Emeka
Ibemere
Do you know that many Nigerians are not aware
of the responsibility of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC)?
Do you also know that a tiny 20% percent of
drivers have valid drivers’ licences?
Are you aware that Nigerians report accident
cases to the Nigerian Police rather than to the FRSC, whose duty it is to
oversees accident cases in the country?
If you are not aware, then read this report
from CLEEN foundation, an NGO, which promotes public safety, security and
justice through empirical research and legislative advocacy, demonstrative
programmes and publications in partnership with government and civil society
group.
In the group’s public presentation of survey
finding on road safety and Accident in Nigeria held at the CLEEN foundation
Resource Centre: 21 Akinsanya Street Ojodu, Berger, Lagos State, on 18
December, 2013, Nengak Daniel Gondyi, Programme Manager said the report was
compiled after rigorous and timeless research. He said the essence was to
sensitize Nigerians on the crazy ending of ‘ember months’ on what causes
accidents on the Nigerian roads and how to be safe driving and using the roads
during after the yuletide.
According to the report made available to
Daily Newswatch, despite the fact that FRSC are responsible for effective
monitoring of roads accidents, there are no certain degree of trust, support
and confidence by the Nigerian population on it. The reported stated that in
view of fact that the FRSC has worked among Nigerian road users in its 30 years
of existence, the perception of Nigerians about the Commission was very poor,
especially in the areas of their jurisdiction. “As an indicator of prevention,
citizens were asked how effective they thought the FRSC was in reducing road
accident and fatalities in the country”, the report stated.
“A large number, 7 in 10 Nigerians (70%)
rated the FRSC as ‘ineffective’; nearly a third (27%) was of the view that the
FRSC was “effective” while 3% were undecided”. According to the report,
“although the Federal Road Safety Commission is the main agency mandated to
ensure safety and swift response to accidents on the roads; our survey showed
that Nigerians were inclined to reporting accidents to the police rather than
FRSC”. It says further that that whereas 38% of the victims of road accidents
reported their experience to the police, only 23%, reported to the FRSC.
In spite of the higher figures reported to
the police, findings of the survey revealed that many road accidents are still
unreported. Only less than 4 in every 10 respondents (38%) who actually
suffered road accident reported to the police; this means that 60% of road
accidents are not reported to the police. When compared with the 2012 survey,
there was a slight improvement on the reported 37% reported to the police. It
was further revealed also, that the highest reported cases of road accidents to
police officials were recorded in Sokoto (80%), Adamawa (77%), and Yobe (76%)
while Kwara and Akwa-Ibom both recorded least with 11% each followed by FCT
with 13%.
“Comparatively, only a little above 2 in
every 10 (23%) incidences of road accident in Nigeria are reported to the FRSC;
this then means nearly 80% of accidents are not reported to the FRSC. This
figure ranged from Sokoto (47%), Adamawa (46%) and Kebbi (43%) being the states
which led in the reporting to the FRSC, while states like Kastina and Ebonyi
recorded 0% each and were followed by Bayelsa and Kwara with 7% each, being the
lowest”, the report said. “When measured against the 2012 survey, the reporting
rate of road accident to the FRSC still remained unchanged at 23%. It is
interesting to note that Sokoto state led both in reporting to the Police as
well as to the FRSC”. Furthermore, it was noted that victims of road accidents
tended to report either to the Police (38%) or to the FRSC (23%), but an
average of both institutions showed that only about 31% of road accident
incidences are reported to the authorities in Nigeria by 2013. Why 69% of
victims opt not to file reports remains unclear but it negatively impacts on
the road safety efforts of both the police and the FRSC.
“Nearly 1 in 2 Nigerians (48%) were of the
view that they were likely to be made to pay a bribe (that is offer money,
beside any official levies or charges), when they approach the FRSC to get help
or services. Almost an equal number (45%) disagreed and uphold that they were
unlikely to have to pay bribes to the FRSC. Evidently, Nigerians seem undecided
on the likelihood of demand for bribe by the FRSC”, the report revealed.
“Besides the likelihood to pay bribe, 1 in 5
Nigerian (20%) have had actual experience of being asked to pay bribes by the
FRSC before official services could be rendered to them in the past 12 months.
While this is a worrying statistic, it is indeed a drop from the 26% demand for
bribe reported in 2012”. The report also said that across the country, the
demand for bribe by the FRSC officials was not evenly spread out. It said: “the
most severe instances were recorded in Adamawa (67%), Ogun (60%), Ebonyi and
Edo (50%), Anambra (47%), Kebbi (45%), Kano (44%), Imo (42%), which were more
than twice the national average of 20%. The lowest incidences were recorded in
Bauchi”.
Despite every day accidents on the country’s
road, the report stated that Nigerians feel safe on the road. According to
Daniel who read the report, “it varied from the overwhelming 91% perception of
safety in Cross River State to the alarming 25% in Yobe State with a national
average of 75% - that is 3 out of 4 Nigerians felt safe on the roads”, he said,
adding that “the case of Yobe is peculiar since its 25% does not come near the
next state, Kebbi which polled 59%. A trend analysis revealed that the 75%
perception of safety in Nigeria is not news; Nigerians reported 71% in 2010,
76% in 2011 and then a momentary dip to 74% in 2012”. “When disaggregated by
road type, we found that more Nigerian, 1 in 3 Nigerians (or 31%) felt unsafe
on the expressways while as low as 8% felt unsafe on street lanes. This
suggests that long journey on the express are more dangerous than shorter
journeys on the streets”.
Daniel said considering the report of carnage
on Nigerian roads, there were good reasons to worry that the high perception of
safety on the road was in fact a concession of fatalism and acceptance of fate
rather than the assurance of having accident-free road trips.
“Therefore regardless of this verdict of
safety on the roads, there is need for further studies into patterns of road
usage and safety in Nigeria”, he quipped. And for those who are afraid on the
roads here what the report said.
According to the report, those who confessed
feeling unsafe on the roads, the survey probed into why they feel unsafe and
discovered that the main causes of unsafe were: bad roads, speed, traffic
congestion, lack of pedestrian walkways and finally lack of zebra crossings and
pedestrian bridges.
“To better understand the drivers of unsafe,
we disaggregated the top 2 factors, namely bad roads and speed of traffic by
states and found that an overwhelming majority of Yobe State residents (81%)
were most concerned about the state of bad roads in the state. Recall that only
25% of residents of Yobe had reported feeling safe on the road”, the report
added. “Furthermore, only 11% were worried about bad road in Cross River state
where 91% had reported feeling safe on the roads. This then averages to a 37%
concern over bad roads as a factor of being unsafe in Nigeria”.
He also said that in terms of traffic speed,
the national average was 38; this he said implies that on a scale, Nigerians
are more concerned about speed of traffic than about state of bad roads. “This
concern is worst in Abia State, where there is a near unanimous concern over
speed of traffic shared by 92% to Zamfara State where only 9% were concerned
about speed of traffic”.
The Chief
programme officer said when his team asked people to suggest solutions to make
roads safer in Nigeria; he claimed that some respondents pointed out the need
to repair the roads and to install streetlights as the most crucial. He said:
“other suggestions included installation of speed breakers and reduction of
speed as well as removal of hawkers from the streets. For other suggestions which
would improve road safety but which are not tied on the quality of roads,
respondents suggested better training for both learners and for qualified
drivers; deployment of measures to reduce traffic speed as well as more public
campaigns and improved enforcement of traffic regulations”.
Daniel stated in the report that over all key
issue in road safety as suggested by most respondents in the field was a far
reaching and comprehensive reforms to ensure safety on the roads and that the
fast speed of traffic and the bad quality of roads constitute a bulk of their
concerns.
The report also shows the patterns of road
accidents in Nigeria and said particular roads are prone to accidents,
“From our dataset, we are in position to shed
more light on the trends and patterns of road accidents as observed by
Nigerians in 2013. Abinitio, we asked respondents to share their views on
whether they felt that the roads in their communities were prone to accidents”,
he said.
“Across board, an average of 42% of Nigerians
saw the roads as prone to accident; this figure ranged from the highest figures
of 78% in Adamawa State, 73% in Nassarawa and Delta States to the lowest
figures of 20% in Osun and 17% in Jigawa State”.
It was included that in terms of actual
experience of accidents, it was however discovered that the national average
was 10%; which means that 1 in every 10 Nigerians is a survivor or victim of
road accidents in Nigeria.
“While majority of states where within 5
percentage points above or below the national average, we saw exceedingly
worrying results from a number of states. On the extreme, more than 1 in 4
(26%) residents of Kogi State are victims of road accidents. Kogi is closely
followed by 25% in Bauchi State and 24% in neighbouring Gombe State and 23% in the
FCT and 21% in neighbouring Nassarawa State.”, he added. “The lowest figures
were 6% in Oyo, Osun, Sokoto and Kastina and finally a 5% in Lagos State. The
“twinning effect” in which neighbouring states share similar road accident
patterns comes out between Bauchi and Gombe, FCT and Nassarawa and also between
Kano and Kaduna States. This suggests that remedial measures in such pairs of
states need to be coordinated and synchronised”.
The report revealed that there was a
particular trend analysis of road accidents in Nigeria which is very helpful.
According to Daniel, there was 1% drop from 11% in 2012, to 10% in 2013. But he
added that across a 4-year grid, there were possibilities of nearly a 50%
consistent drop from the 18% recorded in 2010, to the present 10%.
“In terms of degree of damage, 60% of the
accident cases were serious – this included the 46% where serious injuries or
vehicular damages were reported and the 14% of the accidents which were fatal.
Our data suggests that while the frequency of accidents is down by 1% from
2012, the gravity of the accidents is up by 2% as the 60% cases of serious
accidents recorded in 2013 were more than the 58% in 2012”, Daniel stated.
“Calibrating the accidents by time, we found
that no part of the day was significantly accident free. 32% of accidents occur
in the morning, 35% in the afternoon and the remaining 33% occurred at night.
It is possible to theorise that while accident response must be made available
at all times, victims of accidents at night are particularly more vulnerable as
they are less likely to receive the aid of fellow road users and passers-by
that might be available during the day”.
The disturbing aspect of the report was on
the use of valid drivers’ licences and the skills of drivers. The survey
revealed that only 13% of Nigerians drive with drivers’ licences on the roads.
The CLEEN foundation report stated.
“To determine the average skills drivers have
in Nigeria and to measure compliance with national regulation on the use of
drivers’ licences, we found that across Nigeria in 2013, only 13% of all
motorists had valid driver’s licences”, the report further stated. “Meagre as
this figure might be, it is still a percentage drop from the 14% reported in
2012. When disaggregated across States, we found that only 1% of motorist in
Zamfara had valid driver’s licence, 4% in Kastina, and 6% Kano. Anambra had the
highest valid driver’s licence with 22%, followed by Abia (19%), Ekiti (18%),
FCT and Edo scored 17% each”.
It was reported that throughout the country,
it shows clearly that nearly 80% of those who drive; do so without valid
drivers’ licences.
CLEEN foundation says Nigerians should not
assume that drivers who hold valid licences are actually well trained. No!
“Only slightly over 1 in 2 drivers (55%) did
go through a driving test before the licence was issued to them. This means
that 45% of holders of valid drivers’ licences were not tested before being
issued licences”, the Group said in their report. “Across states, 100% of
respondents in Zamfara who had licences also went through testing. Zamfara was
followed by Cross River (96%) and Edo (85%). On the bottom, we have Yobe (26%),
Kebbi (25%), and Delta (17%).
Continuing, the report says Zamfara State
presents an interesting puzzle: “although only 1% of drivers posses valid
licences which suggests high disregard for traffic laws and regulation; all
those who do possess the licences actually went through testing before
receiving them which suggests universal compliance with the law”.
On the use of the seat belts, the group
stated that despite the fact that the use of seat belt is a valuable indicator
of road users’ own safety consciousness that 14% of Nigerians comply with the
order. “We found that only 14% of the respondents across the country use seat
belt “often” or “fairly regularly” when driving while another 14% said they
“occasionally” use seat belt. On the other hand, 72% said they “hardly” or
“never” use seat belt when driving”, the report continued. “Aggregating those
who used the seat belt every time or fairly regularly, we found that the use of
seat belt is highest in states like Benue 41%, Bauchi 38% and Yobe 33%, while
state like Ogun and Sokoto scored 3% each and Abia 2% were on the bottom rung.
Osun and Zamfara state both scored 0% each which means none of the drivers
interviewed in the state used the seat belt either every time or fairly
regularly”.
It was also revealed in the report that
engaging in unnecessary race challenge by overtaking one another among drivers
led to accidents. According to the researchers, the race among drivers is very
common and is a common cause of accidents. “As much as 73% of drivers admitted
participating in these races occasionally, while 5% admitted to doing it
often/always. Other practices included underestimating the speed of on-coming
vehicles when overtaking; 66% of respondents admitted to having done this
occasionally at some point while driving and another 7% said they do it
often/always”. “Driving on the wrong side of the road (e.g. one way or on
dedicated bus lanes) is another common practice; 77% of respondents reported
this behaviour either occasionally, often or always when driving. But not all
observed behaviours are dangerous and accident prone, 35% of surveyed drivers
often or always stop for pedestrians to cross while another 44% do so
sometimes”, the report stated.
CLEEN foundation also reported that abuse of
alcohol is a leading cause of accidents across the globe and has been
identified as a leading traffic offence committed by drivers.
According to the survey, it was gathered that
absence of a robust system for testing level of alcohol consumption by drivers
in Nigeria is a not healthy. “We resorted to self reportage to determine the
frequency of this practice by asking drivers how often they consume alcoholic
beverages before driving. 72% of surveyed drivers in the rural areas and 74% in
the urban areas reported that they “sometimes” consume alcohol before driving
while another 5% (both rural and urban) said they do this “often/always”; the
report stated.
“Only a total of 22% of respondents in the
rural areas and 21% in the urban reported that they “hardly” do this. Obviously
the trend of alcohol consumption among drivers is a common phenomenon in both
rural and urban areas of Nigeria and there are at the moment no easy ways of
enforcing the regulation against the abuse of alcohol among drivers and
passengers do not have the means to know the level of intoxication of a driver
before embarking on a journey”.
In all the report, FRSC’s Ibrahim
Ablduraheem, sector Head and Public Relations Service confirmed all the reports
stated by the CLEEN foundation. Journalists who were in attendance fired
questions on the methodology in conducting the research. But Shola Moses PSI of
the foundation while speaking on the methodology in reaching at the reports
said that the study employed, investigation and research methodology and it was
designed to ensure that its findings adequately reflect the perceptions of
Nigerians.
“The population sample consisted of 11,518
Nigerians equally distributed among male and female adults aged 18 years and
above from all the 36 States in the country and the Federal Capital
Territory. The data collection method
employed was the household survey involving face-to-face personal
interviews. Respondents were selected
through a stratified multi-stage random sampling procedure in order to achieve
a representative sample. Respondents
must have lived in the selected household for a period of not less than six
months.
The fieldwork for the survey was conducted by
Practical Sampling International (PSI), a reputed research company with a wide
experience in quantitative research in the country from June - July 2013 ”, he
said.
“CLEEN Foundation employed monitors to
observe the conduct of the field work as an initial quality control
measure. The data processing was done in
collaboration with DC Pro-Data Consult Limited with supervision by the CLEEN
Foundation research team. Data entry,
cleaning and analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences
(SPSS)”. The group recommends the following suggestions to improve road safety
in Nigeria.
“To check the abuse of alcohol by drivers on
the roads, we recommend the deployment of breath analysers on strategic points
on our expressways. The FRSC and other law enforcement officials on road
patrols should be equipped with such devices to check drivers and enforce the
laws where deviation is observed. All public bus parks should be equipped with
breath analysers to check and ensure that only sober drivers are allowed to
leave such parks”.
Also, they recommend that national audit of
road availability and quality by state to be established. The group said such
an audit will show clearly the types of roads available to commuters and their
current state of repairs and thus better update road repairs and management
efforts of all government departments.
CLEEN also calls for installation of speed
breakers in residential and congested neighbourhood. According to them, the
installation of well-designed speed breakers in busy communities would ensure
that drivers reduce speed and thus allow for pedestrians to move about with
greater ease.
Another suggestion according to the CLEEN was
the installation of ICT devises to check speed: “There is need to deploy motion
detectors, cameras and other modern ICT devices along major highways to alert
authorities on drivers’ over speeding and allow for the erring driver to be
apprehended and disciplined”.
According to the Group, installation of
pedestrian bridges and zebra crossing would help and that there was need to
ensure that pedestrian crossing spots are installed and clearly marked in
residential and commercial zones.
“There is need for the standardization of drivers instruction process in
Nigeria with driving schools registered and regulated to ensure that all new
drivers are imparted the same amount of training and are adjudged fit to drive
by the authorities before being issued with driving licences”, the group
recommended.
“There is need for improved sensitization,
collaboration between the FRSC and all sections of society to pass the message
of safety on Nigerian roads”.
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