Halt the carnage on Zaria-Kano road

It is no longer news that the federal road from Kano to Kaduna has bred multitude of fatal accidents that have consumed many lives of Nigerians, especially children and women. This crucial road should be completed immediately so as to stop these incessant accidents. 

No few than 17 young men from Kano died in a fatal motor accident along the road on their way returning to Kano on Saturday, June 5, 2021. The ongoing rehabilitation of the road and its slowness is the main reason for the frequent accidents on the road. 

However, in recent years, there have been reports of horrendous motor accidents along Kano-Zaria road which led to the loss of innumerable lives of Nigerians and properties worth billions of naira belonging, but unfortunately, the federal government, particularly the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), has done nothing to end it, as it has turned a deaf ear to mitigate these sad incidents. This road impacts our country negatively as most travellers of this road are businessmen.

Sometimes, accidents occur for a combination of reasons including bad visibility to unsafe road design, or the other driver’s lack caution. While the causes of accidents can vary, the consequences are often the same, resulting in everything from vehicular and property damage to serious injuries.

Nevertheless, FRSC should be responsible for re-campaign against substandard driving to our commercial drivers and the opposite ones who are always driving on the road for them to be aware of the speed at which they’re traveling and stay within the legal limits. And also the commission should pressurise the federal government to promptly complete this major road considering how people are dying as a result of frequent accidents and deterioration of the traffic.

I have been on the road for the past one year going to Abuja where I experienced that the road is one lane. As such, the federal government that swore to protect the lives and properties of her citizens should deploy all her possible energy and resources in the completion of this highway.

Annoyingly, from 2020 to date there have been series of reports of accidents and tragedies along this road at which thousands of people died as well as loss of huge of properties.

In conclusion, I therefore call on the federal government to delve too deeply into the slowness of the road rehabilitation in order to save the lives of innocent Nigerians.

Mallam Musbahu Magayaki,

Sabon Fegi, Azare,

Bauchi state