Twenty-nine people have been confirmed dead in a boat accident in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State, officials have said.
The accident occurred at about 11:30 am on Tuesday in Gausawa community when a boat carrying about 90 passengers, including women and children, capsized after colliding with a submerged tree stump on the River Niger.
The passengers were said to be heading to Dugga for a condolence visit from Tugan Sule in Shagunu ward when the tragedy struck.
According to the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), 50 people were rescued while two remain missing as search and rescue operations continue.
Abdullahi Baba-Arah, Director General of NSEMA, confirmed the incident, attributing it to overloading and poor safety compliance.
“According to our desk officer who led the search and rescue operations, the boat took off from a community called Tugan Sule in Shagunu ward with 90 people on board, which included women and children, heading to Dugga for a condolence visit.
“The incident happened on Tuesday at about 11:30 am, and the cause was attributed to overloading and a collision with a tree stump. Search and rescue operations are still ongoing for possible recovery of missing persons,” Baba-Arah said.
Witnesses reported that most passengers were not wearing lifejackets at the time of the incident. A source in the Niger State Ministry of Transport, who preferred anonymity, confirmed this, stressing that lives could have been saved if passengers had complied with safety regulations.
“The passengers were obviously not wearing any lifejackets because if they were wearing them, more, if not all of them, in the boat, would have survived the accident,” the source said.
Boat accidents are a recurring tragedy in Nigeria’s riverine communities, often linked to overloading, tree stumps, poor regulation, and lack of safety enforcement. This is the second such incident in Niger State in 2025, following a similar mishap in July that was also caused by a tree stump.
The National Inland Waterway Authority (NIWA) had earlier launched campaigns such as “No Life Jacket, No Travel” and banned night travels on waterways. It also distributed lifejackets to communities in Mokwa after floods claimed more than 200 lives last year.
Despite these measures, enforcement remains weak, and many passengers continue to ignore safety precautions.
As of Thursday morning, search operations in Borgu are ongoing to recover those still unaccounted for.
