Convoy crashes

• A boy takes tragedy to international audience

Paul Akinwale , a nine-year-old orphan, must be a mobile human question. Well, literally. The poor boy like all kids of his age must have been asking why his parents, his kid sister and another relation died so gruesomely. He might never understand why his father would never attend  landmark events in his school. Neither can he comprehend not having his mother pack his lunch box or play with his siblings like his mates.

The sad killing of his parents and his sister and a teenage relation by a reckless driver in the convoy of a former Ondo State deputy governor on February 1, 2014 is reason he is petitioning the European Union (EU) and the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS). He is lucky to have survived; he was five at the time.

The hapless boy resorted to the petition when all efforts to get any type of justice in Ondo State and Nigeria had been unsuccessful. With the help of an NGO, The Detainees and Indigent Help Centre, Paul is looking outside for justice.

Paul is a mere metaphor for the litany of victims of convoy accidents in Nigeria. Sad as it may sound, he is very lucky to have survived. Dozens of victims have not been so lucky. From Taraba to Kogi, Gombe to Plateau, Ogun to Imo, it has been a series of fatalities from Nigeria’s reckless convoy drivers. In fact, the former governor of Kogi State, Idris Wada, had two convoy accidents over a short period, in which he broke his leg and lost his aide de camp, Idris Mohammed. More than a dozen journalists have been killed in convoy accidents that had other fatalities too.

In 2013, given the plethora of convoy accidents in Nigeria, we had advocated for a law to regulate the behaviour of convoy drivers but sadly, nothing of such had been done. This is symptomatic of the lawlessness in high places in Nigeria. It is no secret that because of very weak institutions, individuals with political and economic influence often break laws and are never punished.

There are traffic regulations, including speed limits that must be binding on all road users but the Nigerian situation seems an aberration. In the last few months in the UK, for instance, the Duke of Edinburgh has been under investigation for a traffic rule breach and he voluntarily surrendered his driver’s license. A Member of Parliament, Ms Fiona, was sentenced to jail for three months for lying about over-speeding. These are examples of what laws could achieve.

It is very sad that there is a consistent lawlessness and impunity displayed by convoy drivers on Nigerian roads. It bothers us that those in authority and other men of means seem to show no regard for the dignity and lives of those they swore to serve and protect.

Paul is being assisted to bring global attention to this very sad and disgraceful road indiscipline by mainly government officials but all the lost lives, including his parents’ and other family members,’ cannot be replaced.

The Ondo State government must not wait for the EU or ECOWAS before rehabilitating Paul. No child should be subjected to such agony. His sense of humanity and patriotism could be restored with some care from the government of his state whose official’s action rendered him an orphan. Other victims must be taken care of by those in positions to do so, too.