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When it happens to you

AT about 4 p. m on Saturday July 30, 2005, I had just arrived in Lagos from Abuja where for the past three days I was attending the 1st African Roadway Safety Congress as one of the speakers, when I received the tragic news that my senior sister Carol had drowned that morning in a boat mishap on the Okrika Waterways in Rivers State along with eight other church members on their way to a burial.

A day before this, she called me on my phone just minutes before I presented my paper titled: "Injury Prevention and the Role of the Government" where ironically I mentioned preventing drowning injuries amongst others. On Sunday the 31st, I felt pain when I saw the Sunday Punch with its screaming headline "Tragic" because now the papers were talking about someone close and dear to me. In Nigeria today, a good proportion of the population has an accident related story to tell; whether it is witnessing, being involved themselves or having close contact with people who have been involved. What is pathetic in our accident situations is the uncoordinated rescue and medical response at the accident scene.

During the Congress a lot of emphasis was placed on roadway safety and measures to stem the tide of carnage on our roads and highways and its resultant loss of productive human resources and skilled manpower. Although no representatives of the Ministries of Works, Transport and Health honoured the invitation to the safety congress, the meetings went along anyway. With the Kano crash that claimed over sixty lives, a figure higher than the London bombing of July 7 it seems this is an umpteenth wake-up call. The usual government condolences to the families will come and go until the next big one occurs. The same vicious circle continues.

Lest we forget, before the Kano crash there was the luxury bus accident near Lokoja where close to one hundred lives were lost. Have we also forgotten so soon the one at Ibadan where close to eighty people died when a luxury bus had a head-on collision with a stationary fuel tanker which had no reflective chevron on its rear? What has happened after all that? Nothing! A proper investigation was never carried out and made public to determine the causative factors with a view to avert a similar tragedy. Banning night buses is not the solution neither apportioning a convenient blame on the driver without determining if the causes are human error or road hazards. Let us realise that deaths occur at night inside the cities roads too and not only on night bus travel.

I was happy that the Federal Road Safety was represented during the just concluded Safety Congress and I brought to their attention the safety issues that have to be urgently addressed. Safety issues include the need to pass a legislation to enforce the installation of retro-reflective vehicle chevrons and strips on the back and sides of vehicles using the appropriate material, colour and size. We should, as a matter of urgency install also reflective road hazard markers on dangerous spots to prevent avoidable deaths from head-on collisions. If these two steps of preventive measures can be adopted immediately, there will be a significant reduction of senseless accidents on the roads.

Excerpts from an article written by Charles Okah, a Rescue & Emergency Management Expert.

Source: Guardian newspapers, Wednesday, August 10, 2005

FERMA's Operation 500 Roads

THE Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), which recently came into existence with the enactment of the requisite law, can be said to be an agency that has come to stay.

The idea of setting up this Federal Road Maintenance Agency came to be after President Obasanjo realised that previous administrations were good at building new roads but were not so good in maintaining them. He decided to change this attitude, and fast, hence the creation of this agency called FERMA. The idea was that adequate materials required to maintain our roads namely asphalt, chippings, stones, graders, etc. should be acquired in large quantities and stored for use as required in all the six geo-political zones of our country.

This main vision of the agency is the responsibility of maintaining the Federal Roads and to ensure that the national road network is pothole free and well maintained in the course of the year as directed by President Obasanjo. In order to achieve this objective, the agency articulated a programme tagged operation 500 roads aimed at undertaking massive repairs and maintenance of 500 number selected Federal roads nationwide during the dry season.

The scope of the operation involves the repair and maintenance of a total length of 26,400 kilometres of roads spread across the country and criss-cross all federal constituencies.

The mode of execution of the plan is based on first by Direct Labour. This direct labour approach involves the federal controller of works being charged with the responsibilities of traversing and maintaining at least 100 kilometres of roads per month over a six months period. It is expected that 14,400 kilometres of roads will be maintained under this arrangement. The scope of works on these roads includes patching of potholes, embarkment and shoulder repair in washout, removal of sand and debris on pavement and bridges, repair of drainage structure, vegetation control especially at median, bends and shoulders, repair of guardrails on roads and bridges, removal of all obstacles, accidented vehicle scraps and refuse dumps from the carriage way and shoulders of highways, immediate daily inspection and maintenance of bridges on federal roads across the country and the rehabilitation of streetlights on all major highways nationwide.

And the second mode of execution is based on road maintenance by contract. This approach involves a programme whereby the agency retains the services of reputable contractors having asphalt plants along selected routes who will be allocated long stretches of Federal roads for a duration of a least one year to carry out continuous repair/maintenance and receive reimbursement in line with the works executed. The main advantage of this programme is that it will enable FERMA to rapidly respond to distress calls for rectification and repairs of sudden failures at critical sections of the roads, it will also eliminate delays occasioned by bureaucratic tendering procedures associated with award of contracts especially under emergency situations. A total length of 12,000 kilometres of roads is scheduled to be covered under this initiative.

Under operation 500 roads, the agency proposes to establish Road Support Service Centres (RSSC) at the former tollgate locations througout the country through the public private partnership. This road support service centres will provide among other things Mobile Clinics with ambulance services, restaurants, large parking areas for commercial vehicles, mechanical workshops, telecommunications facilities, towing vans, rest areas, police post, petrol filling stations etc.

In implementing monitoring and in the agency's drive to ensure effective coordination of the operation 500 roads programme, monitoring teams were being set up at both the state and national levels to monitor and evaluate the execution of all the agency's operations. At the state level, members were drawn from different categories of Nigerians in that state. This group is charged with the responsibilities of rendering weekly reports on all direct labour maintenance activities being executed by the Federal Controller of Works to the Federal Minister of Works. And at the Federal level, distinguished Nigerians from relevant walks of life were drawn to form a monitoring group. This group renders monthly reports on all direct labour maintenance operation by contract in the state to the Honourable Minister of Works.

With a laudable programme like this and a well thought plan for implementation and monitoring, the benefits of this operation 500 roads are not far fetched. Among other things, these operation 500 roads ensures the continuous maintenance/repairs of federal roads all year round, thereby keeping the roads in good motorable conditions at all time. The programme advances the government poverty alleviation programme through the creation of jobs. It stimulates micro-economic activities within our country and reduces the rate of accidents on our highways. While it facilitates the easy evacuation of agricultural produce of our farmers from the hinterlands, it also enhances economic activities within the country. The programme can be said to have improved the use of local available construction materials and created a challenging environment for capacity building of both indigenous contractors and professionals.

In assessing the success made so far by Federal Road Maintenance Agency, it will be right to say that the presence of FERMA is being felt in every state of the federation. Time and space will not allow us to mention how each individual state of the federation has benefited from the success story of FERMA but it will be proper to give honour to President Obasanjo and to say that the President meant well for the good people of this country by establishing this agency called Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA).

Daily Champion, July 15, 2005, Reported by Chinwe Nwoko, Abuja

A packed bus has fallen from a bridge into a river in northern Nigeria killing 56 passengers, officials say.

The crash took place at Tanburwa bridge about 20km (12.5 miles) south of the city of Kano. Five survivors are being treated in hospital, said Ibrahim Ahmed Ibrahim, from the federal road safety authority. The bus was travelling from the commercial city of Lagos 1,100km (684 miles) away and the driver - who died - "may have dozed off", said Mr Ibrahim.

'Flying coffins'

The bus plunged into the Gadar Tamburawa river in the early hours of the morning. Its destination the city of Maiduguri, capital of north-eastern Borno State. An eyewitness told AFP news agency he had seen the driver with his neck stuck out of the window.

"At first, I thought he was trying to examine the front wheel of the bus. But soon after, the bus veered off the bridge and plunged into the river," the man said.

"We have taken 56 bodies to the Murtala Mohammed specialist hospital mortuary in Kano and five are on admission in the same hospital," Mr Ibrahim said. "I understand the driver may have dozed off out of fatigue and plunged into the river," he said. Correspondents say Nigeria's commercial bus drivers are notorious for reckless driving.

In Lagos, the regular involvement of the buses in accidents has made commuters label the yellow buses "morgues" and the minibuses "flying coffins". Speeding, overloading and poorly maintained vehicles are blamed by the authorities for the frequent accidents.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/4712657.stm

Published: 2005/07/24 14:46:20 GMT

Governor stops to rescue accident victims

Governor Peter Odili of Rivers State freed himself from the iron-fortress of security and official protocol to rescue an accident victim from the jaws of death. The story had it that Odili had just seen off his visiting political ally and counterpart, Governor Donald Duke of Cross River State. On his way back to the Government House, he met a fresh accident scene. Apparently challenged, he ordered his convoy to stop. He resisted the desperate efforts by officialdom to stop him from breaching protocol. The humane side of Odili, came to the fore as he personally helped to carry the accident victim into an ambulance for urgent medical attention before proceeding back to base.

Peter Odili is a Medical doctor and his administration has set up Emergency Ambulance Services at strategic points in the state.

Source: Excerpts from report by Akanimo Sampson, Daily Independent newspapers, Friday 17th June, 2005

FG to Spend N13bn On Abuja-Nyanya-Keffi Road Extension

The Federal Government has approved the review of the scope of works on the dualisation of Abuja - Nyanya - Keffi road, extending the terminal point of the project to Keffi township.

The additional works will cost N2,711,585,730.53, bringing the revised contract sum for the project to N13,213,079,575.70. Included in the variation order are also construction of two numbers pedestrian bridges located at Masaka and Gidan Zakara, provision of additional 380 metres reinforced covered concrete and 5,270 metres uncovered drains in the township sections of the road, 19,655 metres of reinforced drains in the median and 40 metres of 900mm diameter pipe culverts with associated reinforced concrete works.

Approval has also been given for the complete rehabilitation and asphaltic overlay of the entire length of the existing carriageway, instead of the earlier planned limited rehabilitation of the lane.

The contract for the dualisation of the Abuja - Nyanya - Keffi road was awarded to Messrs Setraco (Nig) Limited in January 2001 in the tender sum of N10,497,777,777.00 only, and with a completion period of 30 months.

The Deputy Director of Federal Highways in the North Central Zone, Engineer Yerima Bulama recalled that before the inception of the present administration, Abuja to Keffi road had become prone to vehicular congestions and accidents, resulting from very high volume of traffic on the road. Motorists were made to spend long hours on the road due to traffic hold-up. The situation, he stated became a regular occurrence and unbearable, prompting the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo to award the contract for the dualisation of Abuja to Keffi road in March, 2001.

The Minister charged the contractor and the Engineer's representative to ensure the safety of workers on site and motorists on the highways, as the project continues. He also charged them to ensure that they maintained high quality of workmanship and the use of good materials in the remaining works to be done.

The project completion time is now September 2006.

SOURCE: This Day, July 11, 2005, Reported by Bennett Oghifo

LUXURY BUS ROBBERS ADOPT NEW TRICK, HIRE WOMEN

By Alex Olise, Guardian newspapers Nigeria, June 28^th, 2005

A team of highway patrol men made a shock find at the weekend when it discovered a pistol hidden in the artificial hair of a lady passenger in a luxury bus. It was during a routine stop-and-search operation on the Lagos-Benin Expressway.

Four suspected male accomplices of the lady disguised as regular passengers in the bus were subsequently arrested. All suspects are now in police custody. The suspected lady robber reportedly confessed that she and others like her usually hide pistols and other weapons on their persons, especially in their private parts while their male accomplices board the vehicles unarmed. As soon as the bus got to their "striking point," she added, one of the male bandits signals the "female armouries" who bring out the weapons.

Reacting to the development, the Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emmanuel Ighodalo, a Superintendent of Police (SP), has advised luxury bus operators to employ female workers to frisk female passengers down to their private parts.

News of the latest incident has evidently galvanised luxury bus operators into action. The Guardian investigation yesterday showed that virtually all operators have begun hiring female searchers to accompany their buses. An official of one of the transport firms said such females would earn as high as N30,000.00 monthly conducting such searches on female passengers during night travels.

Daring robbers recently attacked a luxury bus between Ijebu Ode and Sagamu along the Lagos-Benin Expressway. They drove the bus with the passengers into a thick forest at about 1 a.m. and there ordered all passengers to strip naked. They subsequently collected all their monies and raped some female passengers. The robbers later drove the bus to another point and left it there.

It was nearby villagers who came to the assistance of the victims. Following series of night robberies, President Olusegun Olusegun Obasanjo had two months ago warned Nigerians to minimise night journeys. The President also ordered the new Inspector-General of Police Sunday Ehindero to stem the tide of luxury bus robberies nationwide. The IG subsequently met with police top brass where wide-ranging measures were adopted, including the mounting of surveillance posts along highways.

In the past six months, dare devil robbers armed to teeth with sophisticated weapons have increased their operations nationwide. Like deranged criminals, they lay siege to luxury buses, or banks and other financial institutions. They invade the banks armed with different equipment. Along Ibadan-Abuja Expressway, robbers numbering six attacked a luxury bus last month and made away with huge amounts before police gave them a hot chase resulting in the arrest of two of them after a gun duel. Two AK 47 riffles were recovered from them.

Two weeks ago, the Federal Government directed the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, to increase the strength of police highway patrol teams. The Edo State Police Command confirmed last week that its men had killed 27 armed robbers between December and May this year.

Most of the slain robbers were shot dead while attempting to attack night travellers along the highway. During the last Yuletide, police reportedly foiled 15 robbery attempts.

At a point, solders were deployed to assist the police following security reports that some heavily armed gangs of robbers planned to swoop on luxury buses between December 23 and December 31, last year.

Luxury bus owners should stop operating at night to curb the menace of robbers

THE visit to the President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo by luxury bus owners few weeks ago to solicit for government intervention over the problem of incessant robbery attacks on their vehicles shows clearly their frustration over the matter. Luxury buses have been targets of attacks by armed robbers for as long as anyone can remember and all attempts to stop this menace have so far not succeeded. The sad aspect of the situation is that more often than not, some travellers are killed in the process of dispossessing them of their money. This has become a source of concern to most Nigerians and must have compelled the bus owners to ask for help from the government. Robbers attack these buses mainly because they see them as lucrative targets as traders mostly from the eastern part of the country usually travel in them to Lagos and other major cities in the country to buy or to sell goods. So in the estimation of the robbers there will always be a good catch in the luxury buses any time they strike and most times they guess right. The return of N4.5 million to a luxury bus company by the Police recently being money recovered from armed robbers after a raid few years ago, shows clearly that many luxury bus passengers travel with a lot of money. This explains why luxury buses usually attract armed robbers.

Past efforts

To combat these attacks on their buses, the luxury bus owners introduced several measures among which was the inclusion of armed guards in the buses. But these armed guards are usually the first targets of the robbers in their bid to have an unhindered operation. The result is that attacks on the buses did not cease, if anything they increased. On his part, the President agreed to help, directing the Inspector General of Police to find a solution within 90 days. The IGP after meeting with his officers came up with some new measures, the major thrust of which is to mount observation posts or camps at every 10 kilometers along the highways. The old practice of using armed guards is also to be abolished. It would seem from these new measures that some concrete steps have been taken to forestall attacks on the buses. But if our experiences with Police efficiency are anything to go by, then we may not be rejoicing yet. The reason is simple. The police do not have the man power, the fire power and the will to confront armed robbers. Even with all the reported assistance given to the Police in recent times in terms of personnel, and equipment they still have not been able to curtail the activities of armed robbers in the cities to the satisfaction of many. If the Police cannot stop armed robbery attacks in towns and cities where people are locked up in their homes, some with very sophisticated security gadgets or high walls, it is difficult to see how they can do so with buses travelling in the dead of the night, sometimes through thick forests and on bad roads. There have also been reported cases of robbers snatching guns from policemen which the IGP blamed on poor training, and also reports of policemen fleeing the scene of armed robbery operations on the highways or refusing to go to such scenes when requested by people to do so. In the light of all of these, it would be wise if the bus owners suspend for the time being night travels in the interest of the people until such a time that adequate structures are put in place to guarantee safe journeys in buses.

Adequate preparation

Adequate structures, being an efficient Police Force, good roads and an improved economy. This suggestion has been made by well meaning Nigerians before. From all indications, this seems to be the only way to avoid the senseless loss of lives and property of travellers in these buses. There is no doubt that night travel has its place in today's Nigeria considering the tempo of business and socialization. But it has become clear that the environment is just not conducive for such practice. Advanced countries like the United States of America, can afford to run buses in the night because they have the good roads and the security personnel to police them. Furthermore, the degree of poverty that forces armed robbers to attack buses at night does not exist there. So the situations are incomparable. Although the bus owners and some businessmen may not like this suggestion, as it could mean some financial loss to them, the deaths on the highways due to armed attacks on luxury buses have reached intolerable levels and need to be addressed. There is also the problem of road accidents in the country which have become a regular feature of the highways. Accidents happen for several reasons, some of which are human error, faulty vehicles and bad roads. The bus owners need to put pressure on the government to do something about the bad roads in the country. Bad roads not only cause accidents, they also aid the robbers in their raids as they attack the buses or vehicles when they slow down at the bad spots. The bus owners should also consider reducing the length of their journeys as long journeys are stressful for both the drivers and the vehicles and do lead to accidents. If such journeys are broken and the buses ply shorter distances, connecting themselves at various points, it will go a long way in preventing road accidents. Efforts should also be made by the bus owners to put their vehicles in good working shape as this will prevent breakdowns that can also lead to accidents.. Money expended on repairs should not be viewed as waste.

On the issue of armed robbers, if the owners insist on continuing with their night travels, then they should do the following: Ensure that all their offices across the nation have metal detectors to prevent guns getting into the buses; frisk passengers for guns before they enter the buses, and liaise with the Federal Government to make sure that each state police command patrols its area of the highways.

Vanguard May 23, 2005. Luxury Buses And Menace of Robbers

OPINION by Emmanuel Edeki

Rising Road Accidents Worry Bauchi Assembly

The Bauchi State House of Assembly has expressed worry over the rate of road accidents across the country emphasizing that "the rate at which people die as a result of accidents on Nigerian highways is becoming more alarming, more than the deadly HIV/AIDS scourge in the country".

Speaker of the House, Hon. Tanko Ibrahim Jalam who spoke while receiving the State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr. Oludare Fadogba during a courtesy call at the assembly complex yesterday pledged the House readiness to work in close collaboration with stakeholders in accident prevention, so as to curtail the rate of carnage on Nigerian roads.

Jalam, who also expressed concern over the proliferation of illegal motor parks in the state capital emphasized the need for the authorities concern to find a lasting solution to the problem so that sanity would prevail on roads, particularly in the Bauchi metropolis.

On the activities of commercial motorcyclists popularly known as "Achaba riders", the Speaker expressed dismay over the frequent accidents being caused by operators saying that the House would hold consultations with the Bauchi Local Government Council, State Council of the Nigeria Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and Bauchi Environmental Protection Agency (BASEPA) to find a lasting solution to the ugly development.

He also informed the Sector Commander that on his request, the House would enact a law on the issue stressing that he would send two or three of the Assembly members to Kwara State House of Assembly to present a copy of that Law to them in order to curtail the situation in the State.

Source:ThisDay newspaper, June 3, 2005 reported by Segun Awofadeji

A highway survival kit

by Aig Imoukhuede

One Saturday afternoon not very long ago, some family members and close friends visited me at Agbara (just off km 32 along the Lagos Badagry expressway) to join me in celebrating a family occasion. At about 5.30 pm they left to return to their homes in various parts of Lagos.

At 7.15 pm one of them phoned to report that a trailer lorry had upturned itself while attempting to make a u-turn, and was now lying on its side across three lanes, causing a traffic jam that was so bad that he had managed to travel only 14 kilometres. "I have been stuck in the same spot for more than thirty minutes now," he said.

During the next hour or so he had inched his way to within sight of the Trade Fair complex. By 9 pm he was close to Mile Two, where he again got stuck in a traffic jam. To cut a long and harrowing story short, he did not get home until just after 10 pm, desperately tired, hungry, angry and (in the case of the small children in the group), half asleep.

That night I lay awake wondering if I would ever get him to visit Agbara again, no matter how important the occasion. Most of my friends already have a stock of excellent excuses for not accepting invitations to expose themselves to the discomfort of making that torturous thirty-two kilometre journey. After a lot of thought, I hit on the perfect solution, which was to recommend that every motorist using this particular expressway should equip himself with a survival kit which should contain a few things that would keep him alive and sane during the half a day or so that it now takes to travel from the LASU campus to Orile Iganmu. My choice of each item in the kit is based on the actual need of a typical middle class motorist.

First on the list are "Particulars", the collective name for things like driving licence, the current vehicle licence, vehicle insurance certificate and, if the checkpoint policeman is being really difficult, two caution signs and a fire extinguisher.

The survival kit should include a good stock of twenty naira notes, to be disbursed at those police checkpoints that are better known as "road blocks", since all they do is slow down the flow of traffic while those who man them collect "tolls." Handing over twenty naira notes on demand is the best guarantee against an "accidental discharge."

Lots of naira notes will also be needed to pay off sundry Area Boys who hunt in packs, and who operate movable toll gates in that area known as "Volkswagen," where they offer to push cars out of holes previously dug by none other than themselves.

A hamper of food is essential, to provide sustenance for those who draw the line at eating sausage rolls of indeterminate age and doubtful antecedent, bought from a sprinting hawker who arrives sweating and with some dirty naira notes clenched between her teeth. A thermos flask filled with cold orange squash will save the dehydrated motorist from the peril of buying and consuming something called "pure water."

Mobile phones are now used by motorists to keep each other informed about road and traffic conditions – e.g. "The portion of the expressway at the place called Barracks is badly flooded. You may have to abandon your car and look for a canoe to hire." The only inhibiting factor, I am told, is the GSM tariff, which some regard as a rip off.

A Concise Dictionary of Foul Language will enable the motorist to understand the meaning of some of the verbal exchanges between a danfo driver and other road users. For those do not wish to make a special study of expletives, earplugs have been found to be useful. However, care should be taken to remove the earplugs at checkpoints, the better to follow the negotiations with the sergeant in charge.

Another item that should be included in the kit is a five litre plastic keg filled with petrol and kept in the boot of the car – and to blazes with fire hazard. Let’s say the motorist has been attending a relation’s birthday party, and leaves at 5.30 p.m. to return to Ilupeju where he lives. He spends seven hours in traffic, during which time he is only able to cover half the distance to Ilupeju. His petrol gauge begins to flash a red light, warning him that he will soon be running on empty. It is nearly 1 a.m., and all filling stations have long closed. Does the motorist lock up his car and begin the long trek home? Does he walk down the long line of stalled cars, looking for a good Samaritan from whose tank to siphon some petrol that cost the Samaritan seventy-something naira per litre? No. Being a seasoned survivor, he simply fetches the keg from the boot of his car, pours its content into his tank, and then returns to his seat in the car to compose himself for sleep.

An aerosol can of mosquito repellant is important. A motorist who is stuck on the expressway will soon discover that those refuse heaps next to which he is forced to spend a couple of hours at Okokomaiko or Alayabiagba are mosquito-infested, especially during this wet season. To avoid getting malaria or worse, the motorist should have in his kit an aerosol can of mosquito repellant, to be liberally sprayed on the exposed parts of the body while sitting out the traffic jam. He should, on no account, ignite a made-in-China mosquito coil borrowed from his night watchman. It has been established beyond all doubt that Chinese mosquitoes, for whom the coils are made, are not nearly as ferocious as their Nigerian counterparts.

A folding camp bed is optional, and is recommended only for those motorists who simply cannot sleep soundly while sitting in a car in stalled traffic, but must lie down stretched out. It should however be noted that tired motorists who sleep on camp beds placed by the road side risk being run over by vehicles whose drivers have decided to convert the already collapsed verge into a fast lane.

A copy of the Bible or the Koran should form part of the kit, to buoy up the motorist’s spirits when the awful truth begins to creep on him that his wait in stalled traffic is likely to be much longer than he had at first thought. And when the light begins to fade, making reading difficult, he can always recite portions that he has committed to memory.

A motorist who does not want his marriage to break up should have a witness with him in the car when driving on the expressway. The witness will be required to convince the motorist’s frankly skeptical wife that, at one o’clock in the morning (i.e. roughly six hours after he should have been home) he really was stuck in traffic, and was not fooling around somewhere else. And since his spouse is likely to be ask him to "tell it to the marines", it may be a good idea to add a couple of gullible marines to the contents of the kit.

A port-a-loo should be included. Some years ago Lagos State, then under a military government, had a regulation that made it an offence to urinate in public places. The current disregard of this regulation is considered to be one of the dividends of democracy. But since there is always a chance that a hard-pressed motorist who has been over-indulging his taste for beer could find a law enforcement agent standing at his elbow just when he is in the middle of watering a roadside shrub, the wise motorist will need to keep a four-litre plastic container, with a tight fitting lid, under the front seat of his car for use in an emergency. A lesson on the contortions that would be required when attempting to use the container is recommended.

Finally, a bullet proof vest should not be left out when assembling a survival kit. The vest is usually worn under a shirt or a buba, but the motorist who prefers the macho look should get a flak jacket. Either way, its purpose is to protect the wearer from being shot dead while sitting in his car.

So, before starting out on a journey on the expressway check your survival kit and make sure that all the above listed items are in it. Remember, it is better to be over-prepared than to be sorry.

Source: Sketches a weekly column in Vanguard newspapers Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Luxury bus owners should stop operating at night to curb the menace of robbers by Emmanuel Edeki

So in the estimation of the robbers there will always be a good catch in the luxury buses any time they strike and most times they guess right. The return of N4.5 million to a luxury bus company by the Police recently being money recovered from armed robbers after a raid few years ago, shows clearly that many luxury bus passengers travel with a lot of money. This explains why luxury buses usually attract armed robbers.

Past efforts to combat these attacks on their buses, the luxury bus owners introduced several measures among which was the inclusion of armed guards in the buses. But these armed guards are usually the first targets of the robbers in their bid to have an unhindered operation. The result is that attacks on the buses did not cease, if anything they increased. On his part, the President agreed to help, directing the Inspector General of Police to find a solution within 90 days. The IGP after meeting with his officers came up with some new measures, the major thrust of which is to mount observation posts or camps at every 10 kilometers along the highways. The old practice of using armed guards is also to be abolished.

It would seem from these new measures that some concrete steps have been taken to forestall attacks on the buses. But if our experiences with Police efficiency are anything to go by, then we may not be rejoicing yet. The reason is simple. The police do not have the man power, the fire power and the will to confront armed robbers. Even with all the reported assistance given to the Police in recent times in terms of personnel, and equipment they still have not been able to curtail the activities of armed robbers in the cities to the satisfaction of many. If the Police cannot stop armed robbery attacks in towns and cities where people are locked up in their homes, some with very sophisticated security gadgets or high walls, it is difficult to see how they can do so with buses travelling in the dead of the night, sometimes through thick forests and on bad roads. There have also been reported cases of robbers snatching guns from policemen which the IGP blamed on poor training, and also reports of policemen fleeing the scene of armed robbery operations on the highways or refusing to go to such scenes when requested by people to do so.

In the light of all of these, it would be wise if the bus owners suspend for the time being night travels in the interest of the people until such a time that adequate structures are put in place to guarantee safe journeys in buses.

There is also the problem of road accidents in the country which have become a regular feature of the highways. Accidents happen for several reasons, some of which are human error, faulty vehicles and bad roads. The bus owners need to put pressure on the government to do something about the bad roads in the country. Bad roads not only cause accidents, they also aid the robbers in their raids as they attack the buses or vehicles when they slow down at the bad spots. The bus owners should also consider reducing the length of their journeys as long journeys are stressful for both the drivers and the vehicles and do lead to accidents. If such journeys are broken and the buses ply shorter distances, connecting themselves at various points, it will go a long way in preventing road accidents. Efforts should also be made by the bus owners to put their vehicles in good working shape as this will prevent breakdowns that can also lead to accidents.. Money expended on repairs should not be viewed as waste.

Source : Vanguard newspaper May 23, 2005

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan was interviewed on behalf of the FIA Foundation by Richard Stanley at UN Headquarters, New York, on January 7th 2004. The following is an edited transcript of the interview:

Question: Will you talk about your concern on the impact that road accidents are having on the world community?

Kofi Annan: I think it is a major problem, but I am not sure that people are aware that annually 1.2 million people are killed by road accidents and between 20 and fifty million more are disabled by them. I think this is a major problem that we all need to focus on.

Q: Why do you feel the problem is so low on the international agenda and doesn’t receive the attention that those figures suggest it should?

KA: These accidents often occur one by one and it’s sort of a personal and individual tragedy, I’m not sure if people are aware of the kind of numbers that I discussed with you and if they were to look at in those terms it will have an impact and it will raise awareness. Perhaps we shouldn’t use the word accident and really talk about crashes, collision, major disasters, because if it is an accident people tend to be fatalistic about it: “What could I have done. An accident is an accident.” We should perhaps even change our language and of course education.

Q: Road Traffic injuries also have a disproportionate effect on the developing world, I wonder if you would address both the terrible personal tragedies to individuals and also the major economic impact?

KA: I think that 90% of the people killed are between the ages of fifteen and forty, which are the most productive years in most countries. Apart from the personal tragedies for the families it has a real economic impact and it is also affecting children disproportionately, about 96% of the 180,000 children killed a year are in the South and quite apart from that we need to take steps to protect innocent people who use these roads who get killed, it’s usually the bicycle riders, motor-bicycle riders, mopeds or pedestrians. So we have to take precautionary measures to ensure that they can use the roads without being at risk.

Q: What do you think can be done to raise this on the political agenda? What needs to be done with key decision makers and politicians?

KA: I think first of all they need to recognize that there is a problem at the national level and also to understand that it is not an issue for the Ministry of Transport alone and it does effect the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Health, Education, Justice and the police. They also should come up with a national plan to declare road casualties and governments have done this. France did this very recently with President Chirac himself leading the process and I would urge other leaders to see this as a major problem and to play their leadership role. I believe at the international level also we need to do certain things better. Today we don’t have a single agency that has a responsibility for road safety and perhaps we need to identify one individual unit that will come up with an action plan which will be useful not only at an international level but for individual national governments that will find it extremely useful where they don’t have the capacity or don’t know how to develop one on their own.
Q: Would you address the question of the United Nation’s role, particularly in relation to World Health Day.

KA: I think the World Health Day is an occasion for us to highlight the problem and also to get across the impact of these ‘accidents’ and here I use quotation marks.

I think the UN has to get governments to acknowledge that this is a real problem and I think we can use the World Health Day to highlight the impact and also to underscore the fact that these are avoidable, they are not just accidents, they are human errors which with proper governmental policy can be dealt with and I hope we can also use that day to reflect on what each individual government and each of us in leadership, what role we can play. And I think the UN has a voice, it has a convenient power and I think this is an area where we should do much more about and I intend to work on this with the World Health Organization and the other agencies. You know twice a year we meet, all the heads of the UN agencies, and this is an issue that I will raise with them to see how collectively we can pool our efforts to have an impact.

Q: Can I ask you to talk about the issue of involving the private sector and civil society and the need for agencies and organizations to work together?

KA: I am one of those who believes firmly in working in partnership. Let me start with the private sector and the car manufacturers, I think they have a role to play. They have a role to play in ensuring that cars that do not meet standards in the North should not be sold in the South either and the same safety requirements are needed in the South. I think apart from what governments can do NGOs and civil organizations can become involved in the whole education campaign, in educating the youth.. not just the youth but people not to just jump behind the wheel and drive because it is much more likely to lead to a crash and I think by bringing the whole society together to participate, you can take much faster strides in containing this epidemic, if I may say, because it is likely to go on unless we take effective action.

Q: The FIA Foundation in particular is working with governments to highlight the use of seatbelts as a major thrust of their campaign. I wonder if you were able to acknowledge the work that the FIA Foundation and governments are doing together on this crucial issue?

KA: I support that. I think that we should press on, on individuals and governments to introduce legislation that will require that cars should have seatbelts and that people should wear them, you may even go further and talk about seats for children, since quite a lot of the crashes lead to the deaths of young people. So I do support that effort and if there is anything that I can personally do to support them, I will be prepared to do that.

Q: Looking to the future and the serious implications of growing car ownership increasing the urgency of this issue. Will you address the dangers of what will happen unless action is taken?

KA: You have the question of the number of cars on the road and the ways the roads are constructed. Some, particularly in the developing world, sometimes without any safety consideration. So you need to ensure that the cars have the safety requirements, the proper brakes and are properly inspected and also to ensure that the roads are built with safety in mind, because if they do not do that the kinds of figures that we see now could increase by about sixty percent and nobody would want to see that. And therefore we need to really take these safety measures, co-operate with education, to ensure that we reduce crashes and collisions.

Q: The problem of these big statistics is that people lose sight of the individual tragedies and there is a real need for people to recognize the appalling suffering that this causes.

KA: I think it is extremely important that we put the individual at the centre of this and whether it’s someone we know or not, that personal and human tragedy should affect us and should make us much more sensitive. This is a real problem, There is a tendency sometimes to think one person died in this crash, but for that one death the impact and implications for that family and society is quite large. We need to really focus on that because if you give them the big numbers they tend to throw out their arms: “Millions. What can I do about this?” So we have to start with the individual and respond to their tragedy and the tragedies of their families and do whatever we can to avoid seeing individuals in those situations.

Q: This interview will be included as part of the publicity for World Health Day. Will you include your message as to why this day is of such significance?

KA: I think World Health Day should offer all of us an opportunity to reflect on our lives, the way we live, what we eat, what we drink, how we protect ourselves and our children and the messages we should take to make our societies a healthier one. And to work with our governments to ensure that we have the right mechanisms and legislation to protect the future generations, not just in the area of car safety but all across the board, we are tackling the issue of the HIV epidemic, we all need to come on board and it requires the complete mobilization of society from the head of state down to the street organizations, women’s organizations and there are many other areas of health where we can all contribute. But there is good news, we are about to eliminate polio, added to the elimination of smallpox and I think this is very good news, but there are other diseases where with co-operation between governments, NGO’s and individuals and international organizations we are making good progress on containing and eliminating them and there are major challenges ahead from malaria to tuberculoses that we all need to come together and I would like to make one final appeal for the Global Fund for AIDS Malaria and Tuberculoses, we need help, we need billions to be able to carry on our fight and whatever can be done by governments, by foundations, by corporations and by individuals every bit of contribution helps, your health is important, mine is important, everyone’s health is important. So we are in this together.

Q: Do you welcome the fact that road safety has been included in the World Health Day as the main focus?

KA: Absolutely. I think it is long overdue.

Q: I wonder if you would address your feeling about the FIA Foundation and their initiatives?

KA: I think we must be grateful to the FIA Foundation for its role in the initiative it has taken and helping us contain and combat this problem and I would want to be able to do whatever I can to support their effort and I also applaud their leadership and the initiative they have taken here.

Source: FIA foundation

FEDERAL ROAD SAFETY COMMISSION SEMINAR ON NIGHT TRAVELS IN NIGERIA

COMMUNIQUE

The Federal Road Safety Commission organised a one-day seminar on night travels in Nigeria on 27 September 2004. The Seminar was necessitated by the need to curb the alarming casualty figures associated with night travels in the country.

The seminar attracted relevant governmental agencies as well as various stakeholders in the road transport industry. Five technical papers were presented by different experts in the road transport sub-sector of the economy, and were thoroughly discussed by the participants. The participants observed among others that there is a high patronage of night buses due to the high demand for mobility, exigencies of commuters business and the multiple taxation extorted by various law enforcement agencies and touts on the road during the day.

The seminar noted with concern that though fewer road crashes occur at night the casualties are much higher than those of the day. These were attributed to the following:

a) Inadequate rescue services in the night

b) Total absence or at the best poor road complementary facilities such as road marking, lightings, warning signs, etc.

c) Deplorable habits of drivers due largely to inadequate training, drug intake, overworking leading to fatigue, “hidden” physical disability e.g. poor vision, etc.

d) Poor vehicle maintenance and pronounced use of unroadworthy vehicles.

The seminar resolved that while night journeys cannot be avoided, government should put in place appropriate strategies for mitigating the high rate of accidents and casualties through the following:

a) The inclusion of a safety unit headed by a safety officer in all transport companies with more than five vehicles in its fleet.

b) Enforcement of the rest hour regulation. No driver is expected to drive beyond seven hours within a 24hr period.

c) Ensuring that all vehicles journeying at night meet the minimum vehicle safety standard.

d) Making representation to relevant governmental agencies with a view to erecting the necessary directional signs, 24hr service roadside clinics/help areas effecting repairs on deplorable roads, and provision of rest places among other road complementary facilities.

e) Implementation of the passenger manifest scheme aimed at documenting data information on passengers and the maintenance of a data base of road traffic accidents nationwide with the aim of delicensing drivers prone to road crashes.

f) Ensuring adequate education, training and retraining of drivers especially on how to ensure safe night driving through the establishment of national drivers’ schools.

g) Certification and licensing of transport operators using the transport unions as a way of sanitizing the road transport industry, and monitoring night travel regulation compliance.

h) Increased collaborative efforts amongst lawmakers, law enforcement agencies, judiciary, transport operators and other stakeholders on strategies for mitigating accidents.

i) Provision of adequate financial and material resources to enable the Commission perform its functions.

j) To pursue the efforts of the International donor agencies like World Health Organization in designing durable and implementable policies aimed at reducing road carnages.

k) Putting in place appropriate institutional framework for implementing the suggested solutions, and especially empowering, through legislative means, the Federal Road Safety Commission to enforce all road safety rules and regulations.

In conclusion, the Federal Road Safety Commission is appreciative of the efforts of the Federal Government to improve the quality of the nation’s highway through its operation 500 roads.

Signed: AO Bamgbala (CC)

Nigerian Group May Win Global Road Safety Award

This Day (Lagos) March 15, 2004
Posted to the web March 15, 2004 Lagos

In a bid to address the Global Road Safety Crisis, which currently claims over 1.2million lives annually with 86 percent of these fatalities from the developing world, organisers of the forthcoming 7th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, SAFETY2004, being sponsored by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other renowned international agencies, will present the latest global scientific research in the field of injury prevention and safety promotion.

A statement issued by the Chairman, International Scientific Programme Committee, Professor Richard Horst Noack, over 1,800 submissions were received and reviewed by his Committee. The abstract submission of a Nigeria-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), Prompt Assistance to Victims Of Road Accident (PATVORA), was selected for presentation and will be published in a CDROM abstract book by the committee during its Vienna Conference in June 2004.

The abstract, "Road Casualty Reduction Scheme For An African Environment' authored by two Nigerians, Charles Chude Ojugbana and Frank Odiachi, which took into consideration the average African setting with bad roads, poor insurance participation, poverty, inadequate trauma care system, increased motorisation with poor counter measures for road safety, insufficient resources of the National Road Safety Agencies, competing needs of the government and the necessity for adoption of a tri-sector partnership model that provides joint value creation, will contest for the best global abstract award in injury prevention and safety promotion.

The spokesperson of PATVORA, Mr. David Oba, in a media chat, said the model offers a transparent revenue enhancement scheme for the National Road Safety Agency and demonstrates how the private sector, civil society and government can work together to achieve maximum benefits for all the parties and road users. The abstract if properly implemented by any developing nation, he said, would reduce road fatalities by 50 percent within five years through an inbuilt free medical assistance scheme to all road users in a co-ordinated rescue community driven approach.

Oba said the abstract meets the established international criteria of priority for road traffic safety measures, impliedly costs benefits ratio, social acceptance, political acceptability, ease of institutional implementation and economic profits for the road safety business.

The major objective is to reverse the WHO's prediction that road traffic injuries will be the third global killer disease in 2020. Oba further declared that the implementation of the model is a sustainable development measure towards achieving the millennium development goal of addressing killer diseases and it will be at no cost to the government and over 85 percent of the population.

The selection of the abstract for presentation in an international forum is considered a huge step for Africa, especially now that road safety crisis has been classified a development disease, particularly in medium and low-income countries.

President Obasanjo gives fresh orders on roads

Mar 18, 2004, 14:50

President Olusegun Obasanjo on 17 March directed that telephone numbers of federal works controllers in 36 states be made public, so that people within the areas they operate can hold them accountable for the work they have been commissioned to do.
Government has embarked on massive repairs of selected federal highways and released three billion Naira to the Ministry of Works for the rehabilitation.

Works Minister, Chief Adeseye Ogunlewe on 17 March in Abuja briefed the meeting of the Federal Executive Council on progress recorded so far on the project.

He said that his ministry has been mandated to ensure that streetlights are installed on major bridges and to provide parking lots and rest rooms for road users at the former tollgates.

Chief Ogunlewe said that trailers or tankers would be banned from parking on the roads. The Executive Council was of the view that indiscriminate parking by these long vehicles drivers contributes to road accidents on the highways.

The President directed that the long-vehicle drivers be made to use the parking lots at the former tollgates, he said.

Chief Ogunlewe encouraged states and local councils to fully establish road maintenance agencies.

“We must have a comprehensive arrangement to keep all our roads in shape”, he said.

He described the new projects as “capital projects funded separately, not through the N15 billion approved by the National Assembly for road maintenance.”

“Our problem has always been maintenance. In our existing roads, potholes have taken over. We want to make them motorable while we construct new ones,” he concluded.

Excerpts from HOW SAFE IS NIGERIA? By Tokunbo Awoshakin, Washington.D.C

Well traveled media practitioners know that roads in Nigeria are generally in poor condition. They are aware that these roads lack basic maintenance. They know that the vehicles lack safety equipment and that the drivers speed like racetrack drivers.

Will I not be sending somebody on a suicide mission by asking them to travel by road in my "democratic Nigeria’ when I know that should there be an accident, there are no immediate access to health care facilities. How was I to explain that should there be any car breakdown, the road -side mechanic who emerges from nowhere may later be the armed robber who will surely deprive you of your hard-earned money and may kindly spare your life?

In Nigeria, life is cheap and death comes easy. Nigerian roadways are the easiest way to a hospital morgue. Flying is not any better.

Does Obasanjo use Nigerian roads? By Kingsley Osadolor, The Managing Director of Guardian Newspapers, Nigeria

It is a rhetorical question to ask whether President Olusegun Obasanjo uses highways in Nigeria. Even though he is the country's most travelled head of state with his presidential jet touching down and taking off for international flights every other day, President Obasanjo has been on some state visits since 1999. On such domestic trips, there are flight limitations and he would have travelled by road. But I am not sure whether he sees what the rest of us find on our highways, because the windows of his imported limousines are tinted and there is therefore a distortion of the harsh reality that the rest of us see.

Last weekend, I travelled on the Shagamu-Benin so-called expressway. The highway has no hard shoulder; grass more than 12 feet tall obscure visibility; there are no markings on the road, which makes driving even more hazardous at night; road signs are unavailable. But more frightening were the ghastly scenes of accidents. I just lost count, but a few I could remember. Shortly after Ijebu-Ode, a state government vehicle and a red Volvo had a head-on collision and so irresponsible was the traffic officer who had come to incident the accident that he was raving that if the motorists could not control themselves at the spot which had reduced the so-called expressway into a space not wider than half a lane, let them sleep there.

Elsewhere on the route, several trucks were lying belly up after crashing into the bush. At Ore, a fully loaded truck smashed into some makeshift shops. Carcasses of burnt-out cars and buses and trucks littered the roadside. I had not travelled on that route for some months and I do not see how any foreigner who is used to better roads in his country would not be more frightened than myself. Yet, there is the perennial noise about attracting foreigners to this country. How can they come when our roads are death traps: ill-maintained and ill-policed? When next you are on the inter-state highway, look out the window and see how many persons of a different skin colour are also cruising. Your observation will tell you how much of hot air we are making about tourism and foreign investors.

It is interesting that the Information Minister, Prof. Jerry Gana, is currently shepherding a group of journalists round the country to showcase the government's version of the dividends of democracy. No responsible journalist worth his calling will behold the patent and clear danger that our highways represent and not feel that the dividends are not yet on the road. It is true that several new projects, such as the Benin bye-pass, are being executed, but that is the typical cycle of governance that has left the country in its present appalling state. The Obasanjo government has been an unmitigated failure in raising the abysmal level of a maintenance culture. They say they have been rehabilitating roads, yet so bumpy are the highways, that driving is definitely not a pleasure. It is sufficient for you to get to your destination and give thanks to God. It is doubtful whether the kind of useless roads we call inter-state highways here are in war-ravaged Sierra Leone. The Obasanjo Administration will have immense difficulty in honestly claiming that it is a responsive government. Neither energy nor security can it reasonably provide. On the highways, people are dying like flies and yet the government does not see an emergency at hand.

To illustrate the rising dangers on the road, I will take a few newspaper stories published in recent weeks. THE GUARDIAN, May 28 : 12 burnt to death in auto crash. The story reads: "No fewer than 12 persons were burnt to death in a ghastly motor accident (on) the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, just as another accident that would have claimed the lives of the entire passengers in a Mercedes Benz 1414 commuter bus was averted on the expressway at the weekend. The first auto crash which occurred last Friday about 10 km before the Ogere toll gate involved an Urvan bus and a petrol tanker." THE PUNCH, May 16: 19 killed in auto crash. "Nineteen lives were lost on Tuesday in a multiple accident involving a truck and two other buses on the Jos-Kaduna road." THISDAY, May 4 : Union scribe, two daughters perish in May Day crash. "Tragedy hit the Labour camp in Plateau State on May Day when the official car of the state Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Comrade Yusuf Abdulkadir, had a head-on collision with another car, killing on the spot the scribe, his two daughters and his driver, Simon Rashak."

THE PUNCH, May 7 Gbonigi's book launch : Don, four others die in auto crash. "Tragedy befell the nation's academic sector last Thursday evening when a retired university don, Prof. Omolade Adejuyigbe, and four other persons were killed in an auto crash while returning to Akure from Ibadan, where they had gone to attend the book launch of (the) Rev. Bolanle Gbonigi." NIGERIAN TRIBUNE, April 23 : Tragedy hits Head of Service-loses two kids. "Tragedy struck on Sunday in Bauchi when two daughters of the Head of the Federal Civil Service, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, were killed in a ghastly road crash along Bauchi-Jos road on their way to Abuja." THISDAY, May 2: 13 killed in auto crash. "No fewer than 13 persons were killed just as four others sustained injuries in a ghastly motor accident along Sugu-Ganye bridge in Ganye local government area of Adamawa State." THE VANGUARD, May 30: Auto crash claims 16 on Lagos/Akure Road. "At least 16 persons were killed in an auto crash involving three vehicles along the Lagos Akure expressway on Monday as the nation celebrated the second year of democracy."

Move over to June 2001 and the headlines are as scary as they are unrelenting. DAILY CHAMPION, June 18: 19 more killed in Abuja death trap. "Residents of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) woke up yesterday morning to the news of another fatal accident at the notorious Nyanya junction, on the Abuja-Keffi road in which at least 19 persons were burnt to death. About 120 persons have died in the last 13 months in over four major automobile accidents at the same spot." THISDAY, June 16 : Four killed in midday accident. "No fewer than four persons were reported dead and three others in very critical condition following their involvement in a ghastly motor accident in Owerri, Imo State." THE GUARDIAN, June 26: 18 persons burnt to death in auto crash. "Eighteen persons...(among them four babies) were burnt beyond recognition when the commuter bus in which they were travelling had a head-on collision with a cargo trailer on the Ibadan-Ilorin road." On June 23, THE VANGUARD had three stories, all on road accidents. In one, 18 persons died on the Ondo-Ore-Lagos road. In the other, six persons were killed near Okpanam junction in Delta State, while in the third story a family of six were killed at Owode-Egba in Ogun State after their car collided with another car.

According to the Federal Road Safety Corps, at least 580 persons died in road accidents in various parts of the country in January this year. Between May and September last year, no fewer than 2,490 lives were also lost in several road crashes. Among the victims have been the prominent and the unsung. Senator Adamu Augie died in an auto crash. North, South, East and West, the scourge of accidents is ever present. It is distressing that neither the Executive nor the Legislature has seen in this a crisis situation demanding urgent and earnest attention. They forget that there is a limit to which their sirens and convoy can protect them. If they were genuine and selfless politicians they would be concerned that their constituents are dying on the road everyday. If they were not eyeing rigging, they would know that among the dying are potential voters. From top to bottom, from the federal to state and local governments, the lack of attention to road carnage bears a sad testimony to their irresponsibility.

Blood on the highway By Kingsley Osadolor, The Managing Director of the Guardian Newspapers, Nigeria

SIX months ago on these pages, I posed a question: Does Obasanjo Use Nigerian Roads? It was a rhetorical interrogation intended to draw attention to the appalling carnage on Nigerian highways. At the time I had travelled on the Shagamu-Benin so-called expressway and beheld frightening scenes of ghastly accidents in which lives lay wasted on the road and goods and property destroyed. Knowing the ingrained lethargy that underpins governmental inaction, I did not expect that the government would immediately dust the ants off its idle pants and institute an urgent, multi-pronged campaign against the carnage on our roads. The cynicism was not misplaced. While at every turn the federal, state and local governments make a nauseating preachment of their responsiveness to the needs of the governed, the actuality betrays a governmental insensitivity so deep, the conclusion is inescapable that Nigerians are virtually on their own.

And so, the carnage on our roads continues. The statistics are grim. According to the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), 710 persons were killed in various road accidents in Lagos between January and November last year. During the same period less one month, 703 travellers were killed in road crashes in Ogun State, which averages about 70 fatalities per month. Those who might think that the Federal Capital Territory is a haven are dead wrong. In the first nine months of last year, Abuja recorded 282 road accidents in which 58 persons died. In fact, there is no comfort anywhere in the country as the headlines showed for most of last year. Fifty or more passengers died when a luxury bus plunged into River Kano in August; 18 persons lost their lives in Ohana Apiapomiu in Cross River State when a bus rammed into a stationary truck; a lorry descending a slope in Ibadan crushed 21 persons to death; at least seven persons were killed in an accident involving a commuter bus and a petrol tanker on the Warri-Obiaruku road; in Jigawa State, 32 persons died in various road crashes last month.

Nothing could be more frightening than the fatality figures revealed last July by the FRSC. Between 1989 and 2000, the country recorded 218,243 road accidents in which 82,384 persons lost their lives. That averages 6,865.3 deaths per annum or 18.8 deaths per day. So by yesterday when most of us went to sleep, about 19 persons had been killed in road accidents; the same for today and tomorrow. They leave behind widows, widowers and orphans whose lives can never be the same again. This is not to speak of those who are critically injured in accidents and cannot therefore be productive to the economy, while resources are also expended on medicare. The World Health Organisation estimates that road traffic accidents are a higher cause of death than any specific disease. Whereas diseases have their gestation and wasting periods, a car crash can terminate a life almost instantly, hence serious governments world wide are constantly devising ways of reducing carnage on the highway.

Here, the Minister of Transport is clowning around on his imported bicycle while the sector he supervises is acutely troubled by unceasing accidents. It does not appear to have mattered that the other day the Minister himself was nearly crushed to death by a motorist. The incident was treated as one of those things, whereas the mentality and recklessness of the offending intra-city driver are what are usually at work when most ghastly accidents occur on inter-state routes. On its part, the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing looks busy, but its priorities are askew. Unless contracts run into billions, the ministry does not appear motivated to work.

Little things that matter are left unattended, for that is how potholes become craters. Failed hard shoulders that constrict the width of dual-carriage ways are often first invaded by mushrooming weeds before giant undergrowth crack the tar and the red earth is then exposed to degradation by the elements. Does any of the state or Federal Ministry of Works need to award contracts for the regular clearing of unwanted elephant grass vegetation on highway medians? Yet we have a large army of jobless Nigerians a number of whom now seek refuge in crime. Yet money is voted annually for highway maintenance besides there being a poverty alleviation programme that does not seem to know how to utilise its funds.

As tyrannical as Abacha's junta was, it managed to achieve a semblance of care for road users. In 1994/95 when the Benin-Shagamu dual-carriage way had a death trap at every other kilometre, there were legible signs: "Failed Section" to alert motorists to treacherous portions ahead, especially after vanishing points. Now, in a democracy where law-makers are pocketing fat allowances to network their constituencies, our honourable men and women travel on these same roads, facing similar hazards like other road users but they are pathetically unable to perceive the wake-up signal for positive action. It is a safe bet that if the National Assembly were to devote one-tenth of the energy and resources it has spent on insulting the sensibilities of Nigerians over the knock-kneed Electoral Act, on how best to curb road traffic accidents, the results would be dramatic indeed. The National Assembly is self-indulgent in its loud silence over the unacceptable rate of fatalities on our highways.

In the 1980s, Candy Lightner roused America's consciousness to the havoc of drink driving. A drunk driver killed her 13-year-old daughter and Lightner spearheaded the immensely successful campaign of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) whose work resulted in legislation on tighter controls on alcohol consumption by drivers. In our case, it is an open secret that motor parks are dens for hemp smokers and drinks of the highest percentage of alcohol with which drivers "shine their eyes" and later kill off their passengers and others in road accidents.

Exactly what are the various governments waiting for to realise that carnage on our roads has struck epidemic proportions requiring drastic responses? After all, a Senator died in a car crash last year. Other politicians have also been killed in similar circumstances. Since May 1999, a number of government ministers have been involved in serious road accidents in which they sustained life-threatening injuries and also lost a couple of aides. Governors' or their wives' convoys have been involved in multiple crashes leading to avoidable waste of public funds. Is anybody waiting for a collection of big wigs to die in a single road accident before we declare a mourning period and whip ourselves into action to tame the monster on our highways? It is clear now that the FRSC has long lost the steam which propelled it at inception and kept it going for some years. The body isn't as proactive as it used to be. Its spirit left flagging by excessive political interference and neglect, the FRSC has been reduced majorly to the function of ferrying accident victims, dead or alive, to hospitals, in addition to publishing the rising morbid figures of the fatalities on our highway.

Lip service to safety on the roads will only increase the casualty figures. Without strict law enforcement, hooligans and deranged elements will continue to be in possession of licences to drive the killer vehicles that litter the highway. Without strict enforcement, unroadworthy vehicles will continue to ply the roads. Even if commercial drivers want to go on strike, even if truck drivers whose cargo-laden vehicles are bereft of hazard lights want to protest, let them do so, but their vehicles must be roadworthy. It is often distressing to see law enforcement officers probing to extort rather than sanction the driver of an over-loaded vehicle, which a few kilometres into its journey ends belly-up in an inevitable crash.

If road accidents are so commonplace, the obvious suggestion is that road transportation which is heavily relied upon is now grossly inadequate. It is an admiss