquarters in Lokoja.
NIWA’s enforcement response since 2023 has included increasing its water marshal deployment from 80 officers to 350; introducing mandatory passenger manifests at registered jetties; installing marine navigational buoys; and enforcing a “No Life Jacket, No Boarding” policy.
The Ministry distributed 42,000 life jackets across 12 riverine states in 2025, with each state receiving 3,500 in the first phase. The distribution began in Minna, Niger State. The results, while contested in their precise magnitude, show a measurable downward trend. Industry data shows fatalities dropped from the 2021–2022 average of 330 to 231 in 2024, and further to 92 in the first eight months of 2025 — a period during which NIWA claimed a reduction of up to 72 percent compared to the 2021–2022 baseline. Independent analysts have urged caution about the 72 percent figure, noting it compares eight months of 2025 data against a full-year baseline, and that late-year incidents typically account for a significant share of annual fatalities. A comparison between 2022 and 2024 yields a more defensible figure of approximately 30 percent reduction.
The 2025 Safety Sensitisation Campaign
Beyond endorsing government policy, MWUN has taken its own operational role in safety. In 2025, NIWA ran a waterways sensitization campaign under the theme “Safety and Safety Trip: Zero Tolerance to Boat Mishap, No Life Jacket, No Boarding.” A key highlight of the campaign was the inauguration of waterways marshals at the Zumba waterfront to enforce water transport regulations. MWUN’s network of members and branch structures in riverine communities has been identified as a channel through which safety messaging and compliance campaigns are amplified at the local level.
MWUN has also moved on its own account to bring previously non-unionised seafarers into the formal sector fold. Bunu led the union on a tour of Melsmore Marine Nigeria Limited at Ibeju Lekki in 2025 to sensitize workers there about unionization, flagging that many seafarers were working under hazardous conditions with inadequate health and safety provision. He noted that poor conditions on vessels had claimed the lives of crew members through communicable diseases contracted while at sea.
The Landmark Wage Agreement
On the labour relations front, MWUN achieved one of its most significant breakthroughs in recent years in 2024: the conclusion of a 20-year-old wage dispute in the maritime sector. The Shipping Agencies, Clearing and Forwarding Employers Association (SACFEA) and MWUN signed an agreement establishing a minimum wage of ₦200,000 for shipping industry workers employed by SACFEA members. The deal was brokered by Minister Oyetola and facilitated by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council.
Then-President-General Adewale Adeyanju, who was concluding his tenure as the deal was finalised, noted in his farewell briefing with journalists that Hull-Blyth Nigeria Limited initially declined to join the agreement, but subsequently agreed to pay the ₦200,000 minimum wage. The agreement is to be reviewed every two years.
“MWUN will always be open to any collaboration that will positively impact the industry.” — Comrade Francis Bunu, MWUN President-General, on the BOAN-MWUN partnership (Radarr Africa, May 2025)
MWUN and the Broader Development Agenda
MWUN has consistently framed waterways development as a national emergency, not merely an industry issue. During a National Executive Council meeting at Golden Tulip Hotel, Festac, Lagos, former President-General Adeyanju drew attention to the severe job losses from the 2006 port concession exercise — which he said reduced the NPA workforce from approximately 13,000 workers to just 4,000 — while calling on NIWA and NPA to urgently recruit more junior staff to man jetties and port terminals. NIWA’s then-Managing Director, Dr George Moghalu, confirmed at the same meeting that the authority was making preparations to expand its junior workforce.
The union has also called directly on the Federal Government to develop and fortify waterways as a means of effective transportation and employment generation, and to empower relevant agencies to regulate private boat operators and align their operations with economic development objectives.
MWUN’s position is that safety and development are inseparable: an unsafe waterways sector will never attract the investment or public confidence needed to grow.
On maritime security, Bunu has praised NIMASA’s achievements in combating piracy in the Gulf of Guinea — noting the improvement in safety and stability on Nigerian waters — and pledged that MWUN would mobilise its international affiliates to support Nigeria’s bid for a seat on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council. The union views Nigeria’s prominence in global maritime governance as directly linked to the credibility and development of its domestic waterways sector.
The BOAN-MWUN Partnership: A Model for Collaboration
One of the most concrete recent examples of union-industry collaboration is the partnership between MWUN and the Barge Operators Association of Nigeria. BOAN executives visited the newly elected President-General Bunu at MWUN’s offices in Apapa, Lagos, to formalise discussions on joint working, explicitly noting that MWUN’s scale and reach across the country’s maritime industry made it the natural partner for improving barge operations.
BOAN has been working in parallel with NIWA, NIMASA, the Nigerian Navy, the Nigeria Police, and the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) to improve coordination of waterway traffic. The partnership with MWUN adds a workforce dimension to that multi-agency framework. Observers have noted that if the BOAN-MWUN collaboration produces joint training programmes, improved communication between operators and workers, and better compliance with safety standards, it could serve as a replicable model for other segments of Nigeria’s inland waterways sector.
The Challenges That Remain
For all the genuine activity, the picture is far from resolved. Enforcement on Nigeria’s waterways remains chronically weak, even by the admission of regulatory officials. The National Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has noted that more than two-thirds of all boat fatalities are drowning incidents, and that 90 percent of victims were not wearing life jackets at the time of their deaths — despite the existence of regulations mandating their use.
Nigeria recorded more than 3,130 incidents of boat mishaps in the ten years leading to 2024, according to data from the Marine Crafts Builders Association of Nigeria. The frequency of those incidents — on waterways that connect millions of Nigerians in communities where boats are the only viable means of transport — makes the pace of reform feel inadequate to many who live and work on those routes.The institutional fragmentation is also real. NIWA, state waterways authorities such as LASWA and RIWAMA, Marine Police, NEMA, and local government landing committees each have overlapping mandates and limited coordination. The union operates within that complexity, and its influence — though growing — cannot substitute for the institutional reform and sustained funding that the sector ultimately requires.
MWUN itself faces internal development challenges. The union’s new leadership under Bunu has inherited an organisation whose capacity to reach informal sector workers — the majority of those who operate on Nigeria’s inland waterways — remains limited. Formalisation of the workforce is a long-term project, and the economic precariousness of most informal boat operators makes the transition to structured employment genuinely difficult.
Conclusion: A Union at the Centre of a Necessary Conversation
Nigeria’s inland waterways development is not a single project — it is a decades-long national challenge involving infrastructure, regulation, workforce development, safety, and the economic inclusion of millions of riverine Nigerians.
The Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria is not the solution to that challenge. But the evidence of its activity — from the SACFEA minimum wage breakthrough, to Bunu’s public endorsement of the wooden boat phase-out, to MWUN’s partnership with BOAN, to its longstanding demands for NIWA and NPA recruitment — shows that the union is actively engaged with that challenge across multiple fronts.What the sector needs now, and what MWUN has begun to articulate with increasing clarity under its new leadership, is a framework in which the union’s knowledge of the workforce and the waterways is formally integrated into planning and development processes — not just consulted after decisions have been made, but engaged as a co-designer of the sector’s future. Nigeria’s rivers have been waiting long enough.
$200m Fish Lifeline: FG Taps World Bank Funds to Push States Towards Fish Sufficiency
Oyetola Sets Sights on Net Exporter Status as FG Secures $200m World Bank Backing for State-Led Aquaculture
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
The Federal Government says it has secured a $200 million commitment from the World Bank Group to drive fisheries and aquaculture production nationwide, as it moves to cut fish imports and close a supply gap of more than 2.2 million tonnes.
The money will be lent to state governments on concessional terms. It is meant to help them expand fish production, attract investment and build viable aquaculture projects.
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr Adegboyega Oyetola, announced this at an Executive Training on the Aquaculture Investment Guide, organised by his ministry with the World Bank Group in Abuja. He was represented by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Marine and Blue Economy, Professor Busayo Fakinlede.
Oyetola said fish is central to food security, household nutrition and rural livelihoods, and that Nigeria cannot be food secure while importing most of its fish. He said the goal is to “produce more, import less” and eventually become a net exporter, which he said requires every state to play its part.
The numbers
Nigeria needs about 3.6 million tonnes of fish a year but produces roughly 1.4 million tonnes. Imports cover the gap and cost nearly $1 billion annually in foreign exchange.
State-driven framework
Under the ministry’s framework, each state is expected to:
identify priority aquaculture value chains
assess investment readiness
develop bankable project pipelines
commit to measurable contributions to national fish output
The training brought together commissioners from Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Cross River States, plus permanent secretaries and directors of fisheries and aquaculture from across the federation. It covered business models, risk management, environmental and social safeguards, and public-private partnerships.
A Federal-State interface is also planned to coordinate a national fish security strategy.
Oyetola commended the World Bank for its support on analytical studies, cluster-based development, capacity building and the Aquaculture Investment Guide. He will oversee a post-training stakeholders’ roundtable with states and other stakeholders to sustain momentum.
Ministry’s scorecard
Fakinlede credited the minister’s leadership for:
the August 2026 inauguration of the Technical Committee on Accelerating Fish Production
digitisation of fish import licensing
a rise in national output from 1.1 million to 1.4 million tonnes
US shrimp-export certification after compliance with Turtle Excluder Device requirements
the Fish City and Fish Terminal investment portfolio to attract private capital
NIGERIA WATCH
Read the fine print. As of 9 November, I could not find a published World Bank project document for the $200 million, and the figure rests on the ministry’s statement. The repayment period, interest rate, per-state allocation and disbursement date have not been made public, and it is unclear whether this is new money or part of financing already agreed. Waterways News should press the ministry on these before treating the figure as settled.
Loans, not grants. States carry the debt and must show bankable projects. Strong states like Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Cross River, whose commissioners attended, sit on the water and are best placed to benefit. Inland and riverine communities lacking project-preparation capacity risk being left behind.
The missing small operators. The framework speaks of investors, PPPs and bankable pipelines. It says little about artisanal fishers, boat operators and fishing communities, including those represented by WABOTAN and ATBOWATON, who supply and move much of the country’s fish. Without cold chains, landing jetties, safe water transport and affordable engines, higher production will not reach markets.
Policy versus delivery. The target is ambitious, with output reportedly up from 1.1 million to 1.4 million tonnes. Yet Nigeria still meets under 40 per cent of its fish demand, and it has heard similar promises before, from the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund onward. The test is whether the roundtable produces dates, allocations and measurable state commitments.
Blue Economy
Oyetola Takes Nigeria’s Case on Gulf of Guinea Security and Seafarer Welfare to IMO Council in London
Oyetola Takes Nigeria’s Case on Gulf of Guinea Security and Seafarer Welfare to IMO Council in London
Minister says seafarers must not become casualties of geopolitical disputes as Nigeria presses for stronger technical support for developing maritime nations
By Ighoyota Onaibre | Waterways News
Nigeria’s Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr. Adegboyega Oyetola, has restated the country’s commitment to safe, secure and sustainable international shipping. He is leading a high-level delegation to the 138th session of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council in London.
The five-day session opened on November 2 at the IMO headquarters and ends today, November 6, 2026. Nigeria’s participation is meant to strengthen its voice in global maritime governance and to advance the interests of developing maritime nations.
Nigeria sits on the 40-member Council under Category C. The session is considering the protection of vital shipping routes, the welfare and safety of seafarers, institutional governance and the sustainability of the global maritime industry.
Protecting vital shipping lanes
A central issue is the protection of strategic shipping routes against growing security threats and attacks on commercial vessels in high-risk zones. Under Agenda Item 11, “Protection of Vital Shipping Lanes,” Nigeria is expected to draw on its experience combating piracy and maritime crime in the Gulf of Guinea to push for stronger international cooperation and coordinated security responses.
“Nigeria recognises that the challenges confronting the global maritime industry require collective action, stronger international cooperation and effective regulatory frameworks,” Oyetola said. He added that Nigeria was at the Council to see its interests represented and to contribute to solutions that strengthen maritime security, protect seafarers and promote sustainable shipping.
He said the progress made in the Gulf of Guinea showed that maritime insecurity can be tackled “through political commitment, effective coordination and cooperation among regional and international partners.”
Seafarer welfare
Seafarer welfare is also high on the agenda. This follows IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez’s condemnation of the use of seafarers as pawns in geopolitical disputes. Nigeria is backing measures to prevent the arbitrary detention and abandonment of seafarers, and to ensure their fair treatment, safe repatriation and mental well-being.
“Seafarers are the lifeblood of international shipping,” Oyetola said. “Their safety, dignity and welfare must never be compromised by geopolitical tensions.”
Budget and capacity building
The Council is also reviewing financial allocations for the 2026–2027 biennium and strategic priorities for 2028–2029. Nigeria sees this as an opening to push for more technical cooperation and capacity-building support for developing maritime countries.
Oyetola said developing maritime nations “must have access to the technical expertise, institutional support and investment opportunities required to participate meaningfully in the evolving global shipping industry.”
The delegation
The minister is accompanied by:
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, Mrs. Fatima Mahmood
The Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola
The Director of Maritime Services, Mr. Oyinloye Meshack
Nigeria’s Alternate Permanent Representative at the IMO, Mr. William Bwala
Nigeria Watch
A heavy session. The Council has dealt with more than Nigeria’s agenda this week. Other delegations have also pressed seafarer protection and freedom of navigation, with Liberia and Indonesia among the countries that raised them. The session has also given attention to security in the Strait of Hormuz and the Black Sea. On Wednesday, the Council recommended a second four-year term for Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez, running from 2028 to 2031. The IMO Assembly must still approve it in 2027. Nigeria’s message on the Gulf of Guinea has been delivered in a crowded room.
Hormuz is a Nigerian issue. This newsroom has followed the Strait of Hormuz crisis closely, from rising freight rates to war-risk insurance premiums at Nigerian ports. Oyetola’s call to shield seafarers from geopolitical tension is not abstract. Dominguez has said thousands of seafarers in the region live and work under heightened risk, and the IMO’s tally of seafarers killed in the region since February stood at 24 as of November 5.
Where the Gulf of Guinea story stands. Nigeria is presenting its Gulf of Guinea record as a model, and the Deep Blue Project is the backbone of that claim. NIMASA has just showcased upgraded assets at AFRIDEX 2026. Delegates in London will weigh the narrative against what stakeholders at home actually experience on the water.
The home test. Nigeria’s arguments at the IMO for seafarer dignity, fair treatment and capacity-building support will carry weight in proportion to how well they are matched at home.
Questions that Waterways News continues to raise:
Do Nigerian seafarers and inland waterway workers enjoy the safety and welfare standards the minister is championing abroad?
Will the technical cooperation Nigeria is seeking reach small-scale and informal waterway operators, such as those under WABOTAN and ATBOWATON, or stay at the policy level?
With Nigeria holding a Council seat, how will diplomatic wins in London be turned into delivery at home, from CVFF disbursement to NPERA implementation?
Waterways News will keep tracking the outcome of the 138th Council session and what it means for Nigerian maritime stakeholders.
Blue Economy
NIWA Deploys Enforcers to Niger Waterfronts as Boat Operators Cry Out Over Life Jacket Shortage
NIWA Deploys Enforcers to Niger Waterfronts as Boat Operators Cry Out Over Life Jacket Shortage
Operators say a 300-seater has only seven jackets, and ask for prices to drop from N20,000 to as low as N5,000
By Raymond Gold | Waterways News
The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has sent enforcement personnel to waterfronts across Niger State to make life jacket use compulsory and ensure compliance with inland waterways safety rules.
NIWA’s Minna Area Manager, Akapo Adeboye, announced this at the 2026 Sensitisation and Enlightenment Campaign on Inland Waterways Regulations at Zumba Waterfront, Shiroro Local Government Area. The campaign theme was “Total Safety Measures and Compliance on the Nation’s Inland Waterways.”
Adeboye said NIWA has given 3,500 life jackets to boat operators at waterfronts across the state. He was troubled, however, that some operators neither wear the jackets nor provide them for passengers during trips.
He also condemned operators who charge passengers extra to use a life jacket, saying this discourages compliance. He said the safety of lives and property remains a priority of the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, and that operators and passengers alike must wear life jackets before boarding. Violators, he warned, will face the full weight of the law.
Some operators at the event said scarcity and cost make full compliance impossible.
Adamu Gunduma said his boat carries 300 passengers but he has seven life jackets, one of them for himself. The other six go to passengers on a first-come, first-served basis.
Adamu Tanko said his 150-passenger boat has three life jackets.
Saidu Sani said his 40-passenger boat has none, for himself or his passengers.
Abubakar Mamman-Kwanu appealed to government and other stakeholders for more jackets through donations and support programmes.
The operators said a life jacket costs about N20,000 on the market and asked authorities to bring the price down to between N5,000 and N6,000. They added that high prices and falling farm-produce prices could keep many farmers from buying one. Farmers, they said, make up a large share of water transport users in the area. They called for stronger government intervention, arguing that easier access to life jackets would improve compliance and prevent avoidable deaths.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) first reported the development on Monday.
Nigeria Watch
Enforcement is arriving before supply. Gunduma, Tanko and Sani together operate boats licensed for 490 passengers, yet they reported 10 life jackets between them. Telling such operators to refuse boarding without a jacket is, for now, an order they cannot obey. Cheap jackets must reach waterfronts before penalties are enforced, or enforcement will fall hardest on the poorest operators.
NIWA has also faced a misuse problem. Adeboye said in an earlier interview that people sell the jackets, use them as pillows or farm tools. He said that when his team revisited a waterfront after a 3,500-jacket flag-off, they could not find one in use. Both complaints can be true at once, and the way out is a mix of local ownership, fitting by boat capacity and visible checks by marshals.
The stakes are real and well documented. After a July 2025 mishap at Zumba, Adeboye said 26 passengers wearing life jackets were rescued alive, 15 bodies were recovered and three people were missing. He noted that the incident came eight days after a NIWA sensitization campaign at the same waterfront.
Marshals and penalties are already in place. Waterways marshals were inaugurated at Zumba to enforce transport regulations. Adeboye has also said NIWA gazetted penalty codes for operators and passengers who fail to comply. The open question is whether operators get realistic access to compliance before sanctions bite.
Questions for NIWA and the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy:
How many jackets are needed to cover the licensed capacity of boats at Niger waterfronts, against the 3,500 supplied?
Can bulk procurement or local assembly bring the N20,000 price down?
Will NIWA publish compliance figures and sanctions issued after the campaign?
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