Road safety in Nigeria is both a global health issue and a matter calling for focused National concern: road traffic accidents are the leading cause of death in adolescents in Nigeria. More broadly, there has been an upsurge in the proportion of traffic fatalities witnessed in a number of developing countries while developed nations are witnessing downward trends.
That is why I welcome the United Nations General Assembly and member states in passing an historic resolution endorsing the “Stockholm Declaration”, aiming to improve and save lives on the world’s roads, today.
Nigeria has the second largest road network in Africa, and our latest figures show that Nigeria is among the top 50 countries with the highest road traffic deaths. According to the NRSS, population-road ratio was estimated to be 860 persons per kilometre roadway while vehicular density stood at about 39 vehicles per kilometre roadway. Nigeria recorded 337,301 road traffic crashes from 1990 to 2012, out of which 28.6% were fatal, 44.7% were serious, and 26.7% were minor. The overwhelming majority of road traffic deaths and serious injuries are preventable and, despite some improvements, they remain a major public health and development problem that has broad social and economic consequences which, if unaddressed, may affect progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
While each country has primary responsibility for its own economic and social development, the role of national policies, priorities and development strategies cannot be overemphasized in the context of reaching the SDGs. At the same time, international public finance plays an important role in complementing the efforts of countries to mobilize public resources, especially in the poorest and most vulnerable countries with limited domestic resources.
I acknowledge the work of the UN system, in particular the leadership of the World Health Organization, in close cooperation with the UN regional commissions, in establishing, implementing and monitoring various aspects of the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020. I recognize the commitment of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the International Labour Organization, among other entities, to supporting those efforts as well as that of the World Bank and regional development banks to implement road safety projects and programmes, in particular in developing countrie.
I hope that this historic resolution will encourage all Member States to promote multi-stakeholder partnerships. I point to my Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s anatomical simulation training techniques that aim to improve health workers’ skills to address the safety of vulnerable road users, the delivery of emergency care and first aid to victims of road traffic accidents. Notably, this must happen more aggressively in developing and least developed countries, and we must provide road traffic crash victims and their families with universal access to health care in the pre-hospital, hospital, post-hospital and rehabilitation and reintegration phases. In addition, I will do my part to raise funds to bring in the right equipment for road accident trauma training.
I must particularly commend the leading role of Oman and the Russian Federation in drawing the attention of the international community to the global road safety crisis. And, I must congratulate the Member States that have taken a leadership role by adopting comprehensive legislation on key risk factors, including the non-use of seat belts, child restraints and helmets, the drinking of alcohol and driving, and speeding, and drawing attention to other risk factors, such as low visibility, medical conditions and medicines that affect safe driving, fatigue and the use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic and psychoactive substances, mobile phones and other electronic and texting devices.
With the lessons learned from the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020, the Global Development Community recognises the need to promote an integrated approach to road safety such as a safe system approach and Vision Zero. We must pursue long-term and sustainable safety solutions, and strengthen national intersectoral collaboration, including engaging non-governmental organizations, civil society and academia, as well as businesses and industry, which contribute to and influence the social and economic development of countries. I hope that state and non-state actors and policy makers will commit to prevent road traffic injuries, while I appreciate the WHO and its Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus for its role in implementing the mandate conferred upon it by the General Assembly to act, in close cooperation with the UN regional commissions, as a coordinator on road safety issues within the UN system.
Providing basic conditions and services to address road safety is primarily a responsibility of governments. This is especially in view of the decisive role that legislative bodies can play in the adoption of comprehensive and effective road safety policies and laws and their implementation. However I recognize nonetheless that there is a shared responsibility to move towards a world free from road traffic fatalities and serious injuries and that addressing road safety demands multi-stakeholder collaboration among the public and private sectors, academia, professional organizations, non-governmental organizations and the media. That is why I acknowledge that increasing road safety activities and advocating increased political commitment to road safety, will require working towards setting regional and national road traffic casualty reduction targets, elaborating global road safety-related legal instruments, including international conventions and agreements, technical standards, resolutions and good practice recommendations. It also requires domesticating and servicing 59 global and regional legal instruments that provide a commonly accepted legal and technical framework for the development of international road, rail, inland water and combined transport, to strengthen Nigeria’s national road safety management capacity.
As we approach the end of this Decade of Action for Road Safety, and start on the relevant road safety target dates set out in the 2030 Agenda, Nigeria must deepen national engagement with the new 2021-2030 time frame for a reduction in road traffic deaths and injuries. To push forward in the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety, with a goal of reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50% from 2021 to 2030, I support the call upon Member States and stakeholders to continue action through 2030 on all the road safety-related targets of the SDGs, including target 3.6, in line with the pledge of the 2019 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development convened under the auspices of the General Assembly. We must especially take into account the remaining decade of action to deliver the SDGs by 2030 in their entirety.
Source: toyinsaraki.org
