By
Tajudeen Sowole
(First published, Tuesday, February 23, 2010)
THE high rate of accidents on Nigerian roads has been
attributed to poor enforcement of roads safety codes. The show, Driver's
Dexterity, by George Osodi, also draws attention to this issue.
Organized
by African Artists Foundation (AAF), in collaboration with Shell Petroleum
Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), the Port Harcourt and Warri legs
of the show were held recently.
The
Lagos leg held in November, while Abuja is getting set to host the exhibition
soon.
The
organisers expect that attitude of road users "to road safety will change
after viewing" the images.
In
recent times, Shell has been using art as "an effective medium" to
promote safety culture among Nigerians. The company initiated a project on road
safety tagged Land Transport Safety Goal Zero in 2008.
Osodi's
shots cover every facet of road transportation as the images alert viewers on
the risk of moving people from one destination to another - some times, ending
up very tragic.
Osodi
said that he was involved in several road accidents, which he "survived".
The
experience, he stated, had led him into the body of work and hoped it would
alert road users that there is no alternative to safety, but adherence to the
rules.
According
to statistics from the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) - as at December
last year - 4, 517 persons died through road accidents within 11 months,
representing an average of about 411 deaths every month. The source also stated
that during the same period, there were 9, 226 road crashes in which 23, 081
people were injured in 12,165 vehicles.
Perhaps,
the "dexterity" of a driver is the result of several road related
issues such as the recurring fuel distribution crisis as this 2007 silhouette
titled Black Market presents a typical desperate scene on the highway.
Apparently,
a night shot, the highlighted plastic container of the fuel against a distance,
but approaching vehicle exposes a possible contamination of the fuel content.
Still
on the economic factor, disaster waiting to occur is seen in Bauchi 2007, a
mini truck loaded with a scrap of pick-up van. But oddly, there are other
contents: passengers competing for space with the scrap car.
Further
exposing the shabby enforcement of road safety codes by the FRSC are Goods
Only, 2008, a lorry loaded with passengers and goods; Yelwa Shendam 2006, goods
and passengers in another goods only van; Home Coming Kano, five riding on a
bike, goods added; Kano - Sokoto, 2007, bees of human passengers spilling over
the frames of the lorry.
Home
Coming Kano 2007, a law enforcement agent, is caught in the background, few
metres away as the violators of safety codes passed through.
For
every part of the country, Osodi's lens suggest there are certain
peculiarities: the pictures from the south were mostly accidents involving
fire.
A
charred passenger bus in Kwale (Delta State) 2007; burning fuel truck in
Gbagada (Lagos State) 2008; burning car, Maryland (Lagos State) 2007 and others
are frightening sights that can discourage people from traveling by road. In
each of these shots, the environmental damage was glaring.
In
some situations, the fire - combined with fuel spillage from the trucks -
leaves a scar on the land that makes return of vegetation to the affected spot
almost impossible in the future.
Some
of the images, particularly of the burning fuel trucks, appear like on-the-spot
captures.
And
perhaps an interaction with the drivers and victims might be of interest.
"Not exactly," Osodi said. The shots, he explained, were taken
several hours, even days, after the accident.
And
to notice that smoke still engulfed the scene of the accident, several days
after and for him to stop and open the lens while traveling showed the degree
of devastation.
That
much is seen in Gbagada 2007 as the concrete road median is burnt, almost to a
state of rubbles.
Road
accidents such as this, it has been observed, are the cause of heavy damages to
highways such as the Benin-Ore roads, Ife-Ibadan roads, among others.
Most
culpable are drivers of fuel trucks, particularly of the leading oil companies.
Apparently
responding to safety as raised by this show, Shell explained that its Land
Transport Safety Goal Zero project "is an effort to eliminate road traffic
accidents in our operations." Driver's Dexterity, Shell added, was a
timely partner in enlightening the public on safety related issues.
When
the show opened at the Civic Centre in Lagos, a tour was not in the plan,
director of AAF, Azu Nwagbogu recalled. But the responses from visitors
stimulated the need to take the images around the country.
Zainab
Ashadu, Assistant Director/Curator of AAF noted that response from the Lagos,
Port Harcourt and Warri shows have been very encouraging. She argued that,
"allowing the project to naturally evolve, will make quantifiable and
tangible difference on our roads and attitudes to safety in Nigeria."
Ashadu
urged those who take decisions and make laws in Nigeria to take note of issues
raised in the exhibition.
"By
virtue of the success of this project, there exist many accessible ways to
educate Nigerians on relatively simple ways of ensuring road safety," she
stressed.
Participants,
according to her include 20 students from Federal Government College, Port
Harcourt, and another 20 from B.C.M. Secondary School, Port Harcourt.
In
Lagos, pupils from Corona School and Holy Child College, Lagos joined other
visitors such as members of the Federal Road Safety Commission; the Second
Secretary to The Royal Dutch Embassy, Ronald Sonnemans; The Ambassador of
Norway to Nigeria, Kjell Lillerud; Stephen Fulgham, MD Schlumberger Nigeria and
his wife; Anna Fulgham; chairman, Society of Nigerian Arts (SNA) Lagos State
Chapter, Oliver Enwonwu.
On
having school children participated in the shows, Nwagbogu warned that it's
important to carry the youth along so that "we do not send wrong signals
to our children that road traveling is not safe".
For
an artist who leaned towards documentary of tragic events as seen in his past
shows such as Lagos Bomb Blast, held at MUSON, Onikan, Lagos, in 2002; Paradise
Lost, at Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), Lagos, last year, Driver's
Dexterity is faintly on the conceptual side.
Based
in the United Kingdom, Osodi, who worked briefly as press photographer with
defunct Comet Newspapers in Lagos, joined Associated Press (AP) in 2002, and
was there till 2008. He won first prize at the 2004 Fuji African
Photojournalist of the Year.
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