Between FRSC and UN policies
The Abuja summit was specifically put together to draw practical and sustainable plan of action which will lead Nigeria on a ten year journey which should end with actualization of the United Nations mandate of 50% reduction of fatalities through road traffic crashes. The genesis of this advocacy on road safety can be traced to […]
The Abuja summit was specifically put together to draw practical and sustainable plan of action which will lead Nigeria on a ten year journey which should end with actualization of the United Nations mandate of 50% reduction of fatalities through road traffic crashes.
The genesis of this advocacy on road safety can be traced to November last year in Russia during the first global Ministerial Conference with the theme “Time for Action” which brought together Transport, Infrastructure, Health and Interior Ministers, Road Safety agencies and relevant Non-governmental Organizations with the FRSC Corps Marshal and Chief Executive, Osita Chidoka presenting a position paper on the relevance of volunteer groups in actualizing global goals on road safety.
It is instructive to recall that the Moscow confab did not only instigate collective action towards reinforced governmental leadership and guidance in road safety, including by designating or strengthening lead agencies and co-ordination mechanisms at national or sub-national levels to make specific efforts to develop and implement policies, infrastructure solutions to protect all road users in particular, those who are most vulnerable such as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and users of unsafe public transport as well as children, the elderly and people living with disabilities and to invite the United Nations General Assembly to declare 2011-2020 as the “Decade of action on road safety” with a goal to stabilize and then reduce the forecast level of global road deaths by 2020.
This aggressive push for increased consciousness and action on road safety has come at a time when practical measures should be initiated to effectively address worrisome global emerging trends on road deaths.
According to estimation by the World Health Organization, over 1.2 million people are killed by road traffic crashes and 50 million others injured on the world’s roads annually. Out of this figure, over 80% occur in the developing countries with Africa having the highest death rates. It also projects that if nothing is done by countries to stem this unpleasant tide, death by road traffic crashes would increase by 65% by 2015/2020, overtaking malaria and tuberculosis.
This scenario is further worsened by startling revelations which indicate that Nigeria loses about 3% of its Gross Domestic Product to road traffic crash fatalities and about 17% of its current national reserve. As at 2007, the average number of deaths and injuries annually in Nigeria was 4,673 and 17,794 respectively which rose to 6,000 and 27,980 in 2008 and just slid down to 4.3% in 2009 but stood at 5,693 and 27,270 deaths average.
Even with this slight reduction, last year’s statistics on road traffic crashes from the FRSC indicate an average monthly fatal rate of 474 deaths and 2,273 injuries in Nigeria while global statistics of road crashes fatalities is also on the increase.
Similarly, United Nations statistics on death per 10,000 vehicles indicate that while Norway rank 1st with 1.2 deaths, Italy is number 8 on the log with 1.9 deaths per 10,000 vehicles but Nigeria placed 21st with 161 deaths per 10,000 vehicles thus revealing the negative contribution of road traffic accidents in lowering the life expectancy of Nigerians not to mention other countries within the African sub-region.
Part of the United Nations/World Bank framework for the decade of action on road safety which it expects member states to adopt include the International Road Safety co-ordination which involves new multilateral and bilateral donors, countries allocating 10% of their road infrastructure investment for road safety.
This disposition was further strengthened by President Jonathan Goodluck who commended the FRSC for being the first African country to activate the UN’s decade of action. The President who was represented by the Minister of Works, Senator Sanusi Dagash noted that road safety and safe road culture were integral to the development of any nation especially Nigeria where over 80% of movement of goods and persons are by road.
With the position of the former Head of State Gen. Yakubu Gowon and other stakeholders in road safety and the nation’s transport sector, it is explicit that the United Nations decade of action on road safety is a sinequanon towards ensuring safer road use not only in Nigeria but the African sub-region.
Osondu is Staff Officer Media, Corps Public Education Office, FRSC HQ Abuja