According to the World Bank in December 2022, Nigeria is one of the countries with the highest rate of road accidents globally. Also, the Federal Road Safety Corps has reported that a total of 32,617 persons lost their lives to road crashes in Nigeria from 2016 to 2021, it also recorded over 65,053 accidents across Nigeria.
Given the above, one can say after the Boko Haram insurgency and banditry, road accident is the third major crisis Nigeria is experiencing, resulting in loss of lives and destruction of properties worth billions of naira across the country.
At least 10 per cent of the casualties recorded is attributed to the lack of standard firefighting trucks on the country’s major highways. Often vehicles are engulfed in fire the moment an accident occurs, and this has led to the burning to death of many travellers. It is pertinent to note that with such accidents, one hardly finds any means of extinguishing the fire.
Recently, on January 4, 2023, 18 people were burnt to death along the Bauchi-Jos highway in a ghastly motor accident, including a newborn baby. Immediately after the collision, the vehicles caught fire and there was no firefighting truck to quench the fire leading to the death of the passengers.
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A number of accidents had happened along the road whereby many travellers were burnt to ashes.
On this note, I’m appealing to the federal government to provide firefighting trucks along the nation’s highways to save the lives and properties of citizens. The firefighting trucks will go a long way in helping to quench such fire whenever the need arises.
Ukasha Rabiu Magama writes from Magama, Toro LGA, Bauchi State
