ONLY 35% OF NIGERIAN ROADS ARE OKAY – FRSC

By NBF News

Only 35 per cent of the 198,000 kilometres of roads in Nigeria are in a good condition because the nation is not making adequate investment in road construction.

The Corps Marshal of Federal Road Safety Commission, Osita Chidoka, stated this at the Lifeline 2010 annual safety lecture held on Thursday in Abuja.

He also said Nigeria had one of the least capital investments in road construction in the world.

Nigeria spent $1.6bn (N2.4tn) in 2009, while countries with smaller land mass like Israel, Romania and France spent $2.5bn, $7.5bn and $34bn respectively, he said.

According to Chidoka, over 1.2 million Nigerians have been victims of road traffic accidents since 1960 and about 5000 are killed annually.

'The Millennium Development Goals despite its lofty goals left out a very important issue, which is road accidents. The truth remains that road accidents kill more than AIDS and very soon will be the fifth biggest killer in the world,' he added.

In his address, the guest speaker at the event and National Security Adviser, Gen. Andrew Azazi (retd.), said the most pressing security issue in Nigeria was stability.

Also, the chairman of the occasion and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babagana Kingibe, said security could only be assured by good governance, prosperity and the contentment of the people.