The last three months of the year are usually when death reaps the most harvest on Nigerian roads. The goriest of these months is December when Christmas is in sight and the drivers of commercial vehicles drive like they were bent on keeping appointments with death. They sometimes do and because of this, many families spend the Christmas season in sorrow. These drivers believe they have a licence to kill and maim. Most often, when an accident occurs and they escape, they are soon back again on the road, armed with their licence. They are armed and dangerous but there is no price on their heads. That was why many families have been mourning every Christmas season.
Osuntokun, a final year law student at the University of Lagos, was very precious to his parents, larger family, friends and his peers at the university. He was diligent, industrious and had his future before him. He would have graduated but for the incessant disruptions of academic calendars in the past few years. Of course, his family was happy that finally, UNILAG had settled down to more predictable academic business. So great was the hope that Osuntokun would soon write his final exams by February that year – and therefore – become one Nigeria’s newly minted learned gentlemen. This was not to be. He, instead, went to a vigil at a Pentecostal Church in Bariga, Lagos, on Friday, December 5, 2003. In the wee hours of the following morning, he boarded a danfo bus to Ibadan. By 9.30am when he was brought to Adeoyo Hospital, Ibadan, the doctor certified him dead. An eagle had been shot down in mid-flight.
Preliminary police reports indicated that the bus suffered a burst in one of its rear tyres as it approached Guru Maharaji Camp near tool gate in Ibadan. The driver lost control and the bus somersaulted. The immediate result was the two bodies in the mortuary, including that of Osuntokun, who was buried in Ibadan. The second body could not be identified because it had no identification card. The family of the man would be waiting for him to join them, uncertain of his fate.
The fate of road users in Nigeria is uncertain, and danger could leap at you from any corner. It could be a gully on newly tarred road, as it was on many newly constructed roads in different parts of the country. It could be a gang of bandits, unknown gunmen , kidnappers or armed robbers waiting at the next corner, especially where the roads are bad and even flying drivers are forced to crawl. It could be an angry policeman at the checkpoint. But the most prolific killers on our roads are the drivers who are not roadworthy.
In 1992, I had boarded a commercial vehicle in Lagos to take me to Ibadan. As was the practice, one of the lords of the Mile 2, one of Lagos’ most notorious motor parks, had collected fares from the passengers. After this, the driver moved in to take over the steering, with the near-majesty of a Saddam Hussein. It was only then that I realised that he was the same person I saw smoking hemp by the roadside near the park. I came down and insisted on a refund of my fare. Can we really tell the percentage of commercial vehicle drivers plying our roads today who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol?
It is time the various government in Nigeria did something about the roadworthiness of Nigerian drivers. It is time we shifted emphasis from the roadworthiness of vehicles to drivers. I agree that we need to look at vehicles, but it takes a mad driver to take certain kinds of vehicles out, especially those which are veritable moving coffins. I agree with those who are of the opinion that certain categories of drivers need psychiatric medical check up. I think this should not be restricted to those who are accused of traffic offences. It should be compulsory for all drivers, especially drivers of commercial buses. This is so because 90 percent of accidents on our highways, especially those that cause fatalities, often involve drivers of commercial vehicles.
I suggest that this should be tackled in three ways. First, government should get more involved in the retraining of commercial drivers. This training should not just be about handling vehicles, but also about reaching to their basic humanity, if only to have them understand the irreplaceable nature of human lives. The training should involve their unions, especially the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), and the National Union of Petroleum, Energy and Gas (NUPENG) Workers. Second, the government needs to take more interest in road transport. It is futile now to ask government to get involved in the business, for we know that almost every government business in Nigeria is a black hole for corruption. But the government should still find a way of encouraging serious-minded people to get involved in the business. Third, the government needs to get more serious about enforcing its own laws.
The lawless road users in Nigeria, even worse than Molue drivers those days in Lagos, are the drivers to top government officials. To be in their entourage is to have an express view of living hell. If you don’t leave their path as they are flying past, blaring sirens and their bodyguards waving automatic weapons, you may find your way into the exclusive middle ground between the hospital and the mortuary. Few years ago in Lagos, members of a deputy-governor’s entourage killed a young lady, a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). As far as they were concerned, the officials were doing their duty and the corps member was a collateral damage. Where else on earth could this happen in a democracy except in Nigeria?
So, in Nigeria, we have the evil triad of bad roads, bad vehicles and bad drivers acting in concert as weapons of mass destruction. It is time for the federal and state government take action on all our roads, especially some of the worst federal roads that are now deadly death trap to commuters. Though, it may be too late for those that lost their lives and their grieving relatives and friends, but it may help save some lives as the Christmas season is fast approaching again.
