Introduction
In an
attempt to develop a holistic dataset which allows for an all-round measurement
and analysis of security and public safety in Nigeria, the National Crime and
Safety Survey (NCSS) in 2013 included a comprehensive section on road traffic
safety in Nigeria. To understand the perception and actual experience of safety
or exposure to accidents on the roads, our survey instrument probed a variety
of themes including perception of safety, experience of accidents and
perception of road safety officials in Nigeria.
The
findings discussed in this presentation reveal an array of perceptions and
experiences with road travel in Nigeria and provide a rich dataset against
which our prior understanding of road travel and its challenges could be
interrogated and refined. The data also allows us to measure the effectiveness
of current policies and investments for road travel efficiency and safety in
Nigeria.
This
discussion of road safety in Nigeria at this time is important for 2 key
reasons: first of all it is suggested that 80% of human and good traffic in the
country is moving by road. Secondly, the road network in Nigeria though grossly
inadequate and poorly maintained, it is by far the most comprehensive and
extensive means of travel in Nigeria. This means that surveys and
recommendations on road travel and road safety in Nigeria are indeed at the
heart of communication and travel in Nigeria and affect majority of Nigerians.
Permit me to emphasise at the start of this
discussion what this presentation is not: it
is neither an indictment nor a vindication of any particular agency of government.
Secondly, it is not factual evidence as
such. The National Crime and Safety Survey is an annual perception survey that is conducted in
Nigeria by the CLEEN Foundation with support from the MacArthur Foundation.
Since we began conducting these surveys in
2005 in Lagos, we have over the years continuously refined our sampling
technique and survey methodology even as we continuously increased our sample
size to the current 11,518 respondents. These improvements were made in order
to arrive at conclusions that were representative of the generality of
Nigerians and therefore useful in directing public policy. For example,
recognising the centrality of road safety to citizens’ perception of safety,
the survey introduced road safety questions in 2010 and we have since then
observed crucial trends – some of which are captured in this presentation.
Public perception surveys such as our
National Crime and Safety Survey are recognized globally as credible
methodology for gaining insight into public policy matters. Specifically,
victimization surveys measure the likelihood of respondents to become victims
of crime or be affected by an incident such as road accidents. Such surveys are
very useful in understanding not only the nature of crime in a society, but also
the conception of safety. Where available, crime victimization surveys can
serve as control measures on official records and statistics. The cross
analysis of victimization surveys and the official statistics could yield
valuable insight on the direction of road accidents and the impact of road
safety policies and investments in the society. Yet by their very nature,
public perception surveys are severely limited in that they are based not on
real experience of an incident, but rather on the perception of members of the
public on safety and security.
Studies have shown that while the actual
experience of an incident such as a road accident in a community is often the
biggest driver of individual perception on road safety, it is also possible
that other factors such as the mass media as well as the conduct of security,
traffic and road safety officials can have decisive impact on the perceptions
of corruption and road safety in the community. In the National Crime and
Safety Survey 2013 for example, we found that whereas as many as 78% of
residents of Adamawa state felt that the roads in their state were prone to
accidents, only 15% of them were victims of actual accidents. The gap between
the actual experience of 15% and the perception of 78% is fed and driven by a
diverse multitude of factors which could not be answered by the data of our
survey alone.
Population, Sampling and Method
This
study employed survey research methodology and is designed to ensure that its
findings adequately reflect the perceptions of Nigerians. The population sample consisted of 11,518
Nigerians equally distributed among male and female adults aged 18 years and
above from all the 36 States in the country and the Federal Capital
Territory. The data collection method
employed was the household survey involving face-to-face personal
interviews. Respondents were selected
through a stratified multi-stage random sampling procedure in order to achieve
a representative sample. Respondents
must have lived in the selected household for a period of not less than six
months.
The
fieldwork for the survey was conducted by Practical Sampling International
(PSI), a reputed research company with a wide experience in quantitative
research in the country from June - July 2013[1].
CLEEN
Foundation employed monitors to observe the conduct of the field work as an
initial quality control measure. The
data processing was done in collaboration with DC Pro-Data Consult Limited with
supervision by the CLEEN Foundation research team. Data entry, cleaning and analysis was done
using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).
This
presentation explores the total dataset and isolates questions which relate to
road travel, road safety and the activities of the Federal Road Safety Commission
(FRSC) being the chief road safety agency in Nigeria. The presentation then
reflects on the general direction of respondents’ perceptions and the likely
implications of the findings for improving safety in road travels in Nigeria.
Research Findings and Trends
In this
section, I discuss key trends on road safety emergent from our analysis of our
crime victimization data. These findings are group under 7 headings namely: i)
Safety on the Roads; ii) Factors Responsible for Unsafety; iii) Patterns of
Road Accidents; iv) Managing Road Accidents and Safety; v) Driving Patterns and
Culture; and vi) Managing the Okada Challenge.
Section I: Safety on Nigerian Roads
Overall,
Nigerians feel safe on the road. This varied from the overwhelming 91%
perception of safety in Cross River State to the alarming 25% in Yobe State
with a national average of 75% - that is 3 out of 4 Nigerians felt safe on the
roads. The case of Yobe is peculiar since its 25% does not come near the next
state, Kebbi which polled 59%. A trend analysis revealed that the 75%
perception of safety in Nigeria is not news; Nigerians reported 71% in 2010,
76% in 2011 and then a momentary dip to 74% in 2012. When disaggregated by road
type, we found that more Nigerian, 1 in 3 Nigerians (or 31%) felt unsafe on the
expressways while as low as 8% felt unsafe on street lanes. This suggests that
long journey on the express are more dangerous than shorter journeys on the
streets.
Considering
the report of carnage on Nigerian roads, there is good reason to worry that
this high perception of safety on the road is in fact a concession of fatalism
and acceptance of fate rather than the assurance of having accident-free road
trips. Therefore regardless of this verdict of safety on the road, there is
need for further studies into patterns of road usage and safety in Nigeria.
Section II: Drivers of Unsafety on Nigerian Roads
For
those who confessed feeling unsafe on the roads, the survey probed for the key
drivers of their unease. Unsurprisingly, the top 5 factors reported in 2013
were: bad roads, speed, traffic congestion, lack of pedestrian walkways and
finally lack of zebra crossings and pedestrian bridges.
To
better understand the drivers of unsafety, we disaggregated the top 2 factors,
namely bad roads and speed of traffic by states and found that an overwhelming
majority of Yobe State residents (81%) were most concerned about the state of
bad roads in the state. Recall that only 25% of residents of Yobe had reported
feeling safe on the road. Furthermore, only 11% were worried about bad road in
Cross River state where 91% had reported feeling safe on the roads. This then
averages to a 37% concern over bad roads as a factor of unsafety in Nigeria.
In terms
of traffic speed, the national average was 38 – this implies that on a scale,
Nigerians are more concerned about speed of traffic than about state of bad
road. This concern is worst in Abia State where there is a near unanimous
concern over speed of traffic shared by 92% to Zamfara State where only 9% were
concerned about speed of traffic.
When
asked then to proffer suggestions to make roads safer, respondents pointed out
the need to repair the roads and to install streetlights as the most crucial.
Other suggestions included installation of speed breakers and reduction of
speed as well as removal of hawkers from the streets. For other suggestions
which would improve road safety but which are not tied on the quality of roads,
respondents suggested better training for both learners and for qualified
drivers; deployment of measures to reduce traffic speed as well as more public
campaigns and improved enforcement of traffic regulations.
Over
all, while Nigerians would need to see far reaching and comprehensive reforms
to ensure safety on the road, the fast speed of traffic and the bad quality of
roads constitute a bulk of their concerns.
Section III: Patterns of Road Accidents
From our
dataset, we are in position to shed more light on the trends and patterns of
road accidents as observed by Nigerians in 2013. Ab initio, we asked
respondents to share their views on whether they felt that the roads in their
communities were prone to accidents. Across board, an average of 42% of
Nigerians saw the roads as prone to accident; this figure ranged from the
highest figures of 78% in Adamawa State, 73% in Nassarawa and Delta States to
the lowest figures of 20% in Osun and 17% in Jigawa State.
In terms
of actual experience of accidents, the national average was 10%; this means
that 1 in every 10 Nigerians is a survivor or victim of road accidents in
Nigeria. While majority of states where within 5 percentage points above or
below the national average, we saw exceedingly worrying results from a number
of states. On the extreme, more than 1 in 4 (26%) residents of Kogi State are
victims of road accidents. Kogi is closely followed by 25% in Bauchi State and
24% in neighbouring Gombe State and 23% in the FCT and 21% in neighbouring
Nassarawa State. The lowest figures were 6% in Oyo, Osun, Sokoto and Katsina
and finally a 5% in Lagos State. The “twinning effect” in which neighbouring
states share similar road accident patterns comes out between Bauchi and Gombe,
FCT and Nassarawa and also between Kano and Kaduna States. This suggests that
remedial measures in such pairs of states need to be coordinated and
synchronised.
A trend
analysis of road accidents in Nigeria is very illuminating; we saw a 1% drop
from 11% in 2012 to 10% in 2013. But across a 4-year grid, we are seeing nearly
a 50% consistent drop from the 18% recorded in 2010 to the present 10%. In
terms of degree of damage, 60% of the accident cases were serious – this
included the 46% where serious injuries or vehicular damages were reported and
the 14% of the accidents which were fatal. Our data suggests that while the
frequency of accidents is down by 1% from 2012, the gravity of the accidents is
up by 2% as the 60% cases of serious accidents recorded in 2013 were more than
the 58% in 2012.
Calibrating
the accidents by time, we found that no part of the day was significantly
accident free. 32% of accidents occur in the morning, 35% in the afternoon and
the remaining 33% occurred at night. It is possible to theorise that while
accident response must be made available at all times, victims of accidents at
night are particularly more vulnerable as they are less likely to receive the
aid of fellow road users and passers-by who might be available during the day.
Section IV: Managing Road Accidents and Safety
Although
the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) is the main agency mandated to ensure
safety and swift response to accidents on the roads; our survey showed that
Nigerians were more inclined to reporting accidents to the police rather than
the FRSC. Whereas 38% of the victims of road accidents reported their
experience to the police, only 23% reported to the FRSC.
In spite
of the higher figures reported to the police, findings of the survey revealed
that many road accidents are still unreported. Only less than 4 in every 10
respondents (38%) who actually suffered road accident reported to the police;
this means that 60% of road accidents are not reported to the police. When
compared with the 2012 survey, there was a slight improvement on the reported
37% reported to the police. It was further revealed also, that the highest
reported cases of road accidents to police officials were recorded in Sokoto
(80%), Adamawa (77%), and Yobe (76%) while Kwara and Akwa-Ibom both recorded
least with 11% each followed by FCT with 13%.
Comparatively,
only a little above 2 in every 10 (23%) incidences of road accident in Nigeria
are reported to the FRSC; this then means nearly 80% of accidents are not
reported to the FRSC. This figure ranged from Sokoto (47%), Adamawa (46%) and
Kebbi (43%) being the states which led in the reporting to the FRSC, while
states like Katsina and Ebonyi recorded 0% each and were followed by Bayelsa
and Kwara with 7% each, being the lowest. When measured against the 2012
survey, the reporting rate of road accident to the FRSC still remained
unchanged at 23%. It is interesting to note that Sokoto state led both in
reporting to the Police as well as to the FRSC.
Noting
that victims of road accidents tended to report either to the Police (38%) or
to the FRSC (23%), an average of both institutions showed that only about 31%
of road accident incidences are reported to the authorities in Nigeria by 2013.
Why 69% of victims opt not to file reports remains unclear but it negatively
impacts on the road safety efforts of both the police and the FRSC.
Section V: Driving Patterns and Culture
In order
to understand general practices and driving culture among Nigerians, we posed
questions about a number of practices in order to determine what was common on
the roads and how these could affect road safety in Nigeria.
a)
Possession
of Valid Drivers Licence by State
To
determine the average skills drivers have in Nigeria and to measure compliance
with national regulation on the use of drivers’ licences, we found that across
Nigeria in 2013, only 13% of all motorists had valid driver’s licences. Meagre
as this figure might be, it is still a percentage drop from the 14% reported in
2012. When disaggregated across States, we found that only 1% of motorist in
Zamfara had valid driver’s licence, 4% in Katsina, and 6% Kano. Anambra had the
highest valid driver’s licence with 22%, followed by Abia (19%), Ekiti (18%),
FCT and Edo scored 17% each. Nationally, it is clear that nearly 80% of those
who drive do so without valid drivers’ licences.
Yet it
should not be assumed that drivers who hold valid licences are actually well
trained. Only slightly over 1 in 2 drivers (55%) did go through a driving test
before the licence was issued to them. This means that 45% of holders of valid
drivers’ licences were not tested before being issued licences. Across states,
100% of respondents in Zamfara who had licences also went through testing.
Zamfara was followed by Cross River (96%) and Edo (85%). On the bottom we have
Yobe (26%) Kebbi (25%) and Delta (17%). Zamfara State presents an interesting
puzzle: although only 1% of drivers posses valid licences which suggests high
disregard for traffic laws and regulation; all those who do possess the
licences actually went through testing before receiving them which suggests
universal compliance with the law.
b)
Use of
Seat Belts
The use
of seat belt is a valuable indicator of road users’ own safety consciousness.
In Nigeria, we found that only 14% of the respondents across the country use
seat belt “often” or “fairly regularly” when driving while another 14% said
they “occasionally” use seat belt. On the other hand, 72% said they “hardly” or
“never” use seat belt when driving. Aggregating those who used the seat belt
every time or fairly regularly, we found that the use of seat belt is highest
in states like Benue 41%, Bauchi 38% and Yobe 33%, while state like Ogun and
Sokoto scored 3% each and Abia 2% were on the bottom rung. Osun and Zamfara
state both scored 0% each which means none of the drivers interviewed in the
state used the seat belt either every time or fairly regularly.
c)
Motorists’
behaviour
In an
attempt to ascertain the prevalence of some observed practices on the roads, we
asked respondents to report the frequency of a number of practices on the
roads.
Engaging
in races among drivers is reportedly very common and is a common cause of
accidents. As much as 73% of drivers admitted participating in these races
occasionally, while 5% admitted to doing it often/always. Other practices
included underestimating the speed of on-coming vehicles when overtaking; 66% of
respondents admitted to having done this occasionally at some point while
driving and another 7% said they do it often/always. Driving on the wrong side
of the road (e.g. one way or on dedicated bus lanes) is another common
practice; 77% of respondents reported this behaviour either occasionally, often
or always when driving. But not all observed behaviours are dangerous and
accident prone, 35% of surveyed drivers often or always stop for pedestrians to
cross while another 44% do so sometimes.
d)
Driving
Under the Influence of Alcohol
The
abuse of alcohol has been identified as a leading cause of accidents across the
globe and has been identified as a leading traffic offence committed by
drivers. In the absence of a robust system for testing level of alcohol
consumption by drivers in Nigeria, we resorted to self reportage to determine
the frequency of this practice by asking drivers how often they consume
alcoholic beverages before driving.
72% of
surveyed drivers in the rural areas and 74% in the urban areas reported that
they “sometimes” consume alcohol before driving while another 5% (both rural
and urban) said they do this “often/always”; only a total of 22% of respondents
in the rural areas and 21% in the urban reported that they “hardly” do this.
Obviously the trend of alcohol consumption among drivers is a common phenomenon
in both rural and urban areas of Nigeria and there are at the moment no easy
ways of enforcing the regulation against the abuse of alcohol among drivers and
passengers do not have the means to know the level of intoxication of a driver
before embarking on a journey.
Section VI: Managing the Okada Challenge
The use
of motorcycles as commercial taxis (commonly called Okada) has become popular
in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa. While this means of transportation is
favoured by commuters for its ability to reach remote areas with poor road
infrastructure, it is also notorious for causing traffic congestion and
disorder as well as the leading vehicle involved in road accidents in Nigeria.
In recent years, there have been campaigns and laws in some states to ban this
means of transportation or to limit its usage to rural areas. Those who favour
the proposals to ban Okadas refer to the order that would be restored to the
roads without them and the rate of accidents that is likely to drop.
Conversely, others worry about the hardships citizens would be exposed to
especially where taxis and busses are not available.
In 2013,
nearly half (47%) of the road accidents in Nigeria involved an Okada. Other
vehicles involved in road accidents included commercial minibuses (30%), cars
(7%), private buses (7%) and commercial luxury buses (7%). Trucks and trailers
were the least accident prone vehicles on the roads with 3% followed by
minivans and SUVs (4%).
So
should Okada be banned in Nigeria or not? A national average of 36% of the
respondents interviewed nationwide expressed their support for the banning of
commercial motorcycles. Disaggregating
this support for banning by states, it was revealed that there was nearly a
unanimous consensus among residents in Bayelsa and Plateau (90% each), followed
by Abia (81%), Imo (77%), and Rivers (70%). The lowest support for the banning
of Okada came from Kaduna and Oyo (15% each), Kebbi (14%), Katsina and Zamfara (both
13%), Ondo (12%) and Kwara (11%). 41% of those who supported the banning of
Okada said their main reason is that it cause accidents; this finding agrees
with the high frequency of okadas in road accidents as observed above. Another
34% said okada promotes crime while 26% supported the ban because too many
people die in okada accidents. Others (25%) were concerned about the reckless
driving of Okada riders, 6% said it cause traffic congestion on roads while
another 3% expressed their support due to the menace/trouble Okada usually
cause to pedestrians.
Close to
3 in every 5 respondents (57%) opposed the proposal to ban okada. Common reason
given by respondents for the ban was that it will create unemployment (54%),
32% said it will increase crime another 32% also said it will increase
suffering of the poor and 9% said they did not support due to the social unrest
or strike actions which could result from such a ban. There was a direct
correlation between the support and opposition for okada as States where
opposition was fiercest were Kwara (94%), Ondo (84%), Zamfara and Ebonyi (both
83%) while the opposition was weakest in
Rivers (27%), Imo (22%), Abia (18%), Plateau (15%) and Bayelsa (7%).
Section VII: Perceptions on the FRSC
For the
Federal Road Safety Commission to effectively discharge its mandate, a certain
degree of trust, support and confidence by the Nigerian population is required.
Considering that the FRSC has worked among Nigerian road users now nearly 3
decades, we posed a number of questions relating to citizens’ perception of the
FRSC and the work it does.
As an
indicator of prevention, citizens were asked how effective they thought the
FRSC was in reducing road accident and fatalities in the country. A large
number, 7 in 10 Nigerians (70%) rated the FRSC as “ineffective”; nearly a third
(27%) was of the view that the FRSC was “effective” while 3% were undecided.
Nearly 1
in 2 Nigerian (48%) were of the view that they were likely to be made to pay a
bribes (that is offer money, beside any official levies or charges) when they
approach the FRSC to get help or services. Almost an equal number (45%)
disagreed and uphold that they were unlikely to have to pay bribes to the FRSC.
Evidently, Nigerians seem undecided on the likelihood of demand for bribe by
the FRSC.
Besides
the likelihood to pay bribe, 1 in 5 Nigerian (20%) have had actual experience
of being asked to pay bribes by the FRSC before official services could be
rendered to them in the past 12 months. While this is a worrying statistic, it
is indeed a drop from the 26% demand for bribe reported in 2012. Across
Nigeria, the demand for bribe by the FRSC officials was not evenly spread out;
the most severe instances were recorded in Adamawa (67%), Ogun (60%), Ebonyi
and Edo (50%), Anambra (47%), Kebbi (45%), Kano (44%), Imo (42%), which were
more than twice the national average of 20%. The lowest incidences were
recorded in Bauchi and Abia, which were all 0% each, followed by Osun and
Plateau which recorded 3% and 5% respectively.
Towards Improved Public Safety on the Roads: Recommendations
In view
of the findings presented above, a number of suggestions are recommended to
improving road safety in Nigeria.
·
To check the abuse of alcohol by drivers on the
roads, we recommend the deployment of breath analysers on strategic points on
our expressways. The FRSC and other law enforcement officials on road patrols
should be equipped with such devices to check drivers and enforce the laws
where deviation is observed. All public bus parks should be equipped with
breath analysers to check and ensure that only sober drivers are allowed to
leave such parks.
·
A national audit of road availability and quality
by state. Such an audit will show clearly the types of roads available to
commuters and their current state of repairs and thus better informing holistic
road repairs and management efforts of all government departments.
·
Installation of speed breakers in residential and
congested neighbourhood: the installation of well-designed speed breakers in
busy communities would ensure that drivers reduce speed and thus allow for
pedestrians to move about with greater ease.
·
Installation of ICT devises to check speed: There
is need to deploy motion detectors, cameras and other modern ICT devices along
major highways to alert authorities on drivers’ overspeeding and allow for the
erring driver to be apprehended and disciplined.
·
Installation of pedestrian bridges and zebra
crossing: there is need to ensure that pedestrian crossing spots are installed
and clearly marked in residential and commercial zones.
·
There is need for the standardization of drivers
instruction process in Nigeria with driving schools registered and regulated to
ensure that all new drivers are imparted the same amount of training and are
adjudged fit to drive by the authorities before being issued with driving
licences.
·
There is need for improved sensitization,
collaboration between the FRSC and all sections of society to pass the message
of safety on Nigerian roads.
