That fearless muscular man who insists there is absolutely nothing that would make him succumb to fear, traveling on the Nigerian roads would certainly become his worst night mare.




And you can't blame him would you? Accidents news stories are everywhere and every day. With the rampant blogs (increasing everyday) spreading on the Nigerian cyber space horizon, making Road Accidents stories viral is kid’s stuffs.


I asked a popular blogger recently on why he loves the idea of posting gruesome and abhorrent road accidents photos on his blog, he explained that they gain more traffic on his blog; most Nigerians just view them, express self-pity; occasional crocodile tears, and
then move on to the next news story, he noted.


Travelers are mostly the unfortunate ones. Despite paying a rather gigantic fee for tickets, they are not guaranteed of a safe trip. The drivers, most of them under the influence of alcohol, ply the roads in the sinister of methods- it’s like they want the accident to happen.


Still on the drivers, many of the public road transport systems in Nigeria have few learned and experienced drivers who are capable of handling the cumbersome task of driving on a secondary road. Even more appealing, the few are too old and frail to handle such task.

The system are mostly flooded with inexperienced drivers, who never attended a decent driving school, and are always guided by alcohol.


With the influx of inexperienced drivers aforementioned in the system, most of the drivers are forced beyond their limits by the system itself.


My recent visit to a popular road transport company in North Central of the federation backs up my claim- The vehicles were in good shape, but the drivers were, sadly not.


A high percentage of the drivers were asked to embark on a new journey after just returning from one. For example, a driver returning from a hectic 14-hours trip from Lagos to Kogi, would be asked to return back to lagos the next day, and then drive down to Kogi the following day. Similar cases like this were observed.


Majority of the drivers don’t hesitate to express their abysmal to this, but are never given an audience, then with no choice embark on the journey despite feeling a lot fatigued- and you wonder why we have accident cases every day?


A driver in one of the systems who pleaded for anonymity in this article, told me he would have resigned, but due to his educational standards and a family of three to cater for, he’s left with no choice.


He went on to express his disgust to the treatment he receives daily at work, saying in the popular pidgin language that he is asked to do more than he can handle. He risks his life daily to make money, if you don’t work for hours you won’t get paid, he stated.


In this agenda to annihilate the recurring road accidents, everybody shares a responsibility.


The Government must pay attention to the dilapidated roads in the country, in fairness; calling them ‘roads’ is actually too mainstream. They are better referred to as Death channels; morgue; cemetery; Die in this place; add yours.

The drivers even play a deeper role.

Overspeeding and reckless driving should be avoided at all costs; the mentality of being the only sane human-being driving should be implanted. Only certified road users should ply the roads, especially the highways which are referred to as Secondary roads in my vocabulary.


The Security agency has its own part in this. The popular Benin-Ore expressway has been a culprit of fatal road crashes, citing the mishap that took place in April 2013, where over 100 innocent souls were burnt beyond recognition- April was later recorded as one of the worst accident months in the history of road crashes in Nigeria. Atleast 200 souls lost their lives.


Road Users are mostly on high-speed when they drive on it, and that culminates to reckless driving. When asked why they drive in such lackluster manner, they explained they use such dreadful method to avoid robbery situations.


If everybody performs and acts in the rightful manner, Road Accidents could become a thing of the past. Happy New Year.


@femi4arsenal

Culled