The Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT),Zaria in Kaduna State has highlighted major causes of accident in the nation’s transport system saying that road mode of transportation is the most under developed infrastructure with obsolete equipment.
Dr. Bayero Salih Farah, Director General of NITT disclosed this recently at the 10th Nigeria Transport Lecture put together by publishers of Transport Day in Lagos.
Salih noted that Nigeria top the list of most traffic accident related fatalities in Africa due to infrastructure decay.
He stated that between and March 2022, a total of 3335 road accidents were recorded with 1834 death cases .
The Director General added that Nigeria is a highly mobile country and is ranked 6th among the most populous country in the world , as more than 80 million Nigerians commute daily in the movement of goods and services.
According to him, unregulated operators and safety concerns,poor maintenance culture, and overcrowding were some of the key factors affecting the Nigerian transport system.
Farah is his paper presentation titled :”Transport Safety in Nigeria – A Way Forward , recalled that in 2018,the National Bureau of Statistics revealed that they were 11.8million vehicles in Nigeria adding that 56% were for commercial purposes while 34% were privately owned.
He reiterated that Nigeria operationally has five modes of transport system , saying that the current trend of road accidents remain unprecedented growth in the number of accidents with the corresponding rate of fatalities in the last three decades .
However, the DG explained that drivers behaviour can influence the control of road accidents when they are enlightened and empowered with capacity building adding that paucity of funds, has hindered the progress of the driving centres across the country since 2020.
He re-echoed that NITT is considering to enter into agreement with investors on Public Private Partnership agreement noting that international investors were indicating positive interest
Earlier , Publishers of Transport Day, Frank Kintum expressed satisfaction over the turn out of the the 10th Nigeria Transport Lecture even as he appreciated stakeholders from the industry for attending.
Highpoints of the event held at Raddison Hotel Ikeja was the award presentation to personalities and organisations for their outstanding performance for the year 2024.
