Again, one is pushed, yes pushed, to appeal to Nigerian governments and road users alike to halt the needless carnages on our roads, caused by bad (dangerous) roads and mad traffic manners. Each time lives are wasted on our roads, one’s heart sinks and a loud cry, with others, is made to prick the conscience of all parties that can stem, or at least reduce these carnages. On Tuesday, February 13, 23 students and two teachers of Government Junior Secondary School, Misau, Bauchi State died in a road accident along the Misau – Kano Road, when the Hummer bus conveying the students and their teachers on an excursion to a television station in Kano was involved in an head-on collision with an articulated vehicle (trailer).
According to media reports, the students were members of their school’s Hausa Language Club. The cause of the fatal accident which occurred mid-morning was blamed on the driver of the articulated lorry who, while avoiding a damaged portion of the highway, collided his vehicle head-on, with the students’ bus.
A few days before the Misau tragedy, exactly on Sunday, February 11, a retired army general and former Minister of Internal Affairs during the regime of former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, John Shagaya, died in a road accident which was blamed on a burst tyre, which caused the late General Shagaya’s jeep to somersault severally. He died on the spot.
I recall now my warning in a 2015 article titled “Convoys, Carnages and Caution”.
It goes: “In a widely-published statement on May 7, 2015 titled, “Obey traffic rules, Buhari tells escorts” Retired General Muhammadu Buhari, a former Head of State was quoted inter alia as saying through the Director of Media and Publicity of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Mallam Garba Shehu, that: “The President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday ordered all security personnel attached to him as well as his official escorts to obey traffic rules.”
“Buhari was quoted saying, obedience to law would be the guiding philosophy of his administration, adding that “without leadership by example, the ordinary citizens would become copycats of the lawlessness of their leaders.
“The President-elect explained that the “arrogance of power, lawlessness and disregard for the rights and convenience of fellow citizens will have no place in his government.”
“According to him, for leaders to inspire respect, they must obey the laws, adding that when leaders treat the country’s laws with contempt, they would be sending wrong messages to the citizens.
“Gen. Buhari lamented a situation where fellow citizens” are punished at traffic points and public roads because of the arrogant lawlessness of the leaders.”
“Gen. Buhari’s call is in tandem, with due respect, with my long standing campaigns against the abuse of siren and convoy protocol by many public and private users.
“Each time Nigeria’s ‘big’ men and women violate society’s sensibilities with their misuse of siren and convoys, oftentimes, resulting in fatalities or serious injuries and damages, I am pricked to shout out caution to and prosecution of offenders.
“Now that Nigerians and our friends all over the world look with eagerness to the much needed change(s) to uplift the rule of law, governance, public conduct, utterances, efficient management of public / private resources etc, the reported admonition of General Buhari on convoys is most welcome and a good pointer to what is forthcoming viz the Buhari / Osinbajo government.
“As a take-away for Gen. Buhari’s protocol team and reminder to current and future users/ controllers of siren and convoys in the country. I reproduce below my article on convoys earlier published in some national newspapers (for ease of reference, The Guardian issue of 20th February, 1994).
“I am constrained to recall my February 20, 1994 article titled, “Blowing Their Killer Sirens” due to the recurring fatal road accidents in the country, especially on the part of convoys of public officials.
“The caution article published by some national weeklies was inspired then when a minster’s convoy hit four pupils, killing one in Lagos that February.
“In the article under reference, I expressed my modest views on some causes of convoy (traffic) accidents and how to prevent them. The recall of my slightly edited 1994 article tiled, “Convoys, Carnages and Caution” has become very imperative in view of fatal cases recorded in the last quarter of the year just ended. Convoys of government officials or any class for the matter, are supposed to be ‘majestic’, gliding through traffic, with the flag(s) of the country fluttering, and not the ‘gbua-gbua’ that we now see.
“As occupants of convoys are not rushing to war, passing motorists, pedestrians, and bystanders are supposed to pay respects, wave and admire their leaders, with the youth in the crowd being motivated to dream of stepping into their leaders’ shoes in future. Many of us had been privileged to watch convoys of our past leaders in the 1960s and 1970s and those of foreign leaders. In Britain, I recall that on the day the immediate past Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown, in 2010, went to submit his request for the dissolution of his government to the Queen Elizabeth II of England, we saw two police outriders ahead of his ‘gliding’ two-car convoy on the Parliament-Buckingham Palace London Road. Maybe we too should bring back outriders to our convoys, as they were abolished in the 1990s.
“Permit me to say, with utmost modesty, that I was a member of the siren-using convoys in old Oyo State for six years (1983-1989) where one civilian and three military governors restricted the use of the siren to the barest minimum and within the ambit of its original design.
“In our days, governors instructed their protocol officers to visit and time uncharted routes in advance to enable us know the appropriate time of departures and speed limit for accurate arrivals at venues. Where it was impossible for an advance timing, for example, during inter-state travels, we departed early enough from base.
“I am proud to say that this great sense of responsibility on the part of my former bosses accounted, in part, for our accident-free an unobtrusive journeys within and outside old Oyo State. Credit also goes to their ADCs and protocol officers who ensured that stable, enlightened, and responsible officers manned our pilot cars fitted with sirens. Once an officer / driver displayed vulgarity in the use of the siren, out he went!
“But, what do you have today? Too many public and “un-public” (private) figures blaring away at the slightest need, even on expressways! Snarling officials and drivers, often with whips or sometimes guns in hand, laughing their heads off as they watch frightened motorists and pedestrians bolt out of traffic lanes as their siren-blaring convoys tear away, oftentimes with their “Ogas” empty cars in tow.
“Compounding the already bad situation are the nouveau rich who, as part of their egocentricity, acquire siren-blaring cars driven by equally egoistic drivers, drilling their ways to such inconsequential engagements like night parties! These acts of “terrorism”, if one may say, are sometimes not wholly blamable on public figures permitted by law to use sirens as statistics show that indiscriminate/vulgar uses often occur when VIPs are not in convoys.
“Their protocols/security officers cannot, however, escape blame. It is their duty to monitor and control convoy drivers. Once a driver exhibits vulgarity, talk less barbarism, he ought to be penalized and kept away from such sensitive beats…
“To curb the siren menace, I advise that the police should wake up from their slumber and impound unauthorized vehicles fitted with sirens by some individuals who see them as status symbols. Drivers of ambulances and bullion vans should be properly trained on the use of sirens. In addition, regular medical and psychological tests should be carried out to ensure that sound minds sit behind the wheels of such vehicles.
“Sirens are meant to herald arrivals, alert motorists and pedestrians, and forewarn traffic controllers, but not to harass, maim, and kill.
“The best users of sirens on our roads today are drivers of the FRSC. Maybe they would do well to organize clinics for other siren users. It will not be out of place, however, to advise impolite and stubborn motorists and other road users to stop and let convoys pass. Quite often, the ‘I-don’t-care’ attitude of some motorists attract dire consequences.
“In conclusion, the siren menace is part of our national decadence whereby unsuitable persons man sensitive positions at the peril of the experienced, capable, and endowed majority who, sadly, are apathetic.”
I pray that this humble contribution will help in fine-tuning our road manners and reduce senseless carnages on our roads.
- Oloye Alabi is Agba Akin Olubadan of Ibadanland
