The Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Police Force, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, has revealed that the avoidable road accidents in Nigeria actually kill more innocent citizens than insecurity based on the records available to the police.
The FPRO added that he will later release statistics that reveal the rate at which Nigerians die in road crashes.
The FPRO stated this on Wednesday while responding to an X user who told him to tell the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, who was attending the World Police Summit in Dubai, UAE, to observe the organisation of police stations in Dubai and the absence of accidents and seized vehicles.
In his response, Adejobi wrote, “Stations littered with accident(ed) and seized vehicles are not the fault of the police. It’s a legal matter and, in most cases, the reckless nature of some Nigerian drivers.
“In Dubai, they are not reckless on the road, and you can’t drive in Dubai without being certified and licenced. This is common in Nigeria.
“The citizens comply and respect the law in Dubai. Many of us in Nigeria deliberately disregard and disobey the law.
“They don’t record many road crashes as we do here and be guided that the police can’t dispose of these vehicles without a court order. The process is cumbersome.
“Note again that the rate at which we kill ourselves through road crashes is alarming. I know, and based on records we keep, that road crashes claim more lives of innocent Nigerians than the acclaimed insecurity sagas in the country.
He wrote, “I will soon release the figures, and you can see how we lose innocent Nigerians to road crashes.
“Road crashes happen everywhere, but we record avoidable crashes in Nigeria more than any other country because we are often reckless on the road, we drive without licences and deliberately violate traffic laws.
“I lost 2 people to a reckless crash in a day. My dad and his olori. Just because a commercial car drove against the traffic along Ibadan/Ife road, at Gbongan Junction, in Osun State. And many have various experiences. We need to think and campaign against reckless driving and crashes in Nigeria.”
