Nigeria and its famished roads [OPINION]

By Olalekan Adetayo

When we were growing up in my home town in Ago Iwoye, Ogun State in those days, one dared not travel without seeking the prayers of my paternal grandfather. Though advanced in age then and confined to his bed, he was always meticulous in offering his blessings.

Like other elders of his time, there were special prayers he was always rendering in Yoruba for travellers. One of such prayers is E ko ni rin ni ojo ti ebi npa ona. The literal meaning is that one will not travel on a day when the roads are famished. I think the belief behind this was that there are days when roads are hungry for human blood or flesh.

It can also be deduced from the prayer that there are days the roads are not famished at all, therefore accidents are not recorded on those days. This of course will be difficult to prove. But it may also be deduced that not all traffic crashes get to the notice of these prayer warriors.

Another related prayer point back in the day was that A ko ni fi eje yin pa titi laro o. Again, the literal meaning is that may one’s blood not be used to tar the road. As far as those behind this prayer are concerned, once there is bloodshed at an accident scene, the victims’ blood has been used to tar the road. I can hear those we call spirit koko shouting God forbid!

I decided to veer into the issue of road crashes and the carnages on our roads this week because of the rate of accidents and their frequencies. It is alarming.

On October 8, 2023, the Federal Road Safety Corps, established in 1988 and saddled with the responsibilities of regulating, enforcing and coordinating all road traffic and safety management activities, released what looked like scary figures on road crashes in the country in the first nine months of 2023.

According to the data released by the Corps Public Education Officer, Assistant Corps Marshal Bisi Kazeem, no fewer than 3,730 Nigerians lost their lives in various road accidents across the country between January and September 2023! Kazeem also put the number of crashes across the country during the same period at 7,830.

As huge and heart-rending as the figures are, FRSC said the figures recorded during the same period in 2022 were higher. This probably means there are still reasons to celebrate, or what do you do when figures are reducing? On the number of deaths recorded, the corps said this year’s figure is a 23.1 per cent reduction from the 4,848 fatalities recorded in the same period in 2022.

Kazeem said that in the number of people killed, the corps also recorded a significant reduction within the operational period. “According to the crash data report, in the first nine months of 2023, the corps recorded a total of 3,730 fatalities as against 4,848 in the same period in 2022, representing a 23.1 per cent reduction,” he said.

In the same vein, Kazeem said the corps achieved a 22 per cent reduction in crashes and a 21.3 per cent decrease in road injuries when compared with the same period in 2022.

He added, “The corps recorded a total of 7,830 road traffic crashes as against 10,039 in the same period in 2022, representing a 22 per cent decrease.

“From January to September 2023, the corps also achieved a 21.3 per cent reduction in the number of people rescued with injuries. The corps rescued a total of 22,580 in 2023 against 28,698 injured victims from January to September of 2022.”

Kazeem attributed what he described as “the significant decrease” to enhanced visibility on the highways, aggressive public education, broadened and expanded command structures, as well as injection of more patrol, rescue and recovery vehicles into the operations of the corps.

There is nothing wrong if the FRSC decides to praise itself. As the late Chinua Achebe put it, the lizard that jumped from the high Iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no one else did.

The truth of the matter is, however, that data or no data, the reality on our roads is not something to roll out the drums for. From the North to the South and the East to the West, one gets inundated daily with news of crashes and deaths on the nation’s major highways.

In Lagos State, for instance, the state police command, the FRSC, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority and other emergency responders are always busy issuing alerts and statements on accidents every time. One minute, a truck is crashing into cars on one road, the other minute, a fuel-laden tanker is falling and exploding on another road. These are apart from lone accidents where drivers either ram into bridges or road dividers.

The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is not an exception. I am not sure if a day can pass without a major accident recorded on that stretch of road. Last week Wednesday, a fuel-laden tanker fell around 11pm at the Olowotedo Bus Stop end of the road, the resultant fire engulfed about three trucks apart from the tanker. The carcasses of the affected vehicles are still on the road setbacks.

On Sunday, five persons lost their lives in a separate incident around the Kara Bridge end of the same road with many others injured in a crash that involved a truck, a commercial bus and a Sports Utility Vehicle.

Up North, there was a time earlier in the year that there was no day that there would be no report of major road accidents from Bauchi State. So frequent were the cases that my editor once called for a special feature detailing such accidents, the roads where cases of accidents are more pronounced in the state, possible causes and the way out.

With the end of the year fast approaching and the numerous travels that usually characterise the period, there are fears that cases of road crashes will increase. I can only advise that men of the FRSC and others should intensify efforts aimed at ensuring that crashes are reduced to the minimum. They should ensure that only roadworthy vehicles ply our roads. They should move against drivers who specialise in violating speed limits, driving against traffic and overloading among other major causes of road crashes.

On the part of the government, if our vehicles are roadworthy, we will not be asking for too much if we demand that our roads too must be “vehicle worthy.” Simply put, this means all major roads begging for attention across the country should be given the deserved attention.

May our roads be safe again

Culled from The Punch