By Davies Iheamnachor

PORT-HARCOURT—THE Senator representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District, Magnus Abe, has urged Governor Nyesom Wike of the state to initiate policies to punish those who exhibit acts of negligence to established laws.

File: Abe and Wike

Abe noted that statements by the state government to issues of negligence that results to loss of lives was not enough, stressing that the government must be ready to punish those who flout the laws.

Abe spoke in Port-Harcourt, weekend, when he visited the family of Joe Blankson, who died in a boat mishap on Bakana River, Degema Local Government Area of the state.

Blankson was said to have saved 13 people in the boat carrying over 24 passengers and had gone to save the 14th person when he drowned.

Abe said: “I saw the statement by the Commissioner of Information. I want to ask the government to go a step further. We want to find out the reason these things happen and nobody should be punished or held accountable.

“We need to know that where we do not have regulations or we fail to enforce them, or where people are charged with responsibility for something and they fail to carry them out and in the process lives are lost, those who did not obey such lawful orders should be held accountable for the incident.

“As we talk, many people have been killed on our waterways. If they had life jackets, if they obeyed regulations that govern our waterways, all these deaths would not have been recorded. We must go beyond issuing statements to taking practical steps to punish offenders.

“In our area, nobody cares about enforcing the law that people should not enter the boats without live jackets. When we heard of the story of how he, Joe made efforts to save others, it touched my heart. “

Meanwhile, Dr. Mimi Thom-Manuel, who responded for the family, expressed worries that travellers on waterways in the state do not take use of lifejacket seriously, calling on state government to make policy that would monitor boat operators who do not obey the regulation.