Nigeria accounts for 85% road accident deaths-Keystone CEO

Philip Ikeazor, managing director/chief executive, Keystone Bank Limited has revealed that Nigeria accounted for over 85 percent of global deaths from road crashes.

Ikeazor made this disclosure recently at the launch of the bank’s “Think Road Safety, Save Lives” in Abuja. Keystone Bank is partnering with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Eye Foundation in an initiative that is geared towards helping to improve road safety and save lives.

Against the backdrop of its negative effects on businesses and the overall economy of nation, the global annual cost of road traffic injuries has been put at about $518 billion with low and middle income countries accounting for $65 billion of the total figure, has revealed.

He said the initiative would provide free screening to interstate commercial transport drivers for diabetes, hypertension, and cholesterol as well as ascertain their blood groups. The scheme would also carry out tests for glaucoma, visual acuity, and automated refraction eye tests.

Justifying the bank’s intervention in the sector, Ikeazor, while quoting statistics from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent, said road crashes had become the leading cause of death for youths aged 15-29 years.

“Accidents involving buses have a higher impact with respect to human fatalities as they account for larger number of passengers. From 2007 to 2010, buses caused 5,583 deaths in 5,828 road crashes (less crashes but more deaths); while small vehicles accounted for 1,154 deaths in 2,094 road crashes within the same period,” he explained.

The Keystone Bank boss said the alarming information further justified the bank’s intervention as a way of supporting the FRSC in ensuring a downward trend in the number of lives lost on the roads. He added that the scheme is part of the lender’s four- cardinal corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy, which focuses on health, education, women and youth empowerment and staff volunteering.

Osita Chidoka, corps marshal and chief executive, FRSC, commended the bank’s gesture and urged other institutions to follow suit. He said: “We require more of this because campaign against road carnage is not a quick fix, it is not a once and for all business; it is rather a conscious and sustained programme of actions to change the attitude of the people through enlightenment and enforcement strategies.”

He said public awareness and accessibility to the needed medical facilities were crucial to maximising the benefits of the scheme, which is expected to last for one year.

He said: “Compulsory eye test is one condition that applicants for the new driver’s license must fulfill in order to determine their visual acuity before their licenses are issued. We insisted on this because we realised the nexus between a driver’s good eyesight and the success of the campaign for safe driving and crash-free roads.”