32,617 lives lost to road accidents in 6 years — FRSC

A total of 32,617 persons lost their lives to road traffic crashes in Nigeria from 2016 to 2021, resulting in 65,053 accidents across the country.

Mr Ayobami Omiyade, Assistant Federal Road Safety Corps Marshal (retd), disclosed this while speaking at a retreat at the agency’s zonal office in Ojodu, Lagos,  yesterday.

Speaking at the retreat, entitled “Promotion of strategic partnership for innovating road safety intervention in Lagos and Ogun states: Zone RS2 Lagos View Point,”  Omiyade said 200,784 people were also injured in the accidents during the period.

According to the statistics, 5,053 lives were lost in 2016, while 5,121 and 5,181 lives were lost in 2017 and 2018 respectively. In 2019 and 2020, about 5,483 and 5,574 lives were also lost respectively while  6,205 died in 2021 which accounted for the highest accident rates and loss of lives.

He also disclosed that combined road traffic crashes statistics for Zone RS2 comprising Lagos and Ogun showed that 449 and 574 lives were lost in 2020 and 2021 respectively within the zone.

Oyemale noted that the FRSC was established in 1988 to mitigate the high preponderance of road traffic crashes and attendant injuries/fatalities in the country using enforcement of road traffic rules and regulations, traffic control, public enlightenment on the proper use of the highways, and conducting researches into causes of road traffic crash and ways of mitigating them while putting into use the result of such researchers, among others.

He, however, pointed out that since its inception till date the FRSC has been striving to fulfil this statutory mandate, adding that “unfortunately, some agencies such as World Bank do not agree to the acclaimed success of FRSCin the reduction of crashes and fatalities in Nigeria.

For example, he said: “While the FRSC recorded 5,122 fatalities in 2017, the World Health Organisation, WHO, rerecorded for Nigeria 37,562 road fatalities in the same years”

He noted that the vision of the agency is to eradicate road traffic crashes and create a safe motoring environment in the country disclosed that the agency’s 2022 corporate strategic goal are to accomplish a 15 per cent reduction n road traffic fatality, enhance road safety partnership for innovative intervention as well as consolidate on the road traffic Data system for improved road safety policy formulation.

On the way forward, Omiyale recommended that other critical stakeholders should be engaged and involved in the strategic implementation of the road safety intervention processes such as the Nigeria Medical Association, Nigerian Air Force, Civil Defence, states traffic management agencies, and local government chairmen, among others.