Time to put an end to road terrorism
It’s time once again time to celebrate life. On the occasion of my 56th birthday in Ilorin yesterday it was amazing to discover that my written reflections over a number of good governance issues could now pass for a 500-page book; Reflections On Good Governance and Democracy. One of the recurring notorious is additive road […]
It’s time once again time to celebrate life. On the occasion of my 56th birthday in Ilorin yesterday it was amazing to discover that my written reflections over a number of good governance issues could now pass for a 500-page book; Reflections On Good Governance and Democracy. One of the recurring notorious is additive road accidents. I wrote four articles on the road carnage, sorry road terrorism. This is understandable as a regular traveller who covers thousands of kilometers in a week.
Birthday is about celebration of life. It’s time we pause a bit about those who have died due to increasing number of road accidents. It could have been worse. Many thanks to the safety activism championed by the Federal Road Safety Commission ably led by the FRSC Corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi. In my reflection in Daily Trust of 26th May 2008, I pointed out that Nigeria is a nation of permanent mourners because of permanent grief caused by serial road accidents which indiscriminately claim lives in thousands and incapacitating many. In the same year, 46 Nigerian soldiers summarily got perished along Bauchi-Potiskum “road” on their ways back to their respective homes. That was after they had survived peace keeping operation in Darfur, Sudan (where they gallantly served under the auspices of UN peace keeping operation). Since 2008 I wrote the article; many Nigerians have been sent to early graves via roads! No thanks to “accidents” which are better seen as incidents since they have become addictive. According to the Oxford dictionary, accident is defined as happenings “unexpected” or “unplanned”. Addictive accidents in Nigeria are sadly expected and even planned. There is nothing “accidental” for 46 soldiers who had survived deadly peace keeping operation only to unacceptably perish on road going home. A visit to the web-site of National Road Safety Commission reveals human tragedies and miseries of varying proportions reduced to some miserable statistics.
Many had died as road tankers repeatedly overturned and caught fire along Lagos-Ibadan expressway. It is a common knowledge that along intercity roads, as many as dozens were killed in lorries packed full of traders and domestic animals.
Nigeria is the only oil producing country I know where “Lorries” are packed with humans and animals together not fleeing a tornado or war zone. In Nigeria most adults know somebody killed or maimed in road related accidents. Nigerian Journal of Surgical research shows that 70 per cent of all admissions into one emergency medical centre are due to road accidents. Our cities compete with notorious Iraqi cities in tanker explosions albeit, without declaration of war!. NTA once reported complete shutdown of Ilorin- Jebba road because two tankers collided. The tape showed burnt vehicles and the attendant human wastage. The casualties are all inclusive. The late statesman Chief Sunday Awoniyi died of road related “accidents” (again only in Nigeria can a statesman be so vulnerable). The greatest African writer and story teller, Chinua Achebe almost died on road accident some years back.
Even road safety officials have lost their lives on the roads. In an article entitled “FRSC – Road Governance, Please” on 25th of July 2011, I once narrated the tragic story of Lepzem Wubang a good friend of mine. He was an Assistant Commandant of Road Safety Commission and together a participant of 2005 Senior Course 27 at the National Institute for Policy and strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru Jos. His project was on the danger of Nights Travels. Lepzem eventually died on same road accident three years ago after our graduation between Jos and Bauchi. I dedicate this year’s birthday to the memory of my dear friend, the late former Minister of Labour and Productivity, James Ocholi a Senior Advocate of Nigeria his lovely wife and son who perished along Abuja-Kaduna road in an accident early last year. Obalowu KEKE is a staff of the Kwara sport ministry. Since I met him two years ago during my cycling exercise I came home, my interest in cycling had been rekindled. Sadly Obalowu has since been bed ridden with multiple fractures in a road accident in which three died and he is the lone survivor. May Allah heel his wounds for him to resume cycling as I also dedicate my celebration to him. By the time we add, unreported road carnage perpetrated by Okada/ motorcycle riders, Nigeria is better described as a Republic of accidents. It’s time Nigeria put an end to this serial road terrorism.
“Accidents”, road accidents in particular kill Nigerians as much as the Boko Haram terrorists and HIV/ AIDS. The FRSC Corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi, disclosed just last week that total of 12,077 road crashes were recorded across the country in 2015. About 20,000 people have been killed in the Boko Haram insurgency in northeast Nigeria, according to a World Bank report.
I agree with Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi that if appropriate safety measures were adopted by the motorists most of the crashes are avoidable. Unlike HIV/AIDS, road “accidents” have cure; which include good roads, trained drivers and safety awareness, prevention and punishment. Nigeria should treat road accidents as security issues, since accidents kill as much as insurgency.