Many people have written articles on road accidents in Nigeria using such outlets as newspapers, magazines and journals. These articles address the causes and consequences of the ugly scenario within the context of the overall development of the country. Certainly, much more papers will still follow, until there is at least, a semblance of normalcy or sanity in the system. It is against this reality, that this article gains its relevance. Road accidents are a societal problem with a monstrous status. It is neither Eastern nor Western. In other words, road accidents are a global phenomenon. As a result of this, they (road accidents) still occur in developed geo-polities like Britain, United States of America and Germany. This is in addition to such Asian countries as India and China.
Thus, for example, over 37000 people die in road accidents yearly in the U.S, with a population of over 325 million. Similarly, more than 130000 persons perish on a yearly basis due to road accidents in India. That is to say, that 377 people die daily in the country (India). However, the political leadership of each of the above countries continues to improve on the situation, through the lens of appropriate policies coupled with implementation. Their roads are being regularly maintained and/or paved. Although the entirety of the human species is in jeopardy due to modernity, every serious segment of the global village has to craft its own strategies for survival and progress. Nigeria cannot be an exception.
According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, 11363 road accidents occurred in 2016. In the process, 5053 people were killed, out of a total of 30105 that sustained injuries. Commercial vehicles had the highest percentage (53.8), followed by private vehicles (44.5) and government vehicles (1.65) as well as diplomatic cars (0.1). Indeed, between January and June this year, at least 2673 people were involved in road accidents in Nigeria. This country lost an average of 15 people daily during the first half of the year. This should be a source of great concern for all well-meaning Nigerians and their friends. Nigeria has a huge landmass of over 923000 square kilometres, with road networks of 193000 kilometres, out of which only 28980 kilometres are paved.
There is no doubt, that Nigeria has the largest road networks in West Africa. But given the low level of Nigeria’s social and technological sophistication including the primitive culture of looting public treasury by the political class, a separate ministry of transport is urgently needed. This becomes a bit more manageable than the current architecture, with three sensitive issues and activities- Works, Power and Housing lumped together. In fact, this is a huge joke! It leads to inefficiencies arising basically from excessive bureaucracies and of course, endemic corruption. The price of this anomaly (in a country where blatant thieving of people’s common wealth, is becoming a way of life), is the increasing rate of carnage on our roads or glorified death traps. Most of these roads have no drainage systems including culverts. The foreign contractors handling these projects pretend not to know the right thing to do. This is what can never happen in their countries where accountability level is much higher. In Nigeria anything goes because unalloyed patriotism has been put to sleep by those who govern us.
Anybody with the faintest idea of fairness and/or sound judgement would not deny the fact that the Buhari administration inherited this monumental mess. Successive governments failed woefully to show sufficient commitment and willpower to build good roads and/or properly maintain the existing ones. Nigerian political leadership generally lacks patriotism. Arithmetic of power and avarice or primitive accumulation of wealth, have become their fetish. This explains the reason why the country is crisscrossed with totally damaged roads, most unbecoming of the “Giant of Africa.” No foreigner enters Nigeria without willy-nilly becoming a prayer warrior. Having made very close to half a trillion dollars from crude oil in less than 60 years – a figure that is higher than that of international aid ($300 billion) to the entirety of Africa, the Nigerian political leaders at different time-periods must apologise to all Nigerians for impoverishing them by mismanaging the collective resources in a blatant manner. With due respect to these political leaders, Nigerians need their unreserved apologies otherwise posterity would condemn them.
But surprisingly, most of these leaders are still being celebrated by the same people who have been thoroughly abused. Does it mean that many Nigerians have memories like a sieve? Personal aggrandizement and insatiable longing after materialism have combined to dwarf their (political leaders) humanity. The followership cannot afford to gloss over this fact. Our docile, sycophantic mentality which cannot be separated from facets of the age-old Nigerian culture and tradition encourages perpetuation of bad, people-insensitive governance by the Nigerian political class. The abysmal situation, with the attendant problem of dire poverty on an unprecedented scale, underscores the reason why many religious or near-complete business centres litter everywhere in the country. There is fire on the mountain! We cannot run away because this is the country where God has planted us. We are not here by accident! Therefore, the flames have to be quenched as quickly as possible, before the fire consumes our todays and by the same token, tomorrows.
Apart from bad roads, there are other factors that militate against sanity with respect to transportation in this country. One of them is the superstitious belief that demons live, wine and dine on most Nigerian roads, and that they can cause accidents any time they like. They love such dilapidated expressways as the Lagos-Ibadan; Ibadan-Ilesa and Lagos-Ore-Onitsha. Human blood and flesh are their culinary delights. Nigerians are very good in glossing over fundamental issues and unknowingly, turning God into a triviality through the platform of endless praying without taking practical steps when the need to do so arises. Man is a mini-creator or put succinctly, a producer/consumer. Most Nigerians today erroneously believe that God must do everything for Nigeria while they shirk their own responsibilities. However, a few courageous religious leaders are not keeping quiet in the face of injustice, religious bigotry, ethnic insularity and administrative cluelessness that characterize the Nigerian political space.
Apart from the imaginary demons, many drivers still believe that “juju”- African magical force, is capable of protecting them anytime accidents occur. Consequently, they engage in all kinds of road indiscipline like over-speeding and drunk-driving. This is more common among commercial drivers, who often have the challenge of fatigue among other things to grapple with. Rickety vehicles dot the Nigerian landscape largely because of chronic material poverty that makes it difficult for owners of these vehicles to change spare parts as of when due. Although the Federal Road Safety Commission, founded in 1988 is trying hard to reduce road crash deaths to the barest minimum, it needs to do much more. More road signs are needed. Non-adherence to lane driving, in the absence of road/traffic signs, has sent many Nigerians to their early graves. The Ibadan-Ilesa expressway in the south-west is a good illustration of this. Sections of this expressway are often easily (and suddenly too) turned into a single carriage way, without any warning signs. This situation has led to many accidents there. The careless Nigerian road users and government (that does not provide good roads) are in fact, the demons. The Federal Road Safety Corps members should do more patrolling of these roads. There should be heavier penalties for offenders. It is lamentable that two separate, serious road accidents occurred in the Kara axis of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, within one week in November. Lives were lost. Similarly, on November 27, another multiple accident occurred on the Ochadamu-Ayingba road in Kogi State. In this case, three persons died.
All the Nigerian roads can be fixed, despite the current poor state of the economy. This is if the federal government is sincerely ready to fight corruption- the age-old monster staring Nigeria in the face. The Nigerian political space both historically and systemically, remains a web of confusion, visionlessness, mediocrity and maximum deceit. Who will save us from ourselves? Giving specialist assignments to people on the basis of political patronage is an invitation to failure. Some of the best persons from within and without Nigeria must be engaged, if indeed, we want to move forward as a country. Our Ministry of Works has to be managed by engineers, and transport geographers among other specialists. They have to be men and women of proven financial integrity and not a bunch of clever rogues. This should apply to other sectors of the economy. In sum, the perceived demonization of the Nigerian roads would certainly begin to disappear in the face of good education, transparency, probity and unalloyed patriotism including self-less political leadership.
- Prof Ogundele is of Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Ibadan.
