The pattern has now become tiresomely familiar in Nigeria.

Many die in a boat accident; officials say regulations must be followed; your calls are ignored; activists say resources are not available; Another tragedy occurs.

This time, a search and rescue team is looking for survivors of a capsized wooden canoe in Jigawa State.

There were thought to be forty people on board, mostly farmers and workers, when it sank on Sunday. Twenty-three people have been rescued alive, but so far seven bodies have been recovered from the river.

Last month, a boat accident on the Benue River in central Nigeria claimed the lives of 12 people, including a pregnant woman and six children.

At the beginning of this year, 14 people lost their lives when their boat capsized in Gumbi, Kebbi State. They were returning from a wedding ceremony and accompanying the bride to her new husband’s house.

So far this year, more than 55 people have already lost their lives in boat accidents and there are still dozens of bodies to be recovered.

For millions of Nigerians, especially in rural areas, rivers are the most practical means of transportation. With many villages on or near waterways and few bridges and roads in poor condition to facilitate travel, rickety wooden boats are often the only way for people to reach relatives elsewhere, take goods to market or see the outside world.

For people like Isiyaka Bello, the painful memory of losing someone in the water is still fresh. Last year, his wife was returning from a village market in Kebbi state when she and eight others lost their lives.

“It seems like yesterday. She left four children behind and I’m still struggling to adjust to raising them on my own.

“Every time I pass by a large body of water, all I think about is it,” he said.

The reasons why water transport in Nigeria is so risky are painfully predictable:

After every disaster, authorities promise to do better. But in the water there are few, if any, changes.

Mallam Sala Altine holds a traditional title that carries the weight of life and death in the river. He is Sarkin Ruwan Shiroro, the man charged with keeping people safe on Lake Shiroro in Niger State, where some of Nigeria’s deadliest boat tragedies have occurred.

The Niger River, the third longest in Africa, flows through the state with which it shares its name, where it is fed by numerous smaller rivers and connected waterways, creating an environment where fatal accidents are frequent and serious.

Between January 2023 and October 2025, Niger State accounted for a significant portion of the nearly 860 deaths recorded in Nigeria. A report noted 253 deaths in the state between June 2023 and August 2025.

Altine says there is a critical shortage of life jackets despite repeated promises from the government to supply them.

“Our boats usually carry more than 100 passengers, but most of the time we can only provide life jackets for 10 people, or even less, because we simply do not have enough,” he explains.

“We want to establish as a rule that everyone who boards a boat must wear a life jacket, but we can’t impose it because we don’t have one to give them.”

He says after an accident that claimed around 13 lives, the government promised to supply more life jackets.

“But I don’t know if the numbers were reduced along the way, because what we finally received was very little.”

Altine says it breaks his heart to see passengers boarding ships without any protection.