Nigeria has one of the highest accident rates in Africa and indeed globally, after India, according to World Health Organization (WHO) statistics. The statistics is startling at the ratio of 21.4 deaths per 100,000 population. With most accidents come not just deaths but debilitating injuries, sometimes leading to socio-economic impacts that affect the country. Property losses and damages equally form huge parts of accidents.
In the light of this, it is commendable that the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) is advocating for the establishment of a world-class Trauma Centre to help victims and their families. This initiative was announced in Abuja by the Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed, as the agency prepares to host the International Road Crash Victims Africa Conference (IRCVAC), in November.
We commend this initiative seeing that it is long overdue and would be of immense benefit as far as saving lives is concerned. No action taken to save lives can be said to be too much.
Accidents are facts of life but while efforts must be made to minimise them, potential victims and their families would greatly benefit from well-equipped and well managed trauma centres. Presently, many lives are lost because of lack of such centres across the country.
AS a matter of fact, we believe that a country like Nigeria, with her huge population and vast road networks should not be talking about just one trauma centre, but trauma centres, perhaps one in each of the six geo-political zones. These can subsequently be increased depending on research and data about accident hubs in the country.
However, while we applaud the FRSC initiative, we are skeptical about the agency’s capacity to pull off such a capital-intensive and monumentally complex project. The agency that has been saddled with the issuance of drivers’ licences as one of its core duties has so far delivered below average performance. Many applicants wait for years to collect their driver’s licenses. If that is such a herculean task for the FRSC, how feasible is this trauma centre going to be with the commission on the driver’s seat?
The commission’s personnel, who are also saddled with the responsibility of checking crucial vehicle documents like the driver’s license, vehicle registration, roadworthiness certificate, and insurance certificate as part of their mandate to ensure road safety do not seem to be on top of their game on these scores either. Not only do we have many people without vehicle particulars on our roads, vehicles that in the good old days would have been marked ‘Off Road’ are still plying our roads today, despite the presence of FRSC officials on them.
While we commend the FRSC for this idea of having a trauma centre, we believe that the commission cannot handle the project, at least for now. We therefore suggest that governments at all levels should take responsibility for the trauma centres.
Accidents need to be seen as what they are: a national emergency because every human, no matter their status, can eventually become a victim of accidents or other natural disasters that would necessitate the use of a well-equipped trauma centre or other alternative paramedic outlets.
In the meantime, let the FRSC personnel concentrate on their core duties and ensure that accident rates are drastically reduced in the country.