By: Chioma Madonna Ndukwu
The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has confirmed that the tragic boat accident on Anam River in Anambra State in 2024, which led to the death of Nollywood actor Junior Pope and four others, was caused by human error, not mechanical failure.
Bola Oyebamiji, Managing Director of NIWA, made the statement during a multi-modal transportation stakeholders forum in Abuja on Thursday.
Oyebamiji explained that some of the passengers aboard the boat had refused to wear life jackets before the fatal incident occurred.
“It was not a mechanical failure, nor were there any impediments in the water or adverse weather conditions. The cause of the accident was purely a disregard for safety rules and regulations governing inland waterways,” Oyebamiji said.
He further emphasized that such actions undermine the agency’s ongoing efforts to ensure safety on Nigeria’s waterways and called for greater public cooperation in promoting water safety awareness across the country.
The forum was attended by high-profile figures, including Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, the Director-General of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau, the Director-General of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, and Allen Onyema, CEO of Air Peace Limited.
Junior Pope, who was among those who drowned, had been returning from a film shoot for Another Side of Life, a movie produced by Adanma, when the boat capsized in April 2024 near Cable Point along the River Niger in Asaba, Delta State.
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