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11 Feared Dead as Boat Conveying Burial Mourners Capsizes on River Benue
11 Feared Dead as Boat Conveying Burial Mourners Capsizes on River Benue
By Emetena Ikuku | Waterways News
At least 11 people, including a pregnant woman and six children, are feared dead following the capsizing of a boat conveying mourners back from a burial ceremony on the River Benue in Makurdi Local Government Area, Benue State.
The incident occurred on Saturday evening as passengers were returning to Daududawadawa, an island community located behind the Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering barracks in the North Bank area of Makurdi.
According to local accounts, the boat — said to be carrying more than 40 passengers — overturned mid-river between 7pm and 8pm amid heavy rainfall and strong winds.
The Commander of Operation Shara (Sweep), a North Bank vigilante outfit, Nura Umar, confirmed that the victims were returning from the burial of a woman from their community held in Wadata. The deceased had reportedly died at a private hospital in North Bank on Saturday morning, after which her remains were taken to Wadata for burial before mourners began their return trip by boat.
Umar said four bodies had been recovered and buried, while divers continued searching for the remaining victims. He added that one survivor had been carrying a baby on her back who did not survive the accident.
The spokesperson for the Benue State Police Command said she had yet to receive an official report on the incident.
The accident comes about six months after the Benue State Government pledged tighter safety enforcement on the state’s waterways following recurring boat mishaps.
Nigeria Watch
This latest tragedy on the River Benue underscores the persistent gap between policy pronouncements and enforcement on Nigeria’s inland waterways. Despite repeated commitments by state governments, including Benue’s pledge six months ago to tighten safety regulations, fatal boat accidents continue largely unabated across the country’s riverine and inland transport corridors.
For the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and state agencies such as the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), the Makurdi disaster is a stark reminder that safety regulation cannot remain concentrated in major commercial waterways alone. Inland communities that depend on boats as their primary — often only — means of transport, particularly during the rainy season, remain acutely vulnerable to overloading, lack of life jackets, and absence of weather advisories.
The recurring pattern of overloaded vessels operating without basic safety equipment, often during adverse weather, points to a systemic enforcement failure rather than isolated incidents. With the rainy season intensifying across Nigeria’s middle belt and riverine states, stakeholders in the maritime safety ecosystem — including NIWA, state waterways authorities, and community-level vigilante and emergency response groups — face renewed pressure to extend life jacket distribution programmes, weather alert systems, and passenger manifest enforcement beyond the commercial ports and into Nigeria’s vast network of inland river crossings, where the human cost of inaction continues to mount.
Editor's Choice
14 Indian Seafarers Rescued After Vessel Breakdown in Northern Arabian Sea, Amid Heightened US-India Maritime Tensions
14 Indian Seafarers Rescued After Vessel Breakdown in Northern Arabian Sea, Amid Heightened US-India Maritime Tensions
By Ighoyota Onaibre | Waterways News
All 14 Indian crew members of the disabled dhow Virat 1 have been rescued after a multi-agency search-and-rescue operation in the Northern Arabian Sea off Oman, involving the US Navy, Omani authorities, and a diverting merchant vessel.
The crew abandoned ship after an engine failure forced them into a liferaft. A US Navy P-8 patrol aircraft was first on scene, dropping rescue equipment the crew used to board the raft. The UAE-flagged cargo vessel Jabal Ali 9 recovered 11 of the mariners, while the remaining three—whose raft reportedly capsized in rough seas—were airlifted by an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter from the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. The destroyer USS Michael Murphy also took part in the operation. The Indian Embassy in Oman confirmed all 14 were safe and en route to Mumbai aboard Jabal Ali 9.
The rescue comes amid rising friction between Washington and New Delhi following the deaths of three Indian seafarers aboard the tanker Settebello during a US blockade-enforcement operation in the Gulf of Oman last week. India’s External Affairs Minister has formally protested the incident to the US Secretary of State, while Washington maintains commercial vessels must comply with enforcement actions tied to sanctions on Iranian oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Nigeria Watch
The episode underscores the growing peril facing seafarers—including Nigerians—transiting chokepoints affected by the Hormuz crisis. With Nigerian crude exports and freight rates already sensitive to disruptions in the region, NIMASA and the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy should reinforce advisories for Nigerian-flagged and Nigerian-crewed vessels operating near the Gulf of Oman and Strait of Hormuz.
The incident also reinforces calls from the ITF and seafarer welfare bodies for stronger protections and rapid-response protocols for crews caught in militarized shipping lanes—an issue Waterways News has tracked closely as Gulf tensions escalate and war-risk premiums climb for vessels serving Nigerian trade routes.
IMO Chief Hails US-Iran Peace Deal, Says Hormuz Passage Now Safer for Seafarers
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
The Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Mr. Arsenio Dominguez, has welcomed the peace agreement between the United States and Iran, describing it as a major step toward restoring safety in the Strait of Hormuz.
In a statement, Dominguez said the deal marks a return to dialogue, multilateralism, and diplomacy, and represents a critical move toward securing one of the world’s most strategic maritime corridors for ships and seafarers, while reinforcing the principle of freedom of navigation.
He extended condolences to all victims of the conflict, singling out seafarers caught up in the crisis and commending their resilience through months of uncertainty.
With the agreement in place, the IMO said it can now move forward with plans to evacuate thousands of seafarers stranded in the region, working alongside member states and partners. However, the agency cautioned that the evacuation will take time, as safety and security guarantees must first be confirmed on the ground.
The IMO reiterated its commitment to maritime safety, seafarer protection, freedom of navigation, and the uninterrupted flow of global trade.
Nigeria Watch
For Nigeria, the easing of tensions in the Strait of Hormuz offers a measure of relief after months of disruption tied to the crisis. The corridor’s instability had pushed up freight and insurance costs for vessels servicing Nigerian ports, with NIMASA and shipowners closely monitoring war risk premiums affecting crude exports and import cargo.
A de-escalation could ease pressure on shipping lines operating Nigeria-bound routes, potentially translating to lower freight costs for importers at Apapa, Tin Can Island, and Onne. It may also provide breathing room for NIMASA’s compliance and security advisories that had been issued to Nigerian-flagged and Nigeria-affiliated vessels transiting the Gulf.
Industry watchers will be keen to see whether war risk insurers begin rolling back the premium hikes imposed during the crisis — a development that would directly benefit Nigerian shipowners and the wider import-dependent economy.
The IMO’s planned seafarer evacuation also resonates with Nigeria’s ongoing advocacy for seafarer welfare amid regional conflicts, a concern repeatedly raised by NIMASA and maritime labour unions.
Tinubu Places Hydrography at Heart of Nigeria’s Maritime Agenda — Matawalle
By Okeoghene Onoriobe, Lagos Correspondent
The Federal Government has signalled a renewed commitment to hydrography as a strategic pillar of Nigeria’s maritime development, with the Minister of State for Defence, Dr. Bello Muhammad Matawalle, declaring that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has placed the discipline at the centre of the nation’s maritime priorities.
Matawalle made the declaration on Wednesday in Abuja while receiving the Hydrographer of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of the National Hydrographic Agency (NHA), Rear Admiral O.O. Fadahunsi, who led a management delegation on a courtesy visit to the minister.
Federal Government Reaffirms Support for NHA
In a statement released through his Personal Assistant on Media, Ahmad Dan-Wudil, the minister said the Federal Government remains firmly committed to strengthening Nigeria’s hydrographic infrastructure to support improved marine navigation, defence operations, and ocean-based economic activities.
Matawalle stressed that the National Hydrographic Agency occupies a critical position in Nigeria’s broader maritime ambitions, particularly in the Gulf of Guinea — a zone where overlapping concerns over maritime security and resource governance continue to demand sustained governmental attention.
He noted that hydrographic work underpins the country’s emerging Blue Economy agenda, which seeks to expand maritime trade while ensuring the sustainable exploitation of ocean and riverine resources.
Nigeria Positioned for Regional Leadership
The minister expressed confidence that existing policy frameworks under the Renewed Hope administration have positioned Nigeria to assume a leadership role in hydrography across the West African sub-region. He pledged that government support would be sustained to improve navigational safety, enhance maritime security, and deepen scientific data generation to serve national development objectives.
Rear Admiral Fadahunsi, for his part, commended the minister for what he described as consistent support and visionary leadership. He affirmed the agency’s readiness to work in concert with relevant ministries, departments, and agencies to strengthen intergovernmental coordination and build greater hydrographic resilience. Both parties indicated that the meeting focused on expanding Nigeria’s hydrographic capacity in line with global maritime standards.
Nigeria Watch
For the Nigerian maritime sector, this development carries significant operational implications.
Hydrography — the science of measuring and describing the physical features of navigable waters — is the often-overlooked backbone of safe shipping, port operations, and offshore resource extraction. Without current, accurate hydrographic data, vessels navigating Nigeria’s coastal waters, the Niger Delta creeks, and the nation’s inland waterways do so at elevated risk.
The National Hydrographic Agency, which is mandated to produce and maintain nautical charts covering Nigerian waters, has historically operated with limited visibility in national maritime policy discussions. Its elevation to a stated priority under the Tinubu administration — articulated at the level of the Defence Ministry — signals a more integrated, security-conscious approach to maritime domain awareness.
For port operators, shipping companies, and offshore energy stakeholders, a well-funded and operationally capable NHA translates directly to more reliable navigational data, reduced insurance risk premiums, and safer routing in Nigeria’s busiest sea lanes. For NIMASA and the Nigerian Navy, improved hydrographic coverage strengthens the infrastructure for maritime domain awareness and threat response in the Gulf of Guinea, where Nigeria continues to assert its role as the dominant maritime power.
The blue economy dimension is equally noteworthy. Hydrographic surveys are a prerequisite for viable offshore wind energy development, aquaculture zoning, and the delimitation of maritime boundaries — all areas where Nigeria’s policy ambitions have outpaced technical groundwork. If this stated presidential prioritisation translates into budgetary commitments and institutional capacity-building for the NHA, it could mark a foundational shift in how Nigeria approaches its vast but under-mapped maritime estate.
Stakeholders will be watching to see whether the rhetoric of prioritisation is matched by concrete resource allocation in the next budget cycle.
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