Road accident in Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. Why? It is because
road accident constitutes a menace in our modern day. The deplorable state of
roads in Nigeria has certainly become a national shame and an unnecessary
embarrassment as there is hardly any part of the country that can boast of
motorable roads. The problem of bad roads in the country has become an
embarrassing stigma. In many parts of this country, normal interaction has been
frustrated by bad roads. Vehicle owners are in distress as their vehicles are
not used optimally. Moreover, the very many potholes and detours mean that
vehicles keep breaking down so that on many of Nigeria's roads emergency
mechanics have sprung up to assist stranded commuters sometimes with disastrous
consequences. People are hurting that despite the fact that they pay road taxes
to the Federal Government little is being done to repair it. The state of the
roads has become worrisome that many lives are being lost on a daily basis. There
are some factors that constitute the problems that we are facing concerning our
roads which have turned it to be a killing field. They can be outlined are as
follows:
1. Armed robbers: they are a constant
threat particularly at night and some can even attack during the day time. It is common for thieves, rapists and other
miscreants to wait comfortably because one would hardly see security personnel
patronising some isolated roads and late in the night close to the bad side of
the roads where all vehicles virtually come to a halt. Commuters are in trouble
whether in the city of Lagos or Abuja or highways as bad roads make it
impossible to plan a journey or predict arrival time. Commercial activity is
suffering as goods and services are now in short supply leading to price
increases in practically all consumer items. Transporters are lamenting the
loss of revenue. They can only operate skeletal services during the day and
cannot operate at night because of the menace of armed robbers.
2. Roads not big enough: Another problem
besetting Nigerian roads is that they are not designed for expansion. As the
volume of traffic increases, road construction should be seen to be keeping
pace accordingly. The Lagos-Ibadan expressway, for instance, can do with further
expansion. Corporate organisations should also assist in managing and
contribute toward roads expansion as
part of their social responsibilities
3. Decaying infrastructure: The lack of
maintenance of roads in Nigeria has become a public issue as Nigerians are
daily lamenting this failure of leadership. Good roads are a basic component of
good governance. Nigerians are routinely being put at risk everyday as a result
of the failure of the state to provide adequate amenities for its citizens. All
the authorities involved in road construction and maintenance should buckle up
and do something to remove this blot on Nigeria’s image.
4. Over speeding: Nigerian economy is no doubt a road-driven economy, and so, 80 to
85% of commercial activities in Nigeria, are done via road transportation,
because lots of people cannot curb with the expenses of going by air. It is no
doubt that drivers over speed without caring less about their lives or even
their passengers all in the name of they want to get to their destinations on time.
But what are the government and the road safety doing to enforce a road speed
limit? We need a fast solution. More and more people are dying daily along our
national highways, tankers and trucks are all driving beyond their speed limits,
every car plying on the highways are on the excessive speed, We should do something before we keep losing the lives of our valuable citizens.
5. Reckless drivers: Some drivers, not
just those driving commercial vehicles but also personal car owners throw
caution to the wind once they are on the highway. They seem to forget the fact
that this life is just one. When an accident occur, some end up death, some
come out without a scratch and others end up having a life threatening injury
that might even leave them bedridden for life. When you enter a vehicle and the
driver is not ready to limit the way he or she is over speeding, simply tell
him or her to stop and come down because your loved ones at home are waiting
for you.
6. Another area of unhealthy development
to watch is the fact that road projects in Nigeria are about the most costly in
the whole world. Road construction contracts are excessively inflated and yet
the quality of roads often delivered fall far below global standards. The
meaning of this trend is that Nigeria spends more on road construction and maintenance
and gets no value for it.
But all this is happening in a country where there are several agencies,
including the Federal Ministry of Works responsible for the construction and
maintenance of roads. Every state and local government is charged with the
responsibility of construction and maintenance of roads. Although the government had built train
stations to salvage the situation but more stations should be built since
train is safer than travelling by road.
Statistics of such deaths are frightening indeed. In 2009, for example, the
nation lost 7,000 people to road accidents, 969 of them were children. The
figures dropped slightly to 5,279 in 2010. In 2012, 11 persons were killed each
day through accidents on the roads, according to statistics from the Federal
Road Safety Corps, FRSC. More than 20,000 people sustained various degrees of
injuries, some of the injuries bad enough to render the victims invalid for the
rest of their lives, from about 6, 269 cases of road accidents recorded that
year by the FRSC. Goods worth billions of Naira perish frequently through
accidents. Roads like Lagos-Ibadan-Shagamu expressway, Abuja-Lokoja,
Nyanya-Mararaba, Maiduguri-Monguno-Marte-Dikwa, Makurdi-Otukpo and Benin-Ore-Shagamu
roads are in the worst state of maintenance.
It is a pity and quite painful that out of 193 countries in the world
Nigeria is rated second highest in road accidents. Trillions of Naira are been
spent to repair the roads and yet we have nothing to show for it. Monies that
are meant for the maintenance of road are spent on election campaigns and some
politicians have even diverted it for their own personal use. They buy
expensive cars; build houses both at home and abroad, going for vacation abroad
with their families and so on. Although,
road accidents happen in both developed and developing countries but it is more
in developing countries, most especially in Nigeria. For instance, in April
2016, not less than 142 people died in motor accident in just 15 days.
More so, according to Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) public
education officer in 2013, between December 19, 2012 and January 15, 2013,
Nigeria had over 480 traffic crashes and about 1600 people were injured and not
less than 280 people died from these crashes.
Nevertheless, it is worthy to note that high rate of road accident in
Nigeria is not acceptable because it is fast depleting human capital base. To
further justify this assertion, below are the 13 notable road accidents in
2016.
1. On January 21, 18 people were killed in a fatal road accident that
occurred in Ikpoba-Okha local government area of Edo state. The accident
involved a trailer, a car and a 14 seater Toyota Hiace bus. The trailer rammed
into a Volkswagen car and the bus after its brake failed, killing 12 of the
passengers in the bus.
2. On February 8, no fewer than 30 passengers died in the Adeosun area
of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway after a trailer conveying over 50 people from
Kaduna state tumbled down the road. Others sustained varying degrees of
injuries in the crash, while two rams were killed.
3. On February 10, 10 people have been confirmed dead in a road accident
which occurred at the Four Square Camp, Ajebo Area of Obafemi Owode local
government area of Ogun state, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Six others
were critically injured. The accident was caused by dangerous driving by the
driver of a Mazda bus who rammed into an Iveco truck at a road division along
the expressway.
4. On March 6, the honourable minister of state for labour and
employment, Barrister James Ocholi, his wife and son died in road accident. The
crash occurred at Kilometre 57, along Kaduna-Abuja highway. The car had a burst
tyre before somersaulting, leaving its occupants dead.
5. On March 6, 18 people were burnt to death in a fatal motor accident
at Buzaye Village along Bauchi-Jos road. The accident occurred in the late
hours of Sunday. Two vehicles involved caught fire, burning all the 18
passengers as there was no rescue team on hand to free them.
6. On March 7, the deputy governor of Yobe state, Abubakar Ali was
involved in an auto accident along the Kaduna- Kano expressway. The SUV he was
travelling in had a head-on collision with a Toyota Avensis vehicle.
7. On March 8, a senior rank officer, who was chief of training and
operation in the Nigeria Army, Major General Yushau Mahmood Abubakar, was
involved in a road accident. The former commander of Operation Lafiye Dole died
in the crash which occurred along Maiduguri-Damaturu. Another senior rank
officer, the acting general officer commanding 3rd division in Nigeria Army,
Brigadier General MSA Aliyu, was also involved in the accident.
8. On April 1, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) confirmed that
Nigeria recorded 98 road crashes and 77 deaths nationwide during the Easter
holidays.
9. On April 24, six members of the Ekiti state branch of the Nigerian
Medical Association (NMA), including their driver, died in a fatal motor
accident along Abuja-Kaduna Expressway. They were on their way to Sokoto state
to attend 56th Annual General Meeting of the NMA. The rear tyre of the vehicle
burst while the driver was speeding which set the vehicle on a ghastly
somersault, killing the six medical doctors and the driver while others occupants
were seriously injured.
10. On May 3, some secondary school students were involved in a fatal
accident along Lagos-Ibadan Express way. The students, who were conveyed in a
vehicle belonging to Government Girls Secondary School, (Dala) Bulukiya, Kano
state were said to be on their way from Lagos state back to Kano where they had
gone to represent their school in a national quiz competition. Scores lost
their lives while others were injured following the tragic incident.
11. In May, Major General Gabriel Kpamber, a serving general in the
Nigerian Army was crushed to death in a fatal road accident at Uchi in Tarka
local government area of Benue state. He was said to be returning from a burial
he attended in his Ushongo village when he met his untimely death.
12. The convoy of Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau state was involved in
a fatal accident at Mikang, in Mikang local government area of the state on
June 3. The accident claimed the lives of two security aides of the governor.
13. On June 19, an accident occurred at the busy Lagos -Ibadan
expressway killing no fewer than 19 persons. The accident involved a truck, a
fuel tanker and a commercial bus. It occurred at the Fidiwo-Ajebo, Ogun state
stretch of the popular expressway.
14. On August 5, 17 Maiduguri-bound passengers
were killed in an auto crash along Maiduguri-Damaturu highway when an 18-seater
bus collided with a fuel tanker. Ngari Modu, a resident of Benisheik, told
PREMIUM TIMES that “the bus was going on high speed when it suddenly skid off
its lane and ran headlong towards an oncoming fuel tanker which”.
“The tanker ran over the
bus which immediately caused the two vehicles to catch fire. Seventeen out of
the 18 persons in the bus burned to death, while only one person managed to
come out alive,” he said. Among them was a corp member serving in Gombe State
that lost her life.
Nonetheless, in Nigeria today, hardly will you see a day that is free
from road accident. In other words, a day hardly goes by without the occurrence
of a road accident in Nigeria. Some of these road accidents that get to media
stations are announced publicly, but majority of them goes unreported. In
view of the foregoing, majority of the accident that happen on our roads are
not part of statistics given because they are not reported to the authority.
You can then imagine the high rate of accidents in the country beyond the given
statistics. In view of this it can be rightly said that deplorable conditions
of some of the Nigeria roads are not responsible for the high rate of accident
in Nigeria. However, to a very large extent, high rate of road accidents in
Nigeria are due to the carelessness and negligence of the road users. This
should serve as a call to the Federal Government, the Federal Road Safety Corps
and also to the road users. May the souls of the departed Rest in Peace.
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