SWAVEY AND THE CARNAGE ON NIGERIAN ROADS

Excessive speed kills, warns Olawale Oluwade

The untimely death of Patrick Fakoya (11 August 1993 – 13 October 2022), also known as Rico Swavey, cast a dark pall over the entertainment industry since last week. He was a Nigerian lawyer, artiste, movie actor cum reality TV star, social media influencer, and ex-BBnaija season three housemate. He became famous after featuring in the season three ‘Double Wahala’ edition of the popular Nigerian reality TV show, Big Brother Naija. He indeed had a promising future, now, tragically cut short by road accident.

Full details of the incident has been sketchy but the accident occurred on 11 October and he died two days afterwards having slipped into coma on impact and never regaining consciousness. There are unconfirmed reports from the hospital that alcohol consumption could have contributed to the fatal accident. But a critical element was quite evident.

I have reflected soberly on this tragic event and decided to write this for public admonition. Every comment and write up on the incident focused more on the inanity of observers videoing the victim while awaiting assistance of medics at the hospital where he was taken to after the accident. A big deal was made of this and maybe rightly so. However, I didn’t see anyone comment on the cause of the accident to begin with. The fact that the pictures of the accident vehicle obviously indicates excessive speed to warrant such degree of impact and consequential bodily injury and eventual death, seemed lost on the public! And so we move on, until it’s another vehicle(s) with similar or worse outcomes.

Nigeria is country grappling with many avoidable calamities. A most notorious one but far less reported is the carnage on our roads. Data from the Federal Road Safety Corps and the National Bureau of Statistics say between 2013 and 2020, at least 41,709 persons have lost their lives to road crashes in Nigeria. Road crashes are also identified as one of the leading causes of death in Nigeria, especially among age groups five to 29. (Rico Swavey was 29!)

If anyone was in doubt about the continuing carnage on Nigerian roads, such misgivings must have been dispelled by the recent media reports from regulatory agencies, indicating that a staggering 106,256 Nigerians were involved in road traffic crashes between January 2019 and December 2021 alone.

According to data released by the FRSC, out of this figure, 14,773 people died in the 31,116 crashes recorded within the period. Apart from the casualty figures, about 91,483 people were said to have sustained various degrees of injury. Within the period under reference, the year 2021 witnessed the highest number of cases: a total number of 10,637 accidents involving 35,791 persons were recorded, out of which 5,101 were killed and 30,690 injured.

The foregoing are cold statistics put out by federal agencies responsible for road management. As I have stated in previous interventions, Nigeria must be one of the few countries where road users are a law unto themselves particularly with regard to the strict observance of speed limits. The FRSC to my mind has done less than little to confront this menace. And so we continue to lose precious lives so recklessly!

Better governed societies have adopted a robust system of confronting this monster by prescribing speed limits for various roads, deploying technology to monitor and enforcing the speed limits  And critically, it also includes the imposition of penalties for a breach of these which includes any or a combination of heavy monetary fines, temporary ban from driving, permanent ban, jail sentences for manslaughter occasioned by reckless driving, etc.

As a warning from 30-year experience, as a professional risk manager, qualified insurance underwriter and claims assessor, any road user driving above 120Km/Hr has an appointment with a fatal accident. It’s only a matter of time. There’re factors that increase the risk of fatal road crash: intoxicating substances, fatigue, poor vehicle maintenance, bad roads, adverse weather conditions, etc., yet, excessive speed, from empirical evidence, remains the main culprit. The old cliche is true after all; “Speed kills!”

So, as with other aspects of our national life, how long before we level up with the rest of the civilized world and act like we indeed are a serious people capable of self-governance?

To all Patrick Fakoya’s family and loved ones, may you find grace and comfort to overcome this irreparable tragedy soon. However, the best way to immortalize Rico Swavey, is to set up a ‘Responsible Road User Campaign’ so other bright Nigerian youths do not end in such tragic circumstance.

@WaleOluwade