Accident rate still high in Nigeria, says FRSC boss

Oyeyemi emphasised that such huge losses undoubtedly hinder economic and social development, and therefore, inhibit national development efforts.Delivering a 16-page speech entitled, “Governance and the Public Policy Process: The Contributions of the Federal Road Safety Corps to the Transformation Agenda,” at the 2014 annual public lecture organised by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka inside the […]

Oyeyemi emphasised that such huge losses undoubtedly hinder economic and social development, and therefore, inhibit national development efforts.
Delivering a 16-page speech entitled, “Governance and the Public Policy Process: The Contributions of the Federal Road Safety Corps to the Transformation Agenda,” at the 2014 annual public lecture organised by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka inside the Princess Alexandra Auditorium, Oyeyemi said reports of crashes recorded in the country over the years remained high, adding that victims of road accidents consisted mostly of young, productive and energetic segment of the national population.
“They are either killed or injured in the Nigerian roads. We know from studies that low and middle income countries unfortunately are the most vulnerable to road traffic crashes. Currently, the sum of $100billion being lost to road traffic crashes every year is almost twice the total development assistance received worldwide by developing countries,” he said.
Painting a graphic picture of the figures of road mishaps in the country and the casualties, Oyeyemi said:  “For the avoidance of doubt, a total of 6,052 people died from road traffic crashes in Nigeria in 2010, and by 2012 it was 6,092, while 6,450 died from road crashes last year, 2013. However, as at the last week of November, 2014, a total of 4,643 people died from road traffic crashes throughout the country. This decline is positive for the previous trend, but it remains high.
“The economic and social costs that these human losses have brought to bear on the nation are better imagined. But what is clear is that though the aforementioned number of people unfortunately died from avoidable road traffic crashes, the situation could have been worse without the presence of the FRSC men on the highways to caution, enlighten and enforce traffic laws on recalcitrant drivers while deploying rescue teams to assist crash victims so that those who would have lived do not die due to lack of prompt and efficient attention.”
He regretted that Nigeria, with a total road network of 204,200 kilometres, comprising 34,120 kilometres of federal roads, 30,500 kilometres of state roads, and 129,580 kilometres of local government roads, was characterised by lack of coherent national road policy on application of road standards.
“It also has limited professional and business capacity, resulting in inefficient services. In addition, the country’s road network lacks appropriate road design standards to keep pace with increased vehicular traffic volumes and vehicle weights,” he said, adding that this  was  in addition to the “lack of road markings, safety barriers and signage, which contribute to the high crashes and casualty rate on all roads.”
He appealed to state governments to fully buy into road safety, demonstrating political will through the establishment of state traffic agencies, while taking advantage of the FRSC training institutions to train their personnel.
“I call on all critical stakeholders, transport associations, insurance companies, government agencies, haulage and other professional associations to fully cooperate with all tenets of the national road traffic regulations, RTSSS, DSSP and other laudable programmes put in place by the FRSC to checkmate carnage on our roads,” Oyeyemi said.