Rescue workers are searching for more than 40 people after a boat accident in Sokoto State, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
The agency said the boat, which was carrying more than 50 passengers to a market, capsized on Sunday.
“About 10 persons have been rescued, while more than 40 passengers remain missing,” NEMA said.
AFP reports that boat accidents are common on Nigeria’s poorly regulated waterways because of overcrowding and poor maintenance, particularly during the annual rainy season when rivers and lakes overflow.
At least 16 farmers died in a similar accident in August 2024 when a wooden canoe carrying them across a river to their rice fields capsized in Sokoto state.
On July 29, six girls drowned after a boat taking them home from farm work capsized midstream in northwestern Jigawa State.
Two days earlier, at least 13 people had died in another boat accident in central Niger State.
Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.
Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.
He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.
Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).
He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.
He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.
Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled: Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.
