ROAD SAFETY AND THE DAUNTING TASK OF CRASH REDUCTION: THE JOURNEY SO FAR - By Adakoriko Adaviriku Dumaza

Nigeria

Road Safety has taken the centre stage to become a contemporary subject of global discourse, but the phenomenon is yet to receive the expected attention it deserves in many developing countries of the world, when compared with other national priorities. In the last two (2) decades, road traffic crashes and injuries have emerged to be a public health concern and a major issue for policy and decision all over the world.

The direct and long term effects are negative on the general development of countries. From 2016 to date, Africa for instance remains the region with the highest road traffic deaths (26.6 per 100,000 populations). With its population of 1,307 billion, about 650 deaths occur on Africa’s roads thereby slowing down the Gross Domestic Product of the region as the most hit is the productive manpower of the region involving youths of 15 to 29 years.

In Nigeria, the total deaths recorded from HIV/AIDS and Malaria is surpassed by the number of fatalities recorded by road traffic crashes within a specified timeline. Much bothersome is the continuous attendant loss of an estimated three (3%) percent of the Annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and one percent (1%) of the Gross National Product (GNP) of the country to Road Traffic Crashes. With this background, Road Traffic Crashes and the far-reaching effects required an approach that is systematic in nature to ameliorate, then stabilize the situation to ensure that all road users and the road system delivers a desired level of safety in the country.

Nigeria is one of the few African countries that has leveraged on some road safety principles and have recorded remarkable progress in road safety administration and management despite a ‘gloomy’ beginning. The road safety situation in Nigeria was so deplorable that the World Health Organisation once described the country as ‘worst in the world to travel on’ only next to Ethiopia.

That narrative changed through government’s efforts by establishing the Federal Road Safety Commission as the Lead Agency to guarantee safety on every centimetre of Nigeria’s expansive road network of 204,000km. This establishment was done ten years prior to United Nations recommendation for all member states to establish agencies directly situated under the central government for ease of unfretted operation.

The vision behind the establishment of the Federal Road Safety Corps which is to eradicate Road Traffic Crashes on Nigeria roads is based on the premise that road crashes are caused and highly preventable. Over the last three decades or more, and arising from the above statistics of deaths, injuries and damage to properties, can Nigerians confidently posit that the Federal Road Safety Corps has made policies and embarked upon programmes and activities that are in harmony and consistent with global best practices on Road Traffic Administration and Safety Management? Can we possibly say that the paramilitary outfit has achieved its statutory mandate of eradicating Road Traffic Crashes on Nigerian roads? Can the FRSC be said to have educated the motoring public enough? Have they been able to entrench safe road use culture into drivers in Nigeria? Answers to these and many more questions on Road Safety will give us a sense of direction as to whether or not the 18 February, 1988 proclamation  by the Military administration of President Ibrahim Babangida has actually saved the lives it was established to save.

There is no gain saying that from available records, the FRSC has played a critical role in changing the narratives and entrenching safe road use culture on our roads through vast policies and programmes that have seen crashes dwindle from an alarming rate to a negligible level. This achievement became possible because the Corps has been quite fortunate in quality leadership since its establishment.

Successive leaders have been dreamers who lived their dreams practically to the fullest such that country road safety has been practised in line with global best adaptive forms.

When in 1988, the Federal Government of Nigeria established the FRSC to curb the menace of road crashes in the country with Professor Wole Soyinka as the first Chairman, the present day Corps Marshal, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi was a pioneer member of the group who blazed the trail to set up what is now known as the lead agency on road safety in the whole of Africa. The trajectory of his career as a road safety pioneer member from the day of the Agency’s conception till this present date are the very factors that have shaped him as an all-rounder in road safety management and administration with a firm and fair handling of goal-oriented affairs as the Corps Marshal today.

Upon his assumption of office as Corps Marshal, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi alongside his team of management designed and implemented programmes of action to advance the growth of the Corps in all ramifications, with the aim of trending down road crashes and fatality rate.

The following are not limited to the achievements recorded from 2014 to date: the Corps under his leadership has continually trended down road crashes and fatality rates on yearly bases; the signage plant for road furniture was established within the space of 2014 till date, under his leadership; the Corps set up an initiative to curb the rate of road crashes occasioned by articulated vehicles in a programme titled, “Safe to Load”; in compliance with the Presidential Order on Ease of Doing Business, more Drivers Licence Centres were established to ease the stress encountered by applicants; the Corps established more outposts and ambulance points; the Corps established a National Road Safety Advisory Council (NaRSAC) which is directly under the Office of the Vice President with a Secretariat at the FRSC National Headquarters.

The Federal Road Safety Corps partnered other West African Countries to replicate the Corps’ experience in the sub-region and to establish a road safety agency in those places, an instance is that of Sierra Leone Government who sent representatives to understudy the Corps and request that the Corps send its operatives to help their government grow a road safety agency; the Corps strengthened inter-agency cooperation which occasioned data sharing between National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), and Banks in Nigeria; the Corps was declared by World Bank as the best example of a lead agency on road safety in Africa; Registration of fleet operators under the Road Transport Safety Standardization Scheme (RTSSS), which regulates the operations of all fleet operators having minimum of five vehicles; a total of 6,791 operators were expected and 4,456 certified as at 2016; the Corps reviewed the Driving School Standardization Programme where unique codes are generated for applicants in Driving Schools, with the Corps on the know every step of the way, thereby eliminating sharp practices among driving school operators.

Other achievements are training of Federal Government drivers across MDAs as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR in 2016; Upgrade of the FRSC Academy to a degree awarding institution so the Corps can continually sustain its vibrancy and leadership in Africa and beyond;  established FRSC National Traffic Radio as a means of better outreach to the public on road safety; the Corps reduced response time of FRSC personnel to crash scenes from 40 minutes to 15 minutes, and has since sustained the tempo of performance in this regard.

The Corps flagged off Child Restraint campaign; officially flagged off Tyre Campaign to stem the influx of fake and expired tyres into the Country and to sensitize the Nation on how to identify fake tyres; the Corps, together with Standards Organization of Nigeria, implemented the use of Speed Limiting Device, with a massive sensitization campaign on the initiative underway before the full implementation.

The Corps organized a recertification programme for tanker/trailer drivers nationwide occasioned by constant crashes; training of tyre mechanics (vulcanizers) on the right amount of inflation for tyres. The training was aimed at eliminating; the Corps unveiled project 20,000 staff Housing Scheme planned for Staff of the Corps across the country to own a house; the Corps inaugurated a board of FRSC Post-Service Scheme (PSS) to help members of the Corps save for retirement even before the retirement benefit/pension arrives; the Corps experienced high International recognition of Nigerian Drivers Licence and reciprocity with several European Nations and the United States of

On the International Scene, the Corps focused on meeting its national road safety obligations as well as attaining global road safety targets as encapsulated in the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020) and the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Part of the achievement recorded in aligning with global best practice is the accession to a total of Six (6) United Nations Road Safety Conventions by President Muhammadu Buhari.