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A road safety advocate, Patrick Adenusi, who is also a leading promoter of Safety Beyond Borders, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), has revealed that no fewer than 100 people die in road accidents on Nigerian roads daily, thus faulting figures being bandied around for some years now by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and other agencies on fatalities on Nigerian roads. The FRSC has always been putting the figures at between 13 and 20 monthly even as most accidents that occur at nights are not reported in most cases.
A report by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS had also put the fatality figure at no fewer than 2, 673 in Nigeria between January and June, thus implying an average of 15 people dying from road accidents each day in the first six months of 2017.
Adenusi, however, maintained that road accidents claim as much as 36,000 lives annually in the country, stressing that fatigue is the major cause of most road traffic crashes on the roads. The safety advocate spoke recently at the monthly industry forum of the Nigeria Auto Journalists Association (NAJA) in Lagos.
The safety advocate spoke recently at the monthly industry forum of the Nigeria Auto Journalists Association (NAJA) in Lagos.
“Over 100 die as a result of road accidents in Nigeria daily. You would recall that 17 years ago, we were told that 65 people were killed daily. The question is: what has changed ?” Adenusi lamented, saying over the years, both the Nigeria Police and the FRSC have not been able to work together on generating accurate and reasonably acceptable data on the number of fatalities on the roads.
Describing road safety campaign as a collective responsibility, noting that corporate organisations have critical roles to play in reducing fatalities on the roads, Adenusi , however, called on corporate organisations in the country to support the on-going effort by FRSC to curtail road accidents , adding that motorists and other road users should adhere strictly to laid down rules and regulations even as he also appealed to religious leaders to join the campaign against reckless driving in the country.
“The FRSC needs more vehicles and equipment. The financial institutions such as Banks and Insurance firms are not supporting the activities of FRSC…The financial institutions should understand that it is in their interest for people to stay alive. That is the only way they can make more profit,” Adenusi stated.
