By Adelola Amihere
Worried by the needless deaths that occur through road travel accidents, , a non-governmental Group, Assoociation of Rights and Welfare of Passengers in Nigeria, ARWPAN, has said it is set to provide the financial support to help such travel victims to the hospital in time to get prompt medical treatment that could save their lives.
According to them, it is important that those who travel by road do not lose those lives in the instance of an accident either because they are unable to be properly identified or their family members not reached in other to pay for the requisite medical treatments that could keep them alive.
Speaking during its Annual meeting held in Abuja over the weekend, the Board Chairman of the Association, Engr Princess Onojeghuo explained that for passengers to enjoy this benefit, passengers all over the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territorry, FCT embarking on a trip will be expected to pay a sum of N10 only in addition to the transport fare.
According to her, “The total sum accrued from the states will then be remitted to the Association to form a pool of fund.
Engr Onojeghuo pointed out that not only will this move be beneficial to the passengers but to the economy as there will now be value attached to the 10 Naira note as product and “services that will require the use of the 10 naira denomination will be created.
Enumerating other benefits, the National Vice president of ARWPAN, Solomon Kpomah , explained the idea of charging N10 is to reduce the burden on passengers so as to make it easy for them to pay saying with the huge number of tpersns who travel daily nationwide, the N10 charge will amount to something huge for the Association to work with.
“We will not just wait for accident to happen before we give support to victims, we try to also prevent accidents by ensuring that vehicles are properly loaded and are in order.
“For instance, small vehicle owners with one or two vehicles that may not be able to muster enough money to buy new tyre . But if there are well designed programmes where such persons can collect tyre and pay gradually back , then you won’t see people running with bad tryes..”
He noted that the Association is already in talks with the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC the police and state governments in other to create a synergy that will be beneficial to intending passengers.
“What we expect from passengers is to show commitment to the kind of support we want to give. So every person that will board a vehicle , where the presence of ARWPAN is, the person is supposed to pay an additional N10 to the transport cost. With that it is like a ticket and once you have that , it becomes liable on ARWPAN to see to how you can get our support”.
He added that only tpassengers who pay the extra charge of N10 will benefit from from the Associations support should there be a case of accident which will require medical attention.
“if you don’t contribute , it means you are not part of those that should benefit because part of that will be sent to the insurance companies with which to support the association and victim, “he clarified
