With over 39,000 Nigerians dying in road accidents annually, organised labour has tasked the Federal Government to urgently provide solutions to end the incessant carnage on the nation’s roads.

Secretary-general of the National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers (NUTGTWN), Issa Aremu, lamented that Nigeria today qualifies as an unofficial global capital of “road accidents.z”

Speaking during a condolence visit to the Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ) Kaduna State Council on the death of its former Treasurer and Secretary, Dominic Uzu, Aremu said every year, in the 2018 Global Status Report on Road Safety, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated road traffic fatalities in Nigeria at 39,802, while the estimated rate per 100,000 deaths stood at 21.4.

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He stated that Nigeria losses more humans on road accidents than 11,310 deaths reported in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone due to Ebola epidemic.

He said, “We must halt this road-terrorism, or better still road virus called accident. An accident is defined as happening “unexpected” or “unplanned”. But according to the Zaria Unit Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Abubakar Murabus-Tata, the accident which killed Dominic was as a result of over-speeding, involving two vehicles, (a DAF truck and a Toyota Hiace commercial bus) and bad roads (potholes).

“Most  roads are unmotorable. Drivers are reckless and often our road safety officials are not on duty. When accidents prove addictive as they are in Nigeria, they are no more “accidental”. Addictive accidents mean incidents for which the governments at all levels must be held accountable.  These “accidents” are certainly not inevitable.