A Sociological Analysis on the Effects of Road Accidents in Gwagwalada Area Council of the FCT, Abuja, Nigeria

Research Article

A Sociological Analysis on the Effects of Road Accidents in Gwagwalada Area Council of the FCT, Abuja, Nigeria

Ogbu Gift ^1*
Abubakar Garba Umar Kari ¹
B.E. Adetoun ¹
J.C. Ogbu ²
Ogbu Ogechi Charity ³

1Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Abuja, Nigeria.

2National Teachers Institute, Kaduna, Nigeria.

3Department of History and Diplomatic studies, University of Abuja, Nigeria.

*Corresponding Author: Ogbu Gift, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Abuja, Nigeria.

Citation: Gift O., Kari A.G.U., Adetoun B.E., Ogbu J.C., Charity O.O. (2024). A Sociological Analysis on The Effects of Road Accidents in Gwagwalada Area Council of the FCT, Abuja, Nigeria, Clinical Case Reports and Studies, BioRes Scientia Publishers. 7(5):1-11. DOI: 10.59657/2837-2565.brs.24.199

Copyright: © 2024 Ogbu Gift, this is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Received: November 04, 2024 | Accepted: November 18, 2024 | Published: November 26, 2024

Abstract

The project examined the effects of road accident in Gwagwalada area council of the fact. The objective of this study was to find out the factors responsible for road accident and examined the socio-economic implications of road accident in Gwagwalada. The study adopted the survey method: the questionnaire data was collected from a sample frame of 150 respondents. The findings of the study were that there has been an upsurge in the proportion and absolute number of traffic fatalities witnessed in Gwagwalada and the issues of overspending and bad roads are the leading causes of road accident. It also found that loss of life and livelihoods are also the leading implications of road accidents to victims. The study suggested that proper training be given to members of the society on driving lessons to avert further occurrences of road accidents.

Keywords: road accident; livelihoods; gwagwalada area

Introduction

Background of the Study

This work focuses on road accident in Abuja Municipal Area council. It should be noted that road accident incidence in Abuja has been claiming so many numbers of lives and properties. It has been augured that management has been neglecting their duties, the menace continues resurfacing and that several scientists have been making so many suggestions on how to reduce the social problem of road accidents and its implications and consequences in Abuja Municipal by investigating the remote causes and consequences of the issue. The unstable nature of the Nigeria transport system has been causing a lot of havoc on the socio-economic well-being of people moving from one place to the other. This issue is among the various social problems confronting the expected level of socio-economic stability for standard of living in the country whereby citizens are not ready to obey simple instructions that can encourage their safety for positive standard of living. There obstinacy is observing the rules and regulations made by the federal road safety commission in the country has warranted many accidents. Road accident in Nigeria has been claiming a lot of lives and properties thereby reducing the population from optical to minimal. How to address the problem has drawn the attention of several social scientists to make necessary suggestions that can proffer solutions to the problem (Atunbi, 2009).

Some law enforcement agencies that are obliged to be controlling the movement of people from one place to another has been neglecting their duties and responsibilities which leads to several violations and misbehaviors of road users that has been encouraging high level of road accidents in the country. The menace has made so many citizens in the country to be harboring fear due to the fact that Nigerian road network system are not properly planned for smooth and stable movement of Nigerians. So many contracts have been awarded to so many contractors to work on the dilapidated state of Nigerian roads, but such contracts awarded were trampled upon by some corrupt individuals who diverted the public funds to another thing that may not be beneficial to the general standard of living (Ogunsanya, 2002).

Methodology

Area of Study

The location of this study is Gwagwalada area council of the federal capital territory, Abuja. Gwagwalada is one of the five local government area councils’ info the federal capital territory of Nigeria.

Research Design

This study adopted descriptive research of the survey type. It is an attempt to investigate the effects of road accidents in Abuja, the FCT.

Population of Study

The target population of this study consists of road safety officials at the Gwagwalada command and residents in Gwagwalada. The population of study is 150 respondents.

Sample Size and Sampling Technique

The sample size of study is 150 respondents derived from the road safety officials and residents of Gwagwalada.

First the researcher will adopt a convenient sampling technique to select respondents of the road safety. 50 questionnaires will be allocated to the officials and will be distributed through accidental sampling.

Moreso, residents of Gwagwalada will be selected through the Quota sampling method. The study categorized Gwagwalada into wards, then through a random sampling three wards were selected and the researcher further broke down the wards into communities with each ward producing two communities each hence six communities in each ward emerged.

S/No	Communities	Wards
1	Barracks and Hajj Camp	Quarters
2	Kutunku and Agwandodo Communities	Central

In each of the communities, the study randomly identified households, tagged them with numbers and then selected every fifth house counted through the numbering until the researcher selected 50 respondents per community and 150 overall.

On each household, one (1) adult respondent was selected to answer the questionnaire, in the case of a lesser number of adults, the researcher immediately rolls over to the next immediate resident. Therefore, (1 respondent per household × 25 households= 25 respondents per community ×25 communities= 50 respondents per ward × 2 wards = 100)

Therefore, the total sample frame becomes 150 respondents for the study. A breakdown of the sample frame is presented thus:

Road safety officials= 50 respondents

Residents of Gwagwalada= 100

Total respondents= 150 respondents

Instrument of Data Collection

Questionnaire served as the instrument of data collection. As a result, questionnaire was constructed and reproduced. In total there was 150 questionnaires to be distributed among respondents. The respondents were allowed enough time to fill the questionnaire and the researcher collected them within the shortest possible time.

Types and Source of Data

To ensure proper collection and analysis for the research, both primary and secondary data was collected. The questionnaire design is in two parts, the first part is a classification section that requires details of the respondents such as age, sex, occupation, qualification etc. The second part posseses the questions relating to the subject matter of the investigation. The responses from the second part form the basis of data presentation and analysis. The questionnaire design contains both open and closed questions. This implies that the questionnaire provided the respondents with the opportunity to have the freedom to decide the aspect, detail and length of the answer and some questions designed to keep the respondents to a reasonable length. The basis of this is to permit easier tabulation and interpretation by the researcher.

Technique of Data Analysis

The descriptive statistics involving tabulation and percentage will be adopted by the researcher to analyses the result of the data collection from the field.

Data Presentation and Analysis

The study made use of simple percentage parameter to draw up the population sample size for the study. Questionnaires were administered to 150 members of the sample frame. 138 questionnaires were completed and returned to the researcher and 22 were not properly answered and so we're rejected. In the final analysis, the researcher used 116 of properly completed questionnaires for data presentation and analysis.

Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Respondents

Age Distribution of Respondents

Age	Frequency	%
25 - 29	28	24.1%
30 - 34	22	19%
35 - 39	58	50%
40 and above	8	6.9%
Total	116	100%

From the table above, the age distribution of respondents was analyzed. Respondents between ages 25-29 was 24.1%. Those between the ages of 30-34 formed 19% of the total respondents. 50% of the respondents were between the ages of 35-39 and 6.9% were among the ages of 40 and above. The implication of the presentation is that there are more respondents in the ages between 35-39 years of age which means that the sample frame had a more youthful population.

Sex Distribution of Respondents

Sex	Frequency	Percentage
Male	68	58.6%
Female	48	41.4%
Total	116	100%

The above table shows that, out of 116 questionnaires received majority of respondents were male which represented 58.6% and 41.4% of respondents were female. This simply means that there were more males in the sampled population.

Department Distribution of Respondents

Department	Frequency	%
FSLC	12	10.3%
SSCE	32	27.6%
NCE/OND	48	41.4%
BSc. /HND	17	14.7%
Others Specify	7	6.0%
Total	116	100%

The table above shows the educational qualification analysis of respondents the majority of the distribution is 41.4%, this number is of respondents with NCE/OND qualification. The implication is that the sample frame is composed of a literate population.

Marital Status of Respondents

Level	Frequency	%
Single	70	25.8%
Married	46	22.4%
Total	116	100%

The table above shows the marital distribution of respondents. 25.8% of 70 respondents were single while 46 respondents representing 22.4% of the sample frame were married.

Years of Service Distribution of Respondents

Years of Service	Frequency	%
Below 5 years	8	6.9%
6 - 10 years	39	33.6%
11 - 14 years	37	31.9%
15 years and above	32	27.6%
Total	116	100%

The table above shows the analysis of the respondent’s number of years of Service. 33.9% of respondents have served at the teaching hospital for between 6-10 years. With this result it can be said that the study will be helped by experienced responses.

Analysis of Survey Responses

Responses on how often does road accident occur within Gwagwalada

Respondents	Frequency	%
Often	44	38%
Very often	16	14%
Scarcely	24	21%
Very scarcely	32	27%
Total	116	100%

The issues of road accidents in Gwagwalada in relation to its occurrences was the purpose of the table above. Respondents affirmed that road accident in Gwagwalada occur quite often, particularly in the highway of lokoja-Kaduna express road. This is because majority population of the sample frame of 38% suggested to that regards.

Responses on the Level of road accidents in Gwagwalada

Respondents	Frequency	%
High	53	45.7%
Optimum	42	36.2%
Low	21	18.1%
Total	116	100%

The above table shows the results of the level of road accident around Gwagwalada. From the results, it can be deducted that the level of occurrence of accident is high. This was affirmed by 45.7% of respondents. This response was backed up by 36.2% of the respondents who also suggested that accident occur optimally.

Responses on Factors that contribute more to road accident

Respondents	Frequency	%
Over Speeding	55	56.0%
Over Loading	12	10.3%
Carelessness of Drivers	32	27.6%
Drinking and driving	3	2.6%
Bad Vehicles	4	3.4%
Total	116	100%

From the above table, 56.0

Discussion of Findings

The study found that there use to be a high level of road accident occurrence in Gwagwalada which hitherto happen often most especially the Lokoja-Kaduna express road. And other times accidents are experienced along other routes along Gwagwalada metropolis.

The study also found that bad road and over speeding are combined factor the influence the occurrences of road accident in Gwagwalada. The respondents stated that bad road along the express road and the incessant high-speed drivers move on have proven to be major contributors to road accident. This study aligns with literature review posited by Balogun (2024).

Moreso, the study found that loss of lives of loved ones is more occurring effect of road accident on victims. The study also found that the road safety in Gwagwalada have been engaging in sensitization program and educating road users on the prerequisites for driving and the effort have been yielding positive results as there is reduction in the occurrence of road accident in Gwagwalada.

References

Atunbi, A. O. (2009). Urban Transportation. An Appraisal of Features and Problems in Nigeria Society. International Journal of Geography and Regional Planning, 1(2):12-13.
Publisher | Google Scholor
Ogunsanya, A.A. (2002), Maker and Breaker of Cities. 59th Inaugural Lecturer, University of Illorin.
Publisher | Google Scholor

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