For the Record: In Nigeria, you can drink and drive
---------------------------------------------------
Dear All,
I thought that this recent posting in Dateline Health Nigeria may be
of interest to all Afro-netters because of its highly significant re-
ality, health policy and reform impact. Enjoy it!
A. Odutola
mailto:chpss_abo@yahoo.com
---
In Nigeria, you can drink and drive
If you ask many people to list the main cause of road accidents in
Nigeria, chances are that you will be inundated with angry remarks
about the deplorable state of the nation's roads. That is a good be-
ginning but it fails to recognise one of the main causes of fatali-
ties on Nigerian roads; the influence of alcohol on driving. You may
have heard it many times: drinking and driving don't mix. Not many
people pay heed to this advice. For purposes of clarification, drink-
ing, in this context, does not refer to non-alcoholic beverages. The
phrase is probably not common in Nigeria because neither the Federal
Government nor the comatose Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) un-
derstands what road policy to pursue to ensure that Nigerian Kamikaze
drivers do not kill themselves and other innocent people on our high-
ways.
When the FRSC was set up some decades ago, everyone thought it would
herald an end to the carnage on Nigerian roads, particularly the fre-
quent road fatalities that occur during festive seasons. For a few
years the FRSC lived up to its name. Dangerous drivers were fined or
arrested and prosecuted for infringing traffic regulations. Like eve-
rything Nigerian, there were many areas where the FRSC did not
achieve success. For instance, it did not succeed in deterring greedy
luxury bus drivers from packing excess passengers (often referred to
as "attachments") in their vehicles. The FRSC did not succeed in pre-
venting unlicensed drivers from driving on Nigeria's roads. But the
FRSC failed woefully in one area. It did not attempt to stop Nigerian
drivers from driving under the influence of alcohol. Perhaps the FRSC
did not have the equipment and human resources to subject drivers to
breathe testing on the roads. Perhaps one of the reasons why we do
not regard drink driving as a serious cause of road accidents is that
we prefer to attribute road fatalities to superstitious and remote
causes such as presence of evil spirits and wicked enemies or the
restless actions of some angry forefathers.
In most developed countries, there are laws that stipulate what a
driver's blood alcohol level must be. Anyone who drives with a blood
alcohol reading way above the required limit automatically faces se-
vere penalties such as a stipulated period of ban from driving, loss
of driver's licence and or a heavy fine. Nigerian drivers, particu-
larly male drivers, are notorious for testing their masculinity on
the basis of the litres of alcohol they are able to consume at any
point in time. In fact, some drivers often offer the reverse logic
that their visibility on the roads is enhanced only when they have
consumed a certain quantity of alcohol. Strange as this argument may
sound, it says a lot about the suicidal instincts of drivers on Nige-
rian roads. It also says a lot about official nonchalance about the
impact of alcohol on deaths on Nigerian roads. Alcohol consumption,
particularly excess consumption, impedes visibility and reduces our
natural reaction time.
Many people may wonder why it is necessary to prevent adults from
committing mass suicides on our roads. The answer basically is that
governments have a moral duty to protect lives. Human lives too are
precious and must be preserved. Second reason and perhaps more impor-
tant is that governments must protect innocent road users against the
reckless actions of some other drivers.
Drivers who engage in alcohol abuse cause some of the most ghastly
road accidents in Nigeria. Sadly there is a certain feeling of offi-
cial apathy about the impact of alcohol consumption on driving-
related deaths in the country. This apathy extends to official atti-
tude on statistics about road accidents in Nigeria, particularly ac-
cidents resulting in fatalities. Official figures on road fatalities
are either non-existent or they might have been collected haphazardly
or through anecdotal evidence. However, evidence seems to suggest
that one in every five major commercial vehicle drivers like to keep
(as company) some bottles of beer beside their seats. Private drivers
fare no better. There are others who openly consume alcohol while
driving. In societies where laws are made and respected, this consti-
tutes a serious driving offence. Just as nothing is regulated in Ni-
geria, the sale of alcohol is also a free business activity. Whereas
businesses that trade in alcohol are required to be licensed, there
are many roadside provision stores that sell alcohol and still oper-
ate without licences. In Nigeria, children can drink as much as
adults. There seems to be no law aimed at preventing under-age drink-
ing in Nigeria. Which is perhaps why school children and other teen-
agers freely buy alcohol in Nigeria without fear of arrest. The same
lack of rules and regulations applies to the marketing of pharmaceu-
tical products.
If the government and transport authorities in Nigeria are serious
about reducing the number of road fatalities, one way to tackle the
problem would be to devise ways of shutting the taps of alcohol
abuse. It will be a daunting task but first there must be laws to
stipulate the minimum standards of behaviour expected from drivers.
Such laws must also outline what drivers can and cannot do on our
roads, including the required blood alcohol reading.
The Federal Government should, as an urgent measure, equip the FRSC
with the materials and human resources to embark on regular and mas-
sive breath testing of drivers on the roads. That is the most effec-
tive way of catching drivers who drive under the influence of alco-
hol. The penalty for this offence should be immediate suspension of a
driver's licence. Of course the suspension of licences would be a
laughable penalty in a country where it is easy for people to obtain
driving licences without undergoing driving tests. This loophole sug-
gests further tightening of the licensing procedures.
Tightening the process of issuing driving licences is designed to en-
sure that qualified and responsible people receive the licences. Un-
der normal circumstances, it shouldn't be simple or easy for anyone
to obtain a driver's licence without going through the approved test-
ing procedures.
Unfortunately ours is a system where ethnic affiliation, kinship re-
lationships, old school ties and, above all, money undermine laws
made for the good of society. These are the factors that will chal-
lenge the government and any new laws aimed at reducing fatalities on
our roads caused by alcohol abuse. It is these same factors that make
nonsense of public administration in other facets of Nigerian soci-
ety. How the government should tackle these social problems is uncer-
tain. But what is certain and indeed urgent is that the government
should act to reduce the carnage on Nigerian roads.
Source: The Guardian. April 20, 2001.
http://nigeriaworld.com/news/source/2001/apr/20/39.html
By Levi Obijiofor
--
DATELINE HEALTH NIGERIA is a health communication initiative of the
Centre for Health Policy and Strategic Studies (CHPSS), Lagos, Nige-
ria. Critical comments on format, quality and content are welcome.
To subscribe,
mailto:Datelinehealth-Nigeria-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
URL to DATELINEHEALTH-NIGERIA@yahoogroups is:
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/DatelineHealth-Nigeria
Please inform a friend about this report.
DISCLAIMER: CHPSS accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of any
information abstracted in this Bulletin from identified sources.
Address all comments, enquiries, responses and request to:
Titi Odulate
Editorial Assistant
Centre for Health Policy & Strategic Studies
34 Town Planning Way, Ilupeju
P.O. Box 7597, Ikeja,
Lagos, Nigeria.
Tel: +234-1-470-1255
Fax: +234-1-263-5285
mailto:chpss_abo@yahoo.com
http://www.expage.com/chpsshomepage
--
Send mail for the `AFRO-NETS' conference to `<afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org>'.
Mail administrative requests to `<majordomo@usa.healthnet.org>'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `<owner-afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org>'.