Tanker driver accidents in Nigeria: the Psychiatrist’s point of view
Nigeria being one of the largest oil producing nations of the world and with a population of 170 million people imports the finished products of her own produce. What an irony! Not only is the direct cost of importing these finished products biting hard on Nigeria’s economy, the indirect cost brings with it excruciating pain. One of the recently identified indirect costs is the frequent rate at which petrol tankers carrying the finished products have accidents thus causing unimaginable loss to lives and properties. This eventually leads to huge psychological trauma equating into several lost years of healthy living - Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY).
Nigeria being one of the largest oil producing nations of the world and with a population of 170 million people imports the finished products of her own produce. What an irony! Not only is the direct cost of importing these finished products biting hard on Nigeria’s economy, the indirect cost brings with it excruciating pain. One of the recently identified indirect costs is the frequent rate at which petrol tankers carrying the finished products have accidents thus causing unimaginable loss to lives and properties. This eventually leads to huge psychological trauma equating into several lost years of healthy living - Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY).
Nigeria has 36 states, out of which Lagos
state experienced 3 major tanker accidents on the 2nd, 6th
and 7th of June 2015 at the height of fuel scarcity in the city. This
led to the spillage of finished petroleum products with consequent inferno that
destroyed 74 houses, 114 shops, 21 vehicles and injured several.
To put an end to these ugly incidences, the
Lagos state government has set up a committee which would be chaired
by the Secretary to the State Government and its members are - the Permanent
Secretary Ministry of Transportation, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of
Special Duties, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, the State Commander of the
Federal Road Safety Corps, Director of the Fire Service. Representatives of
these associations - Association of Maritime Truck owners, National Union of Petroleum Energy and
Natural Gas, the National Association of Road Transport Owners, Chief Executive
Officer of Lagos State Driver’s Institute, Petroleum Tanker Drivers, Lagos
State Traffic management Authority would also be part of this committee. This
committee is to examine the immediate and remote causes of the tanker
explosions that occurred.
What are the causes of any road traffic accidents RTA?
They include:
Human errors ( 85% cause of all RTAs)
Environmental factors
Vehicular factors
Human errors have been established to cause
85% of all RTAs and alcohol and illicit drug abuse is the commonest human factor
leading to this RTAs (W.H.O). Despite this fact, the government of Lagos state
has not included a Psychiatrist / psychologist on the above named committee to
look into the behavioural, alcohol and drug use problems among drivers. The
implication of this is that only 15% of the problems of the drivers would eventually
be dealt with. What a waste of time and resources?
We hereby recommend that the government of
Lagos State should reconstitute the committee to include a drug abuse
specialist - psychiatrist who would address the human factors causing the RTAs
in order to have an holistic and conclusive report to work with.
Remember, there is ‘no health without mental
health’. No societal peace without the behavioural expert.
Dr
Olajumoke Koyejo
MBChB,
FMCPsych
Principal
Consultant Psychiatrist specialized in substance abuse
