PATVORA ACKNOWLEDGES DRINK DRIVING AS A MAJOR ISSUE OF CONCERN, CALLS FOR STRINGENT MEASURES. December 2004 …. more

PATVORA writes RTIRN on road safety in Africa. October 2004 … more

PATVORA ACKNOWLEDGES FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION (FHWA)- U.S EFFORTS IN WORLDWIDE ROAD SAFETY ISSUES BUT REFUTES CLAIM OF NIGERIA’S LOW COMMITMENT ON ROAD SAFETY. October 2004……read

RTIRN Chair, commends PATVORA, URGES GREATER INVOLVEMENT. Oct 2004… more

PATVORA COMMENDS Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) March 2004…more

PATVORA Co-ordinator's statement to ARRIVE ALIVE stakeholders at ChevronTexaco organised workshop.

June 2^nd 2005 saw the Arrive Alive stakeholders' workshop in Eko Hotels, Lagos at which over 30 organisations took part. PATVORA Co-Ordinator, David Oba delivered a speech on how road safety could be supported in Nigeria.

Nigeria Road safety crisis - Solving the problems

  BY

OBA DAVID, CO-ORDINATOR, PROMPT ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS OF ROAD ACCIDENTS (PATVORA)

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, to all members of the media, friends, supporters and advisers on safer roads, I thank you for this opportunity.  

As the Co-ordinator of PATVORA, a road safety NGO, I am delighted to be invited for this occasion. I have enjoyed working on various aspects of road safety and I hope PATVORA’s presentation here will be a fruitful one.

Meetings such as this are important to us if we are to achieve our mission, not only in the fight against road safety crisis but indeed in all aspects of our work to better humanity.

I would like to thank Steve Ukaegbu, Project Arrive Alive manager Nigeria; recognise our other distinguished speakers; and congratulate ChevronTexaco on this wonderful initiative.

I am pleased to join this wonderful group to discuss a topic like road safety that does not usually come to the top of the social agenda on national development.

Road safety is also a subject that I take very seriously.  As a fatal crash victim, this topic is close to my heart. On my very first day to the university as a fresher, my uncle and I were involved in a road crash, I had minor injuries but my uncle cum guardian had multiple injuries. I spent nights and days assisting him. By the tenth month, He was discharged from the hospital with a limb gone, a lost job, a disfigured face and huge social consequences. Those lingering experiences of the shattered life of my sponsor affected my career.

Let me not bore the audience with the explanation of what a road crash is and its consequences because I want to assume that a majority of us gathered here have a road crash experience either directly or indirectly. Hardly is there a family in Nigeria that has not have a road crash experience, it is either a colleague, friend or relation has been involved in a road crash. Unfortunately, these road traffic crashes are predictable and therefore preventable.

In Nigeria, it is unfortunate but real that most people irrespective of class and religion don’t know that Road Traffic Injuries (RTIs) are highly preventable. This is so because many people ascribe RTI to spiritual beliefs and in some cases certain religious interpretations are misconstrued to make people become fatalistic about road crashes.

A clear testimony that most road deaths are preventable is the recent action of the French government. In France, road deaths have fallen by 20% in one year because its President decided to take road safety seriously. The French leader, President Jacques Chirac, declared war on drinking and driving three years ago and the French police cracked down on drunk drivers. The result has been a drop of almost 20 percent in highway deaths and also a drop in alcohol consumption by drivers. But in Nigeria, the alcohol manufacturers are indifferent to the harmful effect of their product on road users. Perhaps, this will form a sufficient discourse elsewhere in this presentation. Another very good example of where road crashes have proved to be preventable is Sweden. The Swedish government has the best global record on road safety today as a result of collaboration between all sectors of the society on road safety.

On a day like today we should ask ourselves 'how can Nigeria overcome road crashes?' Luckily, we know what works. So we can overcome road crashes. We can do so using the prevention, education, multi sector collaboration and vibrant leadership strategies which have already been so successful in countries like France, New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Switzerland and Sweden.

The complexion of road safety crisis in Nigeria is different and it is a major challenge because Nigeria is a setting where many roads are bad and most journeys are made in dilapidated vehicles. It is a society with poor facilities for road safety control measures, non-existent emergency trauma care system, under funded national road safety agency, low insurance participation and little presence of local NGOs and international road safety agencies.

Also, in Nigeria, railways are not developed and the water transportation is not making enough impact to take the pressure from roads. Air transportation is very expensive. Therefore, with rapid increase in vehicular use and non-application of road safety measures, the claim in some quarters that road traffic crashes in Nigeria is on the decrease is doubtful and surprising.

Given the statistics available from various reliable sources on road traffic injuries in Nigeria, it is obvious that road safety accomplishments of the past years have not been impressive. I have no doubt that the Chief Executive of the FRSC and his staff in the Federal Road Safety Commission do the best they can in difficult circumstances. Of course, it is easy to express support and welcome progress by the FRSC, especially with the new reforms being carried out by Major General Hananiya (Rtd.). However, what is far from satisfaction, is when thousands of people are dying every year on our roads in circumstances that are highly preventable.

On Nigerian roads, the WHO estimates that almost 16,000 people die yearly, The Nigeria Police estimate is 17,117 deaths, while the Director-General, Standard Organisation of Nigeria, claimed that 34,000 Nigerians died on the highways in the year 2004 alone.  Also, the Minister of works, Senator Oluseye Ogunlewe in January 2004 stated that the country loses about N135 billion yearly as well as 85 lives daily due to bad roads. This position was supported with a Central Bank of Nigeria report on "highway maintenance in Nigeria, lessons from other countries”. Indeed, the position of the Minister is that the total number of deaths on Nigerian roads is same as the number of deaths on the roads of the entire European continent. In fact, it is like loading a luxury bus with people and plunging into River Niger or Benue on a daily basis.

Although there is no established surveillance procedure for effective monitoring of road crashes in Nigeria, the official statistics from the Nigerian road safety regulatory authority, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) even at about 10,000 deaths annually gives cause for serious concern about safety on Nigeria’s roads. PATVORA’s position is that every single death on the roads of Nigeria is unnecessary.

In facing the road safety challenge, one must ask the question, “Is road safety really getting the attention it deserves?” On the basis of my experience of working on these issues in PATVORA, the answer is quite clearly, “No it is not.” The plain fact is that road safety has a low priority among the three arms of Executive Government.

The FRSC may make progress incrementally in the reduction of fatalities on the road but with its limited resources, the progress may not be the quantum leap that we need for sustainable development on road safety in Nigeria. Also, the Nigerian government through specific deeds of reforms and expressed intents on road safety may be regarded as giving attention to road safety development because roads are being rehabilitated in phases, however, the political will to invest sufficiently in road safety is grossly lacking. This may be due to a lot of factors including non-appreciation of the magnitude of the problem and complacency. This is where the civil society and (NGOs) have performed abysmally as they have neither taken the issue of RTI neglect to the National Assembly nor raised a national debate in the media.

Please forgive me, therefore, if the tone of my comments today seems somewhat provocative or controversial. Perhaps as one representative of ordinary road users, it is my duty to offer a more critical analysis of the road safety situation in Nigeria today.  

Specifically, the Nigerian road safety agenda demands of the Nigerian government new approaches, new resources and new commitments of political will. Resolving this clear and present danger of road crashes in the country will involve the further development of road safety measures. Road safety agenda in Nigeria requires the cooperation of all stakeholders at an unprecedented level. It demands new partnerships joining the recognized strengths of the private sector with the dedicated service of the public sector.

Indeed, at a time when governments no longer have a monopoly on information and answers, solving such a problem as road safety crisis requires public-private partnerships capable of providing new leadership for a new era.

At PATVORA, we are offering ideas about how to work through partners to bring a macro-problem to the understanding of people at the community level, even to children going to and from school. This information is available on our website. www.patvora.org

PATVORA’s inclination is that the fight to substantially reduce the burden of road crashes cannot be a half-measured one. It must be an all-out war requiring the greatest commitments Nigeria stakeholders. The government and private sector must inject reasonable amount of money to enhance road safety because the under funding of the FRSC cuts to the heart of road safety under development in Nigeria.

Road users in Nigeria deserve better and safer road travel, but this will be largely impossible without multi sector collaboration, political will and commitment. The time to act is now and the first steps would be to identify the causes of road crashes and proffer suggestions that we think are cost effective and would produce good results.

Before listing the major causes and suggestions that the PATVORA organisation considers useful in addressing road safety crisis in Nigeria, let me quickly state that it is very important that we realise that application of road safety intervention is not “one size fits all” approach. In fact, there is no bullet to slay all fatalities on the road. Interventions that have been tested and worked well in developed economies have not succeeded in reducing fatalities in the developed world for a lot of reasons, mostly due to inadequate funding, improper platform for execution and enforcement.

Having said that, I would like to state that studies carried out by the PATVORA organisation and from other research findings on road safety crisis in Nigeria, it is obvious that the causes of road crashes are known. 

In Nigeria, the increase in the fatality rate is largely as a result of insufficient effort and capacity of the regulatory agency and road users to respond to the growing motorisation. From a well researched study on road safety in Nigeria, it is obvious that there are many contributing factors to road crashes, however, three major factors are responsible for carnage on Nigerian highways. These include human factor which accounts for 58% of accidents, environmental factor is responsible for 22%, 15% of the accidents are caused by mechanical factor while 5% are caused by other factors.

Part of the human factors that have been identified include drunkenness, hard drug usage, uncaring drivers and pedestrian; fatigue occasioned by long distant journey, driving too fast, Aggressive driving behaviour, lack of road safety education, tailgating and poor enforcement. Also, lack of driving skills due to inefficient drivers’ licensing scheme and lack of proper training of drivers, were identified as major contributory factors.

In the case of environmental factors, bad road conditions due to lack of maintenance, absence of road signs, inclement weather, traffic congestion/obstruction and poor visibility at night, especially, during rainy season and harmattan have contributed to increase in road crashes.

Tyre failure, poor headlamps, brake failure and bad vehicle condition i.e. old and rickety vehicles on highways and use of expired tyres for long distance travels are some of the mechanical factors responsible for high rate of vehicular crashes. The blame for mechanical factor as contributory to highway accidents lies with vehicle owners and the poor economic situation of most Nigerians.

At the regulatory level, little progress has been made. Despite achievements by the FRSC such as increased safety belt use, checking of drivers’ license and occasional road safety sensitisation, enforcement is weak in a lot of areas including over loading, driving under influence, reckless driving, over speeding and lack of inspection of vehicle condition. The reasons for poor enforcement are many but the major contributory factors are inadequate facilities for road safety monitoring by the FRSC and corruption amongst some officers of the enforcement agencies.

On the factors that hinder road safety growth, is obvious that many international developmental agencies, including the UN, WHO and World Bank, major participants in the global fight against RTIs are not implementing progammes in road safety in Nigeria. Many companies in the energy, car manufacturing and brewing sectors have not shown support for road safety undermining the simple fact that they ought to be actively involved in road safety development given their direct connection with increased motorisation and road crashes.

Another, major hindrance to road safety growth in Nigeria is lack of research. The university communities are yet to be co-opted in the fight against Road traffic injuries and The Corporate Nigeria that is active in other killer diseases have not shown interest in road safety, yet their employees and customers die everyday.

Continental awards are being given to breweries in Nigeria for their excellence and such awards are being dedicated to our dear President Obasanjo without anyone reminding the “Excellent” Brewery or the advisers of our dear President that many innocent lives have been lost on the roads of Nigeria through the actions of drunk drivers. I think the Nigerian President in his capacity as the African Union Chairman should be at the forefront of the fight against road safety crisis because Africans are being threatened by road traffic injuries. Even the President of the worst hit HIV/AIDs nation, Festus Magoe of Botswana, has openly admitted that alcohol is a major contributory factor to road crashes and 30% of orphans in Botswana are orphaned through road crashes. So, proper sensitisation is lacking in this area and there is much work to be done. What the PATVORA Organisation is asking for, is equity and fairness. In developed economies, alcohol manufacturers support road safety activities why should Nigeria be an exception? The two Major international breweries, Heineken and Guinness fund International events on road safety, Why should their counterparts in Nigeria be complacent about the effects of drunk driving? The conclusion here is that the level of advocacy and sensitisation on road safety in Nigeria is very poor and something urgent should be done. 

Again, Collaboration between the few existing NGOs and the FRSC is weak. I wish to use this opportunity to appeal to our brothers in government not to be afraid of working with NGO operators because we are partners in development.

 Addressing the issue of indiscriminate issuance of driving licence is important. The freedoms that come with a driving licence are clear to every driver but the responsibilities are not so obvious. Many drivers on the roads of Nigeria are only licensed to kill. Driving tests are not conducted and almost all 'Okada' riders don’t go for any formal test.

 For Nigeria to witness desirable reduction in road traffic injuries, suggestions are needed. Indeed, road safety has become a complex issue in Nigeria especially now that road fatalities have become a common sight due to absence of countermeasures to increased motorisation. Thus, it is not feasible for a single agency like the FRSC to possess all the various disciplines for road safety work in its own organisation. However, fatality reduction can be achieved through partnerships that will offer a wide network of co-operating organisations, from which services and resources can be procured to improve road safety in Nigeria. Once again, I applaud this Chevron/Texaco initiative.

The chance for concerted action has perhaps never been greater than it is today but improvement on road safety in Nigeria will come at a price in terms of money and social responsibility. The experience of the past years makes it clear that different road safety issues require varying approaches.  

For strategic and economical reasons it is obviously not possible to implement efficiently all these measures at the same time.  Priority areas should be  established according to some of the usual criteria of priority for road traffic safety measures.i.e Costs / Benefits ratio, Social acceptance, Political acceptability, Ease of institutional implementation and Economic profits for the road safety business.

Prevention is certainly the most cost-effective way to avoid road crashes and I have strong doubts on our achieving much success on road safety without proper sensitisation. My personal experience has shown that even with the best traffic laws and fines in place without sensitisation most road users will not understand that traffic laws were made to save their lives and not to further impoverish them. Thus, compliance will remain low. This can be achieved in so many ways but as a first step we should make the community heads, celebrities, icons of industries and accident victims to speak openly on the issue of RTIs. 

NGOs and the FRSC must work together for the benefit of the people, the economy and humanity. NGOs like the PATVORA Organisation can play a major role as powerful advocates for change especially now that road safety in Nigeria needs a voice like other killer diseases. The involvement of NGOs will help reposition the FRSC both in terms of financial resources and efficiency.

The need for research on major components of road safety cannot be over emphasised. Research on areas that will lay less emphasis on the sole financing of road safety by the Government is quite important if really we are desirous of accomplishing our targets. Also, we need to develop specific strategies that can enhance the involvement of the civil society and private sector.

Again, on the issue of driving licenses, the entire procedure should be revisited with more powers for testing and issuance given to the FRSC. Licenses must be made harder to get because sensible restrictions prevent death and injury and produce better drivers.

To accomplish all these, we must become involved by participating in road safety education programmes and volunteer efforts. Education of the populace on the impact and consequences of RTI is highly needed for us to build the required capacity to combat the scourge and the FRSC deserves urgent support in this area.

Finally, collaboration between the media, international community, private sector, local NGOs and FRSC will highly be needed for us to accomplish our goal of fatality reduction. While these collaboration initiatives are being developed the NGOs and road safety advocates can now move to the National Assembly to lobby for enhanced legislation that will make Nigerians safe on the roads and the burden lighter for the FRSC.

Road safety is a shared responsibility, thus all responsible road users must assist the National Road Safety Agency.

Thank you

PATVORA ACKNOWLEDGES DRINK DRIVING AS A MAJOR ISSUE OF CONCERN, CALLS FOR STRINGENT MEASURES. December 2004

The members of PATVORA Organisation have selected drunk driving as an issue of concern.  In a combined meeting of Council members and volunteers of the PATVORA Organisation held in its Secretariat on the 11^th December 2004, two issues were selected as major concerns for PATVORA’s focus in the year 2005.

The under funding of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and Complacency of Alcohol manufacturers were nominated as two issues of concern. According to Mr. Yahaya Adejoh, a Council member, the matter of alcohol consumption by drivers in Nigeria is a major threat which has received little or no attention in the past ten years. He stressed that the threats posed by drunk drivers have reached an unprecedented level and Nigeria rather than witness a decrease in fatalities caused by drivers driving under the influence of alcohol like most countries involved in the fight against road safety crisis, is having a dramatic increase in road crashes. Mr. Adejoh stated that such avoidable road crashes should be blamed on poor enforcement, which he largely attributed to lack of testing facilities by the FRSC. He however attributed the FRSC’s inability to properly address this issue to inadequate resources and lack of support by organisations that ought to show support.

Mr. Adejoh in buttressing his points for nominating drunk driving as an issue of concern for the PATVORA Organisation, stated that drink driving has impeded the efforts of the agencies combating road safety crisis in Nigeria. He further claimed that the unchecked rise in road crashes associated with drunk drivers could have been reversed but for lack of sensitisation and gross complacency of alcohol manufacturers. He submitted scientific based evidence and acknowledged research findings to prove that consumption of alcohol by drivers is a major contributory factor to increase in road crashes in the developing world.

According to Mr. Adejoh those who indulge in drink driving are potential threats to innocent road users. As such, drivers driving under the influence of Alcohol should be treated as criminals because their actions are premeditated to cause harm to fellow road users. He however stated that this might be difficult to accomplish in the present circumstance where manufacturers of Alcohol products have not in anyway informed their consumers of the adverse consequences associated with the consumption of their products. He advocated that Buyers Beware information be placed on all such alcoholic products and places where these products are sold. Otherwise, the manufacturers of Alcohol products or those who sell such products should be held liable for the ill actions of their consumers or customers while driving.

Mr. Adejoh cited instances of countries that have experienced drastic reduction in road crashes due to zero tolerance of alcohol while driving. He mentioned that Austria and France are countries that have witnessed over 20% in road fatality reduction in the past five years due to their increased focus on anti drink driving.  In conclusion, he stated that the PATVORA Organisation would do majority of road users in Nigeria the world of good by sponsoring a bill to the National Assembly compelling Alcohol manufacturers to act socially responsible either by providing counter measures to the negative effects of their products or getting directly involved in the financing of road safety activities. However, he stated that such contributions should not be regarded as charity but compulsory levies.

The Co-ordinator of the PATVORA Organisation, Mr. Ojugbana thanked Mr. Adejoh for his well researched presentation while promising that the PATVORA Organisation as a first step would dialogue with responsible alcohol manufacturers on cost effective strategies that maybe applied in addressing this threatening problem of epidemic proportions. At the meeting it was resolved that a sub committee be constituted to look into the possibility of drawing up a proposal to the Federal government for the establishment of a National Commission Against Drunk Driving.

PATVORA writes RTIRN on road safety in Africa. October 2004

The PATVORA Organisation as a partner of the RTIRN, has responded to the call by the Road Traffic Injury Research Network-RTIRN for suggestions on the way forward on road fatality reduction and road safety research in the developing world. The Co-ordinator of the PATVORA Organisation, Chude Ojugbana in his submission, highlights some issues that deserve priority attention. The letter reads…..

Dear Prof. Norton and Adnan,

I have read with so much interest the views of many partners of RTIRN on the probable focus of the RTIRN in the near future and I wish to commend all the participants in the on going discussion for their brilliant ideas. Coming from a country with huge problem of road fatalities, I think my experience in the area of social research of road safety may add value to RTIRN objectives.

In Nigeria, we have increasing road safety crisis despite the existence of a vibrant but under funded National road safety agency. The level of awareness on RTIs is very low and sensitisation is very poor.  My strong belief is that the situation might worsen if proper research measures are not embarked upon and new strategies are not developed to mobilise all stakeholders.

Again, coming from a major road safety NGO in Nigeria, I wish to state that despite the presence of many international developmental agencies, including the UN, WHO, World Bank and major participants in the global fight against RTIs with defined involvement in road safety, none of these agencies is carrying out any major programme on road safety in Nigeria.  Even the development agencies of countries of the EU and America with strong presence in Nigeria are yet to look the way of RTIs. Instead, they have diverted their attention to other issues that may be of less or equal significance.

Support from the private sector is next to nothing. However, my observation is that most of the corporate organisations that act socially responsible in Nigeria have channeled their energies and resources to the fight against HIV/AIDS. The major reason is that so much awareness has been created on the HIV/AIDS pandemic with the support of international agencies, NGOs and governments. Thus, this has made companies in the energy, car manufacturing and brewing sectors show preference for HIV/AIDS fight undermining the simple fact that they ought to be actively involved in road safety development given their direct connection with increased motorisation and road crashes.

However, shifting the blame of road safety underdevelopment to the doorsteps of the private sector and international agencies is not a solution to the problem because there is neither a co-ordinated nor sustainable strategy for their involvement and implementation of road safety programmes. Also, the university communities are yet to be co-opted in the fight against RTIs and the federal agencies that are active in other killer diseases have not shown desirable interest in road safety because they are yet to be properly sensitised.

Therefore, the major problem of road safety development in Nigeria can be largely attributed to lack of publicity and strategies for collaboration; and this has grossly affected support for road safety activities. I think therefore, that for us to move forward there is great need to conduct research on how best to sensitise the polity on RTIs and its consequences.

 The need for research on strategies for sensitisation cannot be over emphasised. For instance, the PATVORA organisation is currently empowering road users with first help skills.  At inception, it was difficult carrying people along until it employed sensitisation strategies at the community levels and since then, the growth and acceptance of the programme has been very encouraging. My personal experience has therefore shown that even with the best traffic laws and fines in place without sensitisation most road users will not understand that traffic laws were made to save their lives and not to further impoverish them. Thus, compliance will remain low.

 There are some other important areas that research is highly needed. For example, the use and enforcement of helmet for motorcyclists in sub-Saharan Africa is very necessary especially now that the use of motorbikes has become the most popular mode of transportation. However, it is important to mention that in Nigeria, the use of helmets was enforced years back but a little after its implementation, it hit the rocks due to social and religious reasons. A recent study conducted by the PATVORA organisation on the failure of helmet enforcement in Nigeria suggested that proper sensitisation was not carried out, otherwise many road users would have begged for its implementation than rejection. Again, sensitisation becomes a priority.

Given our peculiar setting in Africa, it is unfortunate but real that most people irrespective of class and religion don’t know that RTIs are highly preventable. This is so because people especially those in the rural setting ascribe RTI to spiritual beliefs and in some cases certain religious interpretations are misconstrued to make people become fatalistic about road crashes. So education of the populace on the impact and consequences of RTIs is highly needed for us to build the required capacity to combat the scourge. Therefore, I have strong doubts over our achieving much success in road safety development without addressing the issue of inadequate sensitisation.

Africa has many competent people with brilliant and up to date ideas that are willing to join in the fight against RTIs. The first step for road safety growth is for us to look into this issue of inadequate publicity and develop specific strategies that can enhance the involvement of the civil society and private sector participants. It is only when this is done that we can have enough human and financial resources to monitor the implementation of known interventions and research on new interventions.

Research on areas that will lay less emphasis on the sole financing of National road safety agency by the Government is quite important if really we are desirous of accomplishing our targets on fatality reduction.  In particular, the Nigerian government through specific deeds of reforms and expressed intents on road safety may be regarded as priotising road safety development because roads are being rehabilitated in phases. However, given that Nigeria has gone through a long stretch of military dictatorship, resource mismanagement and isolation by the international community, the competing needs of the government have not permitted desirable investment in road safety development especially in its funding of the National road safety agency. However, with constructive advocacy and sensitisation by road safety NGOs, the over reliance on government for road safety funding would have taken a different dimension. This therefore becomes a valid area for research.

With the exception of a few government officials that have emotional attachment to RTIs and the officers of the National road safety agencies, most governments in Africa until recently did not show desirable political will to address the issue of RTIs both in terms of funding and moral encouragement. However, the governments in Africa should not carry the blame alone because the civil society and (NGOs) have performed abysmally as they have neither taken the issue of RTI neglect to the African Union nor to their various state and national assemblies. Again, this largely has to do with the inadequacy of NGOs in road safety development. Therefore researching on ways to broaden the existing capacities of NGOs is important.

In Nigeria, it is common practice for First ladies and wives of state governors to have pet projects which they successfully fund from monies raised through charities but unfortunately before now no road safety NGO approached these prominent and influential persons to champion the issue of road safety. This is an area where the NGOs have failed woefully because such initiatives do not require much funding but they remain the basic steps to addressing such a problem. Again this has to do with the limited number of road safety NGOs.

In most parts of Africa, it is clear that the private sector is not socially committed to issues of road safety. For instance, the brewery industry in Nigeria declares hundreds of millions of dollars as yearly profit but none is funding any road safety initiative except Guinness Nigeria Plc that has promised to fund but that has remained largely on paper.  Participants in the energy sector, like SHELL, CHEVERONTEXACO, ELF, TOTALFINA and a host of others unlike their counterparts overseas don’t recognise road safety as their social responsibility except SHELL that has in the past few years organised a yearly seminar on road safety. However, this contribution by SHELL is grossly insufficient given its direct connection to motorisation and huge volume of business in Nigeria. The motor manufacturing and car component companies like Toyota, Mercedes, Peugeot, KIA, Styer, Michelin, Dunlop, etc despite the huge patronage from Nigerian road users and government have done nothing for road safety advancement in Nigeria.  So the point being made here is that we need to research on strategies that will enable NGOs to plead, encourage or cajole these agencies into being socially committed to issues of road safety.

It is also important to research on ways of collaborating with existing HIV/AIDS NGOs in order to use their established structures in communities where they have performed credibly on awareness creation on HIV/AIDS. This is certainly a cost-effective approach because the number of HIV/AIDS NGOs involved in sensitisation are over two thousand while the active road safety NGOs are about ten. The reason for this disparity is not far from lack of support and encouragement. This is certainly where the WHO would have done better through encouraging the formation of more NGOs in various aspects of road safety. It’s really unfortunate that in this year that has been dedicated to road safety by the WHO, most of the actions that have taken place on road safety in Nigeria have remained at their respective planning stages. Therefore research on how this form of collaboration can be accomplished perhaps through the support of the WHO will be very necessary.

My conclusion on the way forward for road safety research from the Nigerian perspective is that we have to carry out research on how best to get all stakeholders involved especially through devising strategies that would make traditional leaders, the community heads, the head of various tiers of government, celebrities and accident victims to speak on the issue of RTIs. This measure is absolutely necessary because it will assist in building enough momentum for NGOs and National road safety agency to address the various components of road safety from a multi sectorial approach. Also the development of tri-sector partnership models for road safety and special publicity programmes that will broaden the knowledge of road users on various aspects of road safety especially on the challenges and opportunities are important.

Finally, research on collaboration between the media, international community, private sector, local NGOs and National road safety agencies will be highly needed for us to accomplish our goal of fatality reduction. While these initiatives are being implemented, we can now move on to specific research on new findings from the benefits of enlarged participation and fresh ideas.

Please note that references made to organizations, agencies in this presentation were done for the purpose of illustration, guidance and growth of road safety. It is without any intent to embarrass or undermine the good work and expressed intentions of some officers of the above mentioned organisations.

PATVORA ACKNOWLEDGES FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION (FHWA)- US EFFORTS IN WORLDWIDE ROAD SAFETY ISSUES BUT REFUTES CLAIM OF NIGERIA’S LOW COMMITMENT ON ROAD SAFETY. October 2004

The PATVORA Organisation has commended the FHWA on its supporting programmes targeted at fighting global road safety crisis and its various initiatives to complement other road safety programmes of the international community through regular research and information dissemination.

In a letter signed by the Co-ordinator of PATVORA dated 19^th October 2004, Mr. Chude Ojugbana stated that such global development agenda would be incomplete if not properly conducted and  not extended to a country like Nigeria given its population and size of road traffic problems.
Specifically, the letter expressed PATVORA’s grave concern over the contents of FHWA’s website on road safety situation in Nigeria. The letter reads……..

The negative remarks and half-truths on Nigeria in your report on road safety condition in Africa are completely unacceptable. Consequently, we would want to draw your urgent attention to the reactions that have followed these flawed remarks on Nigeria and the implications for Nigeria’s quest for international collaboration on road safety development.

As stated on your website in Appendix D Contact Database of AFRICA ROAD SAFETY REVIEW,  "Countries which seem to have been particularly active in road safety over recent years include, Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. From the point of view of FHA or NHTSA collaboration on joint road safety research activities etc, in Sub Sahara Africa, it would probably be advantageous to select countries from the above list, where useful work has already been undertaken." It is clear from the reality on ground regarding road safety development in Nigeria that the author of the report limited the scope of the research to an examination of the countries that were favourably recommended for assistance.

Whether or not the author contacted any NGO or the national road safety agency of Nigeria (FRSC) before arriving at these conclusions is specifically excluded from the report. Thus, we find the position of the author and views on your website inaccurate, especially given that there is ample evidence, provided by NGOs and other agencies of the government on road safety activities in Nigeria.

It is PATVORA’s wish to inform you that in this era that a global epidemic of road traffic injuries is threatening to devastate millions of lives in low and middle income countries, no well intended government can afford to be complacent about fatalities on the road. Indeed, in Nigeria, the national road safety agency, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), is a vibrant road safety agency with over 7,000 men and women working in various parts of the country with offices in over 110 locations. The FRSC has been in existence for about 16 years and has had the merit of stabilising fatalities on the road but like any other agency of its kind in Africa, it is constrained by limited resources. The statement of the author with regard to the extent of work done on road safety in Nigeria is therefore flawed and the nature of research carried out on the Nigerian situation fall foul of proper research guidelines.

Despite a moderate degree of truth reported in the high fatality rate on the roads in Nigeria and the under funded nature of the National road safety agency which are common features in the African Continent, the suggestion that ‘’ In Nigeria, little national or international road safety activity has taken place in recent years” is false and we express doubts about the thoroughness of the author’s investigation.  In such circumstances, to base any decision on funding road safety projects in Africa on the information on the FHWA website is likely to be at best unprogressive, at worst highly damaging to the interests of the poorest sections of the affected Nigerian community who die most on the roads.

While we offer to provide you ample information on the nature of progress made and the factors that mitigate progress on road safety development in Nigeria at your earliest instance, we urge you to revisit the information on road safety situation in Nigeria on your website.

The case for a thorough assessment by the FHWA of the road safety progress made in Nigeria is made all the stronger by the fact that FHWA’s non application of proper standards to verify claims of authors as to project compliance with regard to both road safety research and implementation negates the FHWA’s own principal justification for its involvement in the fight against global road safety crisis.  Moreover, FHWA's refusal to investigate such a research information effectively, might reasonably be interpreted as a signal that the Nigerian road safety situation is not being taken with the seriousness it undoubtedly merit.
It is our wish to inform you that the author’s narrow understanding of road safety situation in Nigeria is already being interpreted in some quarters as reflecting either a lack of research knowledge or, less charitably, an attempt to limit growth of road safety in Nigeria in order to push other countries forward, whilst appearing to give the international community proper position.

Given FHWA's well-earned reputation for promoting sustainable development through road safety progress, it would be regrettable if such statements on Nigeria were to gain wide currency, particularly when the remedy - a full assessment of the Nigerian road safety situation and a retraction of the inaccurate information can be carried out immediately.

We therefore urge you to ensure that future road safety research on the African continent is broadened to include a thorough investigation of road safety activities in Nigeria.

Finally, we would like to draw your urgent attention to the absence of international road safety agencies in Nigeria perhaps as a result of the information on your website. This in our view considerably contradicts the goals of the partners in the global fight against road traffic injuries.

RTIRN Chair, commends PATVORA, URGES GREATER INVOLVEMENT.Oct 2004

The Chair of RTIRN, Prof. Robyn Norton in mail dated October 2004 has commended the PATVORA Organisation. The letter reads “ Congratulations on the activities and initiatives you are planning in the coming months - an incredibly comprehensive program that should have very positive effects in terms of reductions in road traffic injury”.

WHO COMMENDS PATVORA, ISSUES CERTIFICATE OF RECOGNITION. Sept 2004

The World Health Organisation in a letter dated 13^th September 2004 signed by Dr, Etienne Krug, Director, Injuries and Violence Prevention has expressed appreciation to the PATVORA Organisation. According to Dr. Krug “this letter and attached certificate are tokens of our appreciation for your support of World health Day 2004- Road safety is No accident”. “We also thank you for the informative report which you shared with us on the events you hosted to mark the day”. The letter further states that “We look forward to our future collaboration on the issue in the months and years ahead”.

PATVORA requests to host Road Traffic Injuries Research Network (RTIRN)