The Waterfront Boat Owners and Transporters Association of Nigeria (WABOTAN) has expressed sadness over a boat mishap that claimed over 100 lives at Pategi Local Government Area of Kwara State.
The National President of WABOTAN, Comrade Babatope Fajemirokun has condoled with the affected families and the Kwara State Government over the incident.
This was contained in a statement signed by its National Public Relations Officer, Chief Raymond Gold Onoriobe and made available to JournalNG.
According to Fajemirokun, WABOTAN will extend its next capacity building and safety training programme to Kwara State and other states across the country.
This he said is to forestall such mishaps in the future, especially where water transportation has been embraced as a means of conveyance.
“As stakeholders in the water transport sector in Nigeria, we have been committed to playing our role in the needed efforts to transform the water transport sector and the strict adherence to safety and security measures to forestall such mishaps.
“This has formed part of our core objectives which is, training and retraining of boat captains and deck hands, to build capacity and ensure safety and security on our waterways.
“This training, which we usually do in collaboration and partnership with relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government, has contributed to Lagos State recording immense improvement on safety on her waterways.
“Our next capacity building and safety training program comes up this November in Lagos and we are making efforts to extend this training to Kwara State and other States across the country where water transportation has been embraced as a means of moving people and goods from one place to another.
“Once again, our heart felt condolences to the affected families”, the statement partly read.
