The Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy and the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) have moved to strengthen inter-agency collaboration on waterways safety amid concerns over preventable deaths on Nigeria’s inland waterways.
The move followed a meeting between the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mrs Fatima Sugra Tabi’a Mahmood, and a delegation led by the Director-General of NSIB, Capt. Alex Badeh Jnr. on Wednesday in Abuja.
Mahmood said a clear delineation of responsibilities among agencies in the marine and blue economy sector was essential to achieving effective maritime safety and preventing overlapping functions.
She said the Ministry was conducting a holistic review of the marine and blue economy ecosystem to ensure that government institutions were properly positioned to discharge their statutory mandates.
“A coordinated approach, rather than overlapping responsibilities, would support more effective implementation of government policies and programmes to improve safety across Nigeria’s waterways,” she said.
The Permanent Secretary stressed that inter-agency cooperation must be guided by relevant legal and statutory frameworks, particularly in areas involving maritime safety, accident investigation, regulation and enforcement.
She assured NSIB of the Ministry’s readiness to deepen engagement with the Bureau and other relevant agencies, noting that effective cooperation remained critical to strengthening the country’s waterways safety framework.
Earlier, Badeh called for the integration of independent marine casualty investigations into ongoing national maritime policy reforms to prevent government agencies from working at cross purposes.
According to him, the measure would help reduce preventable deaths across Nigeria’s estimated 10,000 kilometres of navigable inland waterways spanning 28 states.
Badeh clarified that NSIB’s role was distinct from that of operational and regulatory agencies, stressing that the Bureau conducts independent, no-blame safety investigations into marine casualties.
He explained that agencies including the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) are responsible for areas such as licensing, inspections and operations, while NSIB investigates accidents to determine their causes and make safety recommendations.
He said the Bureau systematically tracks its safety recommendations to ensure that they are implemented and closed.
The NSIB boss, however, raised concerns over delays in reporting marine accidents, warning that such delays often compromise investigations as vital evidence could be tampered with, looted or destroyed by weather and water currents before investigators arrive at accident scenes.
To address the challenge, he proposed the establishment of a formal casualty notification protocol involving the Ministry, NSIB and relevant operating agencies.
Under the proposed arrangement, marine accidents would be reported to the appropriate authorities within one hour of occurrence to facilitate prompt deployment of investigators.
Badeh said timely investigations were critical to identifying systemic safety failures and preventing similar accidents from recurring.
He added that stronger collaboration between the Ministry and NSIB would enhance Nigeria’s reputation as a responsible flag, port and inland waterways state.
According to him, the initiative would also contribute to sustaining Nigeria’s current Category C seat at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) while supporting the country’s ambition to secure a Category B seat in the future.
