By Nelson Amaobi Osuala
Tue 09022016. Time 02:38am
Nigerian roads have incessantly become a death trap.
Our Leaders in the corridors of power as a result only sympathize with the innocent family of the victims rather than empathize and provide pragmatic ways of prevent future occurrence of such sad incidence.
Usually the value and worth of a life lost in careless accidents as this is reduced to some few Millions of Naira..To their mind, " Money talks and we can pay them for the damages".
This is a typical example of what happens in a failed state. What a sorry pity!
Sometimes, I ask myself.. How many road accidents happen in such countries as America, Europe, and other countries in the western world? You say that those are developed countries, right?!
Let's come back home, how many road accidents occur in Ghana, Togo, Cameroun and others of our Nigerian brothers? The answer is seldomly visible or quantifiable.
My worry is in the fact that there seems to be hardly any day in this country when you will not hear of an accident.. if it is not by road, it is by Air , Rail or Sea. I can only wonder whether it is not the case that God has forsaken this Nation!
Without much ado, we are reporting a case of a fatal accident that occurred on Sunday morning, in the capital city of Ibadan along the popular Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
According to the Oyo State Sector Commander, for the Federal Road Safety Corps,(FRSC), Yusuf Salami, who allege that the accident involved an articulated vehicle and a Peugeot J5 vehicle.
Our correspondence gathered in an interview with the FRSC commander, that both vehicles were travelling to Lagos on what seems like a 'car race relay'. He added that the accident was caused by impatience, speeding and struggle for right of way.
In his words as called from Punch Newspapers:
“A Peugeot J5 with number plate, XS 626 LSV, and a DAF articulated vehicle with number plate, AA 902 MML, had an accident as both drivers were struggling for the right of the way. They were both going to Lagos when the accident happened around 9.30am on Sunday. It happened just before the campus of the Dominion University in Sepo, on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
“There were 96 people involved, with 17 confirmed dead. It is obvious that both drivers were speeding and suddenly lost control of the vehicles. The Peugeot bus was loaded with passengers and goods, but the casualty figure rose because the other vehicle was travelling to Lagos with huge number of illegal passengers.”
This is heart saddening. We plead with our Government and the Federal Road Safety Commission to develop means of arresting future occurrence of these road accidents through proper road safety legislations and enlightenment campaigns.
We sympathise with the families of the victims and pray God to grant them the fortitude to bear their loss.
Nelson Amaobi Osuala is a Blogger and the News Editor of Negroidhaven.
Very unfortunate. These are consequences of of a disorganized socio-economic system.