Canoe business booms at Ose-Ekwodu market in Onitsha
…As young men make brisk business to survive
By Nwabueze Okonkwo
At the waterfront of the popular Ose-Okwodu market, Onitsha, located at the bank of the River Niger, boat and canoe transport business thrives. The Canoe park there is always busy with paddlers, and their loaders make brisk business.
They work daily and make money to sustain them and cushion the effects of economic downturn.
It may be assumed that the present economic downturn in the country, coupled with the high cost of both formal and informal education prompt many young men to embark on boat and canoe paddling business so as to make ends meet, despite the high risk associated with it.
But some of the young peddlers dismissed that, saying it is a choice they willingly made. They dismissed the issue of risks, insisting that water transport is much less risky business than road transport.
According to them, the issue of high risk is not really real, unless for those who failed to wear life jackets and who do not know how to swim, who are vulnerable to losing their lives by drowning in case of the canoe capsizing and in the absence of divers and a rescue team.
It is cheaper and safer
The canoe paddlers maintained that it is cheaper and safer for travelers to go by canoe or boat than to travel by road to their various destinations.
According to Friday Idakwo, a 20-year-old canoe paddler and an indigene of Kogi State, “we charge about N4,000 per passenger traveling from Onitsha in Anambra State to Kogi State and vice versa, but road transporters charge as high as N15,000 for the same journey by road”.
Idakwo, popularly known by his fellow paddlers as “Mammy Water Boy Friend” because of his efficiency in swimming, explained that there is little or no risk for a passenger to travel by water when compared with traveling by road.
He said that in water transportation, there is less delay, there is no police extortion, no task force harassment, no armed robbery attack, no kidnappers or criminal Fulani herdsmen to fear, and no auto crash on water as witnessed on highways.
He noted that on rare occasions when sea pirates operate on the water, they have a way of outsmarting them by telling their passengers to lie flat on the boat while the paddler figures out a strategy to escape from them.
Speaking on reported cases of a series of boat mishaps in many parts of the country, Idakwo explained that boats and canoes do not unnecessarily capsize except when two boats or canoes are coming from opposite directions, and if they do not slow down to pass each other, the wave of the water could easily fill up the boats, and they will capsize. So we are always careful and slow down when we approach an oncoming canoe or boat.
Why they call me Mammy Water Boy Friend
The young canoe paddler explained that he was nicknamed Mammy Water Boy Friend because of his good knowledge of swimming, to the extent that claims he can swim and remain afloat on the water for hours without drowning.
He stated that even if a boat or canoe capsizes, he could dive into the river and rescue as many passengers as possible. He said that he always preaches and encourages his passengers to wear life jackets in case of any mishap.
“I always advise my passengers to put on their life jackets when we are on the water. So if there is any mishap, they stand the best chance of being rescued.
“The highest amount you can buy a life jacket is ₦10,000 or even less than that because whether a passenger knows how to swim or not, the life jacket will make him or her remain afloat on the water until the rescue team or divers come to their rescue”.
Learning the art of paddling
According to Idakwo, it doesn’t take more than a month for a person to learn how to paddle the boat as long as he has the interest.
Our major customers
Idakwo disclosed that their major customers are interstate traders who operate between Onitsha, Benue, Delta and Kogi states.
He explained that their passengers usually transport assorted kinds of food stuffs like yam, cocoayam, garri and fish from the rural communities of Kogi, Benue, Delta and some parts of Anambra rural communities down to Onitsha and after sales, they in turn buy items like beer, mineral water, clothing materials, provisions and other necessary items and take back for sale and consumption in their places, especially the rural areas.
On how many passengers he had lost in transit, he disclosed that he had lost only a female passenger. According to him, during one of his trips, he became so hungry that he begged a newly married couple to cut a small piece of bread from the big loaf they had on them and give him to eat, and when the husband agreed and wanted to cut the bread, the newly married wife refused. Unfortunately, there was a mishap, and the boat capsized in the middle of the river at night. He said that he first went for the kind-hearted husband and rescued him, and by the time he succeeded in rescuing him and went for the wife, she had already drowned.
Idakwo encouraged travellers to choose water travel above road transportation but urged them to ensure that they wear their life jackets, which will keep them afloat in to case of mishap until they are rescued.
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