News
WATERWAYS SAFETY ADVOCATES FLOATS NEW ORGANISATION
An NGO, Sustainable Waterways Awareness, Advancement and Advocacy Organization has
been registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
According to a press release issued by the organization on Tuesday 11th March 2025, after a joint meeting of its Board of Trustees and its Governing Council, and sighted by our reporter, its main objectives include to promote and create awareness, through seminars, workshops, lectures and symposia on waterways safety and other related issues aimed at making our waterways sustainable..
Chief Raymond Gold, Director in charge of Corporate Communication signed the press release. “Our founders and trustees are stakeholders in the maritime and water transport sector, who have investments in water transport and nautical tourism and who have made individual contributions towards making our waterways sustainable before coming together to form this organization” Chief Gold said.
“In the next couple of weeks, we have plans to roll out our programs for the year, meet with several
stakeholders and develop partnerships to realize the programs” he added. Our membership cut
across organizations and individuals who are interested in making our waterways sustainable.
Ensuring safety on our waterways shouldn’t be left for the government alone. All hands must be
on deck” Chief Gold added.
NSIB Moves to Unravel Benue River Boat Tragedy
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has activated its investigative machinery following a boat accident on the River Benue that left 11 passengers dead, with the bureau’s Director-General personally leading a field team to the scene of the tragedy.
NSIB Director-General, Captain Alex Badeh Jr., led investigators to Wadata, a riverside community along the River Benue, for an on-site assessment that included first-hand engagement with eyewitnesses, boat operators, members of the local Boat Operators Association, and community leaders. The team evaluated prevailing safety conditions along the waterway corridor and gathered operational intelligence that will feed into the bureau’s final report and recommendations.
Announcing the investigation in a statement, the bureau’s Director of Public Affairs and Family Assistance, Funke Adebayo-Arowojobe, said the NSIB was determined to establish the full circumstances of the accident and identify any safety deficiencies that may have contributed to the loss of life.
Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, received the NSIB team and commended the bureau for its prompt response. He called for closer and sustained collaboration between the agency and state authorities to lift safety standards on the River Benue, urging the NSIB to maintain an active presence in the state to support public awareness campaigns and risk-reduction efforts on the waterway.
Badeh, responding, pledged the bureau’s continued commitment to partnership with state governments, local communities, operators and regulators.
“The NSIB welcomes every opportunity to collaborate with state governments, local communities, operators and regulators in advancing transport safety. We remain committed to exploring practical avenues for institutionalising safer navigation on the River Benue and across Nigeria’s inland waterways,” he stated.
The DG also extended condolences to the families of the victims, stressing that the disaster was a stark reminder of the urgent need for greater compliance with safety regulations on Nigeria’s inland waterways.
Nigeria Watch
The Benue River tragedy, coming in the midst of a pattern of recurring boat accidents across Nigeria’s inland waterway network, raises renewed questions about the adequacy of regulatory enforcement beyond the more closely monitored coastal and Lagos routes.
The River Benue is one of Nigeria’s most commercially active inland waterways, serving communities in Benue, Kogi, Anambra and Rivers states — yet it remains among the least resourced in terms of safety infrastructure, navigational aids and operator oversight. The involvement of the NSIB at the investigative level is significant, but stakeholders in the sector will be watching to see whether its findings translate into enforceable recommendations directed at the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), which holds primary regulatory jurisdiction over navigable rivers of this classification.
Governor Alia’s call for a sustained NSIB presence in Benue also speaks to a broader gap: the federal safety architecture tends to mobilise reactively after tragedies rather than maintaining the kind of proactive, routine inspection and operator certification regime that might prevent them. With NIWA’s mandate currently the subject of ongoing litigation following the Supreme Court ruling that shook up jurisdictional boundaries, clarity of regulatory authority on rivers like the Benue has never been more consequential.
The NSIB’s report, when it emerges, should be made public and its recommendations time-bound. Anything less would be a disservice to the 11 lives lost at Wadata.
MARAN President Onigbinde Wins Maritime Reporter of the Year at Transport Day Awards
By Ighoyota Onaibre | Waterways News
Oluyinka Onigbinde, President of the Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria (MARAN), has been named Maritime Reporter of the Year at the 12th Nigerian Transport Lecture and Awards organised by Transport Day Media — a recognition that underscores the growing visibility of dedicated maritime journalism within Nigeria’s broader transport discourse.
The award was presented before an assembly of senior stakeholders from Nigeria’s transport, ports, and blue economy sectors, with organisers citing Onigbinde’s consistency in industry reporting, his in-depth policy coverage, and his sustained commitment to advancing informed public conversation on Nigeria’s maritime development.
This year’s lecture, themed “Intermodal Transportation Safety in Nigeria: Prospects, Challenges and Contributions to National Growth,” drew policymakers, regulators, transport operators, and media professionals. Former Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Corps Marshal Boboye Oyeyemi delivered the keynote, focusing on safety improvements across all modes of transport in Nigeria.
Onigbinde, who also serves as Assistant Editor of Shipping Position Daily, has built a reputation over the years for rigorous coverage of Nigeria’s ports, shipping operations, customs administration, freight forwarding, and blue economy policy. His work has included investigative reports, exclusive interviews, and analysis of port reform and trade facilitation issues that directly shape the operating environment for maritime industry practitioners.
His emergence as MARAN President adds a leadership dimension to his journalism profile. In that role, he has pledged to strengthen the association’s engagement with industry stakeholders and uphold the standards of credible maritime reporting in Nigeria.
Receiving the award, Onigbinde dedicated the recognition to colleagues, mentors, MARAN members, and the wider industry community that has supported his career. He described the honour as both humbling and a renewed obligation to pursue factual, balanced, and impactful reporting — one that contributes meaningfully to the growth of Nigeria’s maritime and transport sectors.
The Transport Day Media Awards are widely regarded as one of the sector’s key platforms for acknowledging individuals and organisations whose work has advanced Nigeria’s transport ecosystem through policy advocacy, operational excellence, and media coverage.
Nigeria Watch
The recognition of a maritime journalist at a national transport forum carries significance beyond the individual being honoured. It reflects a growing acknowledgement within Nigeria’s policy and industry circles that quality maritime journalism is not peripheral to sector development — it is part of the infrastructure of accountability.
Nigeria’s maritime sector operates in an environment where regulatory opacity, concession disputes, cabotage compliance gaps, and port efficiency challenges remain persistent concerns for operators. The quality of journalism covering these issues directly affects how well-informed stakeholders, investors, and policymakers are when making decisions that shape the blue economy.
MARAN, under new leadership, has an opportunity to push for stronger press accreditation standards at key maritime regulatory bodies — including NIMASA and the NPA — greater information flow from government agencies to the maritime press, and structured platforms for engagement between reporters and technical experts in shipping, logistics, and port operations.
Nigerian maritime journalism, when at its best, performs a watchdog function that complements the work of regulators. Recognising its practitioners at the highest levels of the transport sector is a step in the right direction.
Lagos Deputy Speaker Throws Weight Behind 8th WISTA Africa Conference
By Samson Onoharigho | Waterways News
The Deputy Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mojisola Lasbat Meranda, has pledged her support for the 8th WISTA Africa Regional Conference and confirmed she will personally attend the continental maritime event, billed to take place in Lagos later this month.
Meranda gave the commitment when she received a delegation of the Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA) Nigeria, led by its President, Dr. Odunayo Ani, during a courtesy visit to her office. The visit formed part of WISTA Nigeria’s pre-conference stakeholder outreach, targeting key institutional and legislative voices ahead of the gathering expected to draw policymakers, maritime regulators, industry operators, development partners, academics and professionals from across Africa.
Ani formally invited the Deputy Speaker and women across Lagos State to participate in the conference, scheduled for June 25 and 26, 2026, at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos. She said the event, themed “From Policy to Implementation: Women Advancing Africa’s Blue Economy through Sustainable Shipping, Trade and Energy Innovation,” would focus on translating high-level policy commitments into concrete, sector-wide action.
The WISTA Nigeria president underscored Lagos’s pivotal role in Africa’s maritime economy, arguing that the visible participation of women leaders from the state would lend significant weight to ongoing advocacy for broader female representation in maritime decision-making, innovation, and economic governance.
A group photograph of WISTA Nigeria delegation with the Lagos Deputy Speaker, during a courtesy visit last week
“The support and participation of women leaders in Lagos State will enrich discussions and help advance the drive for greater female representation and inclusion across Africa’s maritime and blue economy sectors,” Ani said.
She also called on the Lagos State House of Assembly to mobilise women across the state for the conference, describing it as a rare platform for shaping a more inclusive and equitable future for Africa’s blue economy.
Responding warmly, Meranda commended WISTA Nigeria’s consistent contributions to championing women in the maritime industry and reaffirmed her longstanding relationship with the association. She confirmed her attendance and pledged active support for initiatives geared toward widening women’s participation across the blue economy value chain.
Nigeria Watch
The 8th WISTA Africa Regional Conference arrives at a moment of heightened policy activity in Nigeria’s maritime sector — from ongoing cabotage reform conversations and the CVFF disbursement saga to the broader push to position Nigeria as the hub of Africa’s blue economy. That WISTA Nigeria chose Lagos as the host city is no accident: with the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports, the emerging Lekki Deep Seaport complex, and the administrative machinery of NIMASA and the NPA all concentrated in the commercial capital, Lagos remains the operational heartbeat of Nigeria’s shipping industry.
What stands out about this edition is the deliberate legislative buy-in. Securing the endorsement of the Lagos Deputy Speaker is not merely symbolic — it signals an attempt to build bridges between the maritime industry and the lawmaking architecture that ultimately shapes port governance, cabotage enforcement, and blue economy investment policy. For an industry that has long complained of regulatory fragmentation and legislative indifference, that kind of outreach matters.
The conference theme — moving from policy to implementation — also resonates sharply in the Nigerian context. Nigeria has no shortage of blue economy frameworks, maritime masterplans, and gender inclusion commitments on paper. The harder challenge, as industry stakeholders consistently note, is converting those documents into enforceable regulation, funded programmes, and genuine career pathways — particularly for women, who remain significantly underrepresented at the senior levels of Nigerian shipping, port management, and maritime trade.
Port operators, shipowners, freight forwarders and terminal managers attending the June 25–26 conference would do well to engage the implementation-focused sessions closely. The conversations there are likely to feed back into the policy pipeline affecting their operations.
Waterways News | Maritime & Blue Economy Reporting
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