Nigerians are already anxious and frightened about the increased number of accidents on the roads just three months before the Christmas celebration, especially those who will travel by car during the holiday season.
This came after the Federal Road Safety Commission, or FRSC, reported in August that between January and June of this year, Nigeria lost 24 lives every day.
According to the FRSC, there have been a total of 4, 387 fatalities in the first half of the year, which equates to an average of 731 fatalities per month or almost 24 fatalities per day.
The Commission had previously revealed in April that 1,349 persons had died in traffic accidents between January 1 and April 12 of this year, prior to the August report.
2,463 collisions were reported in the month of April’s report. The FRSC added that 3,965 vehicles carrying 16,102 passengers were involved in the collision, and 1,349 of those persons died and 7,744 were injured.
The FRSC Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, stated that 4,387 persons died as a result of traffic accidents from January to June, with incidents occurring in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, or FCT, of Nigeria. In the same time frame, the Corps also noted 14,108 injuries caused by the collisions.
The validity of the alarming data from the FRSC is supported by a list of a few significant traffic accidents that have occurred since the start of this year.
In the Illela Local Government Area of Sokoto State, a sad motor vehicle accident in January 2023 resulted in the deaths of 18 individuals and the injuries of over 40 more.
A truck carrying passengers and a herd of cattle were both involved in the collision.
On Sunday, January 28, no fewer than 11 people also perished in an accident in Ondo State involving a truck and a commercial passenger bus. One-way driving was cited as the cause of the accident that occurred on the Soka Bridge along the Benin-Ore Motorway in the State’s Odigbo Local Government Area.
Again, two separate traffic incidents occurred in Kebbi State on March 26 and 27. The first one happened on March 26 in the Kebbi State community of Liba, close to Gonan Rogo, and the second one took place on March 27 in the Bunza area of the same state.
The FRSC’s Kebbi State Command reports that in both accidents, 35 people died, 40 people were rescued, and numerous more suffered fatal injuries.
On Saturday, April 8, an auto accident along the Port Harcourt-Enugu route in Enugu State resulted in the burning deaths of around 15 individuals.
The victims of the tragedy, which happened at around 8:20 p.m., were burned beyond recognition, according to an official statement from the FRSC. A Mercedes truck and an 18-seater Toyota bus were the two vehicles that collided.
On Thursday, April 13, a commercial bus caught fire on the Lagos-Ibadan Motorway, killing seven people by burns. Seven of the 27 passengers, according to FRSC officers, were burned beyond recognition.
In a similar incident, the FRSC reported that between January and March 2023, road crashes in Gombe State resulted in the deaths of 24 people and the injury of 354 more.
Accidents on the road result in the deaths of people every day. In Nigeria, life has become so cheap that people recklessly waste it on the roadways without anyone holding them accountable.
Because it has become a normal occurrence, the sight of charred and occasionally cooked human carcasses on major highways no longer causes goosebumps or even the slightest sense of terror in the minds of bystanders. People readily attribute such occurrences to God’s will, therefore it has become accepted as a way of life. Critical Nigerian populations—including children, young people, and the elderly—are lost every day on our highways.
Although Nigeria likes to think of itself as the giant of Africa, statistics have proven that other nations on the continent don’t record as many fatalities from traffic accidents in their own nations.
A recent analysis of Nigerian road accident patterns between 1960 and 1989 showed a substantial rise in the frequency of fatal accidents. Over 18,000 deaths as a result of traffic accidents were recorded between 1960 and 1969. However, the number climbed by about five times between 1980 and 1989, totaling more than 92,000 deaths, which, when divided further, equates to more than 10,000 deaths annually. Today, we’re referring to 12,000 fatalities annually.
According to the data that is currently available, which is best described as conservative estimates, Nigeria has one of the worst road accident problems in the world. Legislative and other steps the government took to stop the terrible trend between 1971 and 1985, a span of 15 years, were ineffective. To prevent traffic accidents in Nigeria, the Federal Road Safety Commission was founded in 1988.
However, despite the FRSC’s creation and much-lauded attempts to reduce the rate of road accidents, the issue appears to be getting worse year after year. Therefore, the questions on Nigerians’ thoughts are, “What are we not doing right? Why is there a yearly increase in the number of traffic accidents? How may it be minimised to the greatest extent?”
According to Kazeem, an FRSC spokesperson, the Commission has implemented a number of initiatives, including motorised patrol along the key thoroughfares, as part of its efforts to reduce traffic accidents.
“These patrol operating teams are essential in enforcing speed limits and preventing speed-related highway accidents. With the addition of additional cars, our operational actions have received a sufficient boost to improve visibility on the highways and enforce compliance among all drivers.
“The component of public enlightenment is also being improved. You are undoubtedly aware of the launch of the National Traffic Radio 107.1 FM, a station owned by the FRSC that was created to support the current platforms for the mass population of road users to receive real-time traffic updates, education, enlightenment, and sensitization.
Kazeem further said that the Commission is currently expanding the Command base dramatically to fulfil expectations.
The expansion, according to him, would bring in additional highway police teams, more roadside clinics for quick emergency services, and a suitable number of tow vehicles for quick obstruction removal.
He said that “our staff has also undergone ongoing capacity building to improve professionalism, competence, and workplace efficiency.”
He claimed that the Commission has made changes to its toll-free number, 122, to better handle the volume of daily calls and to allow for quicker involvement.
Road traffic accidents that result in deaths and injuries have been a problem in the nation, and Nigeria has been working to solve the issue over time. Over time, the road crash epidemic in Nigeria was made worse by the lack of a countrywide policy and strategy for effective road safety, according to Kazeem.
According to research by OBASANJO NEWS24, road conditions, vehicle conditions, or human factors are the three main contributors to traffic accidents.
Although there are many other elements that affect accidents on our roads, experts believe that, at least in Nigeria, the state of the roads is a significant contributing factor.
The situation is the same whether travelling east or west or north or south; the roads are often poor. The state of the nation’s roadways has gotten so awful that our main thoroughfares occasionally have potholes up to three feet deep. Cars running into these ditches without warning frequently cause accidents, and if they do, it usually results in a large number of fatalities.
The majority of vehicles in Nigeria are rarely serviced, and even when they are, it is not by authorised manufacturer’s service agents or by individuals with access to the manufacturer’s service manuals, according to the checks.
Vehicle maintenance therefore involves a lot of inventiveness. The authorised manufacturer’s agents do not consistently provide the serviceable parts. It is thought that these phoney parts frequently fail unexpectedly, which might result in mishaps.
According to the inquiry, the government and its departments—including the FRSC, Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS), and Ministry of Transport—as well as drivers and corporate entities—make up the human element. In terms of lowering traffic accidents, they have all fallen short of their respective promises.
It is well known that the simplicity with which a driver’s licence can be obtained in Nigeria raises major questions and necessitates immediate investigation. As long as they have the money, even those without any prior driving experience can easily obtain their licence at the licencing office. As long as the person can pay the kickback, it does not matter if they can drive or not.
As a result, there are now more inexperienced drivers on major routes, which has increased the number of accidents on the roadways.
Transport firms partake in games
An investigation by OBASANJO NEWS24 revealed that several transport companies in Nigeria have a practise of compensating its drivers dependent on how many journeys they were able to make each day, such as from Onitsha or Benin to Lagos. Among drivers, this practise is known as “Pay as You Go.” The majority of them will strive to take as many trips as they can to earn more money, forgetting that they are human beings with a limit to the level their system can run without resting. This system is unhealthy and contributes to high carnage on the highway.
Investigations also showed that a significant factor in road accidents is the use of used car tyres, colloquially known as “Tokunbo tyros.”
The normal lifespan of a new tyre is four years, but Chief Eze Chukwuma, a car tyre trader in the Maza-Maza neighbourhood of Lagos, expressed regret that most tokunbo tyres have lifespans of up to ten years.
He claimed that even brand-new tyres occasionally blow out after sitting around for more than four years without being used.
However, Pius Akwashiki, a driver for one of the largest transport firms in Nigeria, will not absolve the FRSC of responsibility for the several traffic mishaps, despite the fact that he blamed the government for the country’s poor road conditions.
As long as there are no statistics on drivers who have been in car accidents more than twice, he claimed, accidents would continue to rise.
According to him, the transportation firm usually only fires careless drivers who are engaged in car accidents with their own vehicles. They will then request an appointment with a different transport provider who is not aware of their prior driving history.
They get into another accident, get fired, and switch to a different company. They keep wasting life on the highway as the voyage goes on.
The FRSC also stated that it was working with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to guarantee that victims of traffic accidents receive sufficient compensation, and to prosecute drivers and their employers whose actions on the road cause harm to other road users.
The alliance was defined as a coordinated effort to ensure that victims of traffic accidents were fairly paid through established legal channels in a statement released on Tuesday, April 4 by the FRSC spokesman, Kazeem.
He claimed that during a courtesy visit by the Corps Marshal, Dauda Biu, to the NBA president, Yakubu Maikyau, the institutions finalised their agreement to work together.
drivers involved in accidents are prosecuted
The FRSC announced that it has begun making plans to prosecute drivers who were involved in collisions that claimed life.
According to the plan, the FRSC will prosecute the drivers responsible for the tragic accidents that occurred in Kebbi State’s Liba and Bunza earlier this year.
According to Biu, the prosecution would uphold passengers’ rights and discourage other traffic offenders.
Solutions
Speaking on the answer to the ongoing carnage on the roads, Mr. Akwashiki said that all government organisations, including the FRSC, VIS, and the Ministry of Transport, should prepare for their tasks.
He denounced the practise of issuing licences to inexperienced drivers purely on the basis of financial ability.
He emphasised that the FRSC should also acquire contemporary equipment that may help them in identifying drivers who are intoxicated and still operating a vehicle in order to implement all the applicable road safety laws.
The government should fulfil its mandate by making sure that there are no potholes on any of our main thoroughfares. He suggested that the VIS avoid accepting payments and ensure that vehicles that are not roadworthy are marked “off road.”
A major step towards reducing road carnage, according to Akwashiki, would be achieved if the FRSC had a database of all the drivers who have been in crashes twice or three times, and published those names in national newspapers to deter other transport owners from hiring them.
Security expert Emeka Okoro, who is also seeking to suggest solutions, claimed that while Nigeria’s road traffic mortality rate has significantly decreased recently, it was still very high when compared to the World Health Organisation figures.
He pointed out that due to neglect, many of Nigeria’s roads have broken down and others are riddled with potholes, making driving there hazardous and difficult.
In fact, due to the lack of street lighting, driving at night is equivalent to walking through a dark alley, aside from the fact that many of the roadways are filled with craters.
“Road accidents frequently happen in some flash points, such as abrupt turns, potholes, and at problematic parts of highways. This is because there is a lack of effective road safety and poor management of the roads.
“At such locations, speeding motorists frequently struggle to maintain control of their cars, leading to tragic traffic accidents, especially at night. This, in my opinion, is the main cause of the elevated death rate that the FRSC recorded.
Okoro stated that the FRSC initiated a “safe road in Nigeria” initiative to cut traffic-related fatalities and injuries by 50% by 2030 in response to the United Nations’ decade of action on road safety.
He claimed that rather than promoting improved road infrastructure, the campaign focused more on altering driving behaviour.
In order to ensure that these goals are achieved, he continued, the FRSC has intensified its campaign in Nigeria by increasing the laws and enforcement surrounding drunk driving, speeding, seat belt use, education/training, and enforcement.
He claimed that since governments are primarily in charge of ensuring traffic safety, road accidents might be decreased by offering the most fundamental amenities and services.
To achieve a nation free of traffic fatalities and serious injuries, he continued, stakeholders must work together across the public and private sectors, academics, professional bodies, nonprofit groups, and the media.
