Road Accidents Claim 41,693 in Nigeria Annually

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
There has been an increase in road accidents in Nigeria for six consecutive years, leading the death of 41,693 annually, new statistics generated by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), World Bank and World Health Organisation has shown.

This is coming despite efforts by the government interventionist agencies including the FRSC, set up to address the menace of road crashes in the country.
The Nigeria Auto Journal published by the Nigeria Auto Journalists Association (NAJA) revealed this in its latest edition released this month (February 2023).
In the story titled, ‘High Road Crashes, Burden of a Nation’, the World Health Organisation puts the number of people killed yearly via road accidents in Nigeria at 41,693, which is 2.82 per cent of the global total.

It reported the World Bank as saying 30,800 deaths are recorded on Nigerian roads annually.
The report read in part, “Local statistics show a total of 32,617 people died in 65,053 on Nigerian roads from 2016 to 2021, as revealed by Mr. Ayobami Omiyale, a retired assistant corps marshal of the FRSC at a recent retreat by the Commission, in Lagos.

“Quoting from the FRSC official statistics, he said 5,053 lives were lost in 2016, while 5,121 and 5,181 lives were cut short in 2017 and 2018 respectively. In 2019 and 2020, about 5,483 and 5,574 lives were also lost respectively while 6,205 lives got perished in 2021.
“The National Bureau of Statistics, relying on the FRSC data, revealed that 1,834 people died in 3,345 road accidents in the country between January and March 2022.”

Although the figures from the international groups may be higher than those provided by the FRSC, the latter puts the daily average of road accidents in Nigeria at 36 with high casualties.

Chief Executive Officer, Safety Beyond Borders, Mr Patrick Adenusi, explained that many road accidents recorded in the night, especially in northern Nigeria, are hardly reported.

The FRSC Corps Marshal, Dauda Biu, attributed a recent Ojuelegba Bridge accident in Lagos, to wrongful overtaking and excessive speeding by the truck driver. Nine people including two children died in the crash in which a truck carrying a container fell on a commercial bus.

The FRSC and NBS also listed factors responsible for road crashes as light/sign violations, dangerous driving, tyre burst, brake failures, route violation and bad roads.

Segun Ogungbemide, Lagos Sector Commander of the FRSC, tries to exonerate the Corps from the rising road crashes, saying they only have the capacity to address only 16 per cent of the problem.

“The one that will give more impact is to keep policies and regulations in place to prevent the crashes from happening,” Ogungbemide stated.

But the report notes that Road Marshals, Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) and Highway Police as well as state traffic law enforcers are no longer as effective as they used to be.