24th August, 2011
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), according to a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dele Adesina, will discuss among other issues of national importance, the deplorable condition of Nigerian roads during the ongoing national conference in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, which have become death traps following an outright neglect by government at all levels.
Adesina, who was the guest lecturer at the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) Annual General Meeting with a theme: “Medical Practice and Law” in Abeokuta today, condemned the condition of most of Nigerian public utilities,especially roads, saying they become death traps as a result of long year neglect.
He said governments, at all levels, despite all taxes generated from vulnerable working population, have failed in their responsibilities to provide well constructed and hazard free roads that would be devoid of accidents and other road mishaps.
He declared that the Nigerian Bar Association would look into the deplorable condition of Nigerian roads which have claimed hundreds of lives, especially Lagos-Ibadan road which he regarded as the busiest, but most neglected road in Nigeria as well as the Abuja-Kaduna road.
He implored state governments to join hands with the Federal Government dualise and rehabilitate roads in order to reduce carnage on Nigerian roads which he said, claims an average of five persons daily.
Adesina urged state governments to stop using roads categorisation as an excuse for not fixing bad ones, since any road that falls under the territory of any state government belongs to it and should be taken care of .
” I don’t believe in useless categorisation of roads as being Federal, State or Local, once a road falls under one government territory, I think that government should be held responsible,” he said.
He urged Oyo, Ogun and Lagos state governments to find lasting solution to Lagos-Ibadan Expressway which he said had claimed a lot of lives in recent times, adding that the deplorable state of the road, being the busiest and worst road in the country, called for an urgent attention.
He added, “it’s a paradox that Lagos-Ibadan Expressway which is the busiest road, it’s also the most neglected in the country. I think those state governments that lay claim to Lagos-Ibadan Expressway which are Ogun, Oyo and Lagos should now find solution as matter of urgency to reduce carnage.”
He further implored both government and Federal Road Safety Corps to ensure people’s compliance with traffic rules in order to ensure accident free society, asking Federal Road Safety Corps to ensure effective traffic monitoring on the roads as this will also reduce accidents.
Adesina also urged the medical practitioners across the country to offer first aid treatment to road accident victims, saying that the primary duty of any medical practitioner is to save life.
By Abiodun Onafuye/Abeokuta