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TRAVSI Founder/CEO, Gadafi Asemanya jnr., standing left with some volunteer scouts with the recently donated ambulance for road accident rescue and treatment
24hours Road Accident Victims Support Initiative (TRAVSI) is not just another kind of NGO but keeps an eye on the roads ensuring accident victims are given the necessary care. They don’t any live precious life to be lost on the roads.
By Anthony Maliki in Makurdi
Can you introduce yourself, your position and the NGO you represent?
My name is Honourable Gadafi Asemanya Junior. I am the Founder and CEO of 24hour Accident Victims Support Initiative (TRAVSI). We are based in Makurdi, Benue State. We are situated along David Mark By-pass.
What prompted you into establishing this NGO because it seems to be unique in this part of the country?
Actually, it was born out of my former position as the Senior Special Assistant to the former Executive Governor of Benue State now a current Senator Dr Gabriel Suswam who saw me as a very young vibrant and full of energy and decided to appoint me as Senior Special Assistant on Public Utility and Critical Infrastructure in the state. I served from 2007 to 2015 and because of my pragmatic steps towards protection of critical infrastructure, then Benue State were lacking in infrastructure, the past government could not provide some of these infrastructures and now that he has provided them, people of Benue State have never seen such and because of the attitude of Benue public towards infrastructure, because they go drunk and drive at the dead of the night and the next thing happens is you crash and most of the crashes were at the street lights, so once I go to the crash site, even though I superintend over the infrastructure and government property has been destroyed by a drunken person, but what happens to the man who destroys it? He will be laying down with plenty of injuries, so I cannot be talking about the property he has destroyed without also saving his life. So, what I do was to take them to the hospital, stabilize them and reunite them with their family members and most cases, those them are having these accidents, don’t have money and somebody is unconscious cannot be able to produce money treatment. So, I pay for the card, the stabilization fee, for the drip, stitches and quickly, I also make sure I reunite them with the family.
The amount that you pay at that initial time, is it from your personal account?
It is from my personal money. However, because the governor saw that I was very dynamic, so once in a while, he calls me personally and gives me gifts, money and sometimes supports me unlike my other colleagues who basically rely on only salaries. So, I have an edge because of my dexterity at ensuring that things are done, he appreciates me a lot, he dashes me money, he even puts me in overseas trips. What even motivates me more is whenever I travel out of Nigeria, I leant some of the things a lot of Nigerians don’t even keep to rules, code of conducts that is established in the Federal Highway Code whereby rules are to be kept. We do a lot of things haphazardly. They don’t have driving license, a lot of underaged driving. So, the privilege and opportunities that I have gotten traveling out of the country to Europe, South Africa, Canada and some other African countries, I now discover that most people there obey road traffic laws while we in Nigeria don’t because whether you have a driving license here, you cannot drive in any part of the world except you go through their driving school. Licenses overseas are very expensive. You will a Nigerian leaving here to another country, he will keep to the regulations but if he returns, he doesn’t keep to it. So, that passion in me inform me. I now discovered that even in Makurdi, there are a lot of underaged driving because most of the children that indulged in this driving, their parents are wealthy people, so they will buy cars and a boy who is not up to 18 years, driving without a license and because of youthful exuberance, he engages into alcoholism, before you know, he goes into drugs and various social vices that leads to cultism and many other vices. So, with that, I now develop that skill and training and also develop sympathy for people who have accidents. So, I now say ‘OK, let’s see how it goes’. So, I became a household name in Benue State even in Nigeria because I have gotten a lot of awards too when I was serving as a Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Utilities from reputable institutions. By then I have a programme at Federal Radio of Nigeria ‘Harvest FM’ Makurdi. Even some publishers of books like a former Director of Radio Benue, Igba Ogbole mentioned me in his book on how I was protecting public infrastructures which is a very nice acknowledgement of my efforts to humanity. So, towards the twilight of that administration, I was thinking of what to do to give to the society, so I decided to do advocacy on how people can respect traffic regulations, acquire drivers’ license, go to good driving school and maintain sanity on the roads. So, I decided I am establishing an NGO. I now discovered that the youths who go to clubs, it is 24 hours, for night crawlers, it is till day break, so I decided to come out with this unique name. We work for 24 hours because most of the accidents occur at the dead of the night and we will be there to rescue survivors of such accidents. We are also a member of the Coalition of Road Safety NGO of Nigeria and we are not up to 100. It is now that the number of growing and in that coalition, TRASVI comes very tall because we are the only NGO that are not doing advocacy alone. Communities along the Federal Highways, you talk to them, you let the children know how to cross the road, sometimes, we create Zebra Crossing for them and now that government has established IDP camps along federal highways to draw attention of the Federal Government to the plight of the state, so a lot of children who are playing football and when the ball rolls to the road, they are not careful and a vehicle coming on excessive speed crushes them, so we also sensitize such kids in the IDP camps and adults too who don’t know how to cross the roads because some of them have not gotten either formal or information education about road signs and road traffic rules. So, we did a lot of things. We are also partnering with a lot of organizations too like the media and also in partnership with Radio Benue, Makurdi where every Tuesday, we talk to people on the programme “Road traffic mata”. We are partnership with the Federal Road Safety Commission because they are the ones that have the core mandate in carrying road accident survivors and those who died at the crash scene and also the police but because of rates at which these accidents occur are too many so these agencies cannot be in all these places at the same time and probably logistics too is a challenge, we also have the Red Cross Society of Nigeria. Our NGO is also in partnership with them whereby they provide us with training for our Volunteer Scouts on how to handle accident cases and emergencies and also help to educate us with current trends on humanitarian services to the community, society and survivors of road accidents. They have really done a lot. Even now, we have also advertised for employment. We have been blessed with a world-class ambulance that was donated to us to continue to carry out the good work we are doing. However, the ambulance was vandalized at the seaport and we are trying to fix some of the components that were removed. We need about N5million to do that. A lot of Nigerians don’t bother to stop to help road accident survivors because the police or relations might say you are the one that knocked the person. And that is why we have a lot of people who die prematurely as a result of these road accidents that people don’t assist and you don’t blame them because too many questions are in it. Somebody had an accident and is unconscious, if you take the person to the hospital with less than N2000 or N5000, you have saved a life. So, in our NGO decided that as part of our vision, provide emergency support to road accident victims, our mission is to champion best practice in respect to road accidents and to support victims to access quick medical support, protect their properties and contact their love ones and public safety officers. We collaborate with government agencies, developmental partners, other NGOs, CSOs, media and private organizations to ensure that lives and properties of survivors are protected. We increase community awareness as first respondents and intensify public awareness on how to support road accident survivors in case of emergency. If you don’t drive safe, you cannot stay alive.
How do you operate because some people ponder about it? Do you receive calls, wait for people to inform you about accidents?
Yes. Because of the partnership, we have also spread our work through the radio as a lot of people listen to the radio and the media. Also, our numbers are all over. It will also interest you to know that even an accident that occurs in Abuja, that involved a very senior Nigeria citizen, we got a call because our numbers are all over across the country. When such calls come, we call the nearest Road Safety spot or the 122 number. If it is close to our jurisdiction, we respond to it immediately and once in a while, we also move round on patrol because we know most of the accident-prone areas. Also, accidents occur most at weekends because go around enjoying the weekend and drink more. A lot people have our numbers. We are also working out how we can talk to the Nigerian Communication Commission so that we can have free-toll lines because the 122, a lot of people don’t even know it, so if we also have a free-toll line plus our own official lines, it will also go a long way save more survivors of road crashes in the country because a lot of people don’t even have credit to call or data. We are also looking at how we can make a legislation to see how the government can come in a subsidize the fee of medical cards for survivors of crashes at health facilities. There are some health facilities that you would go too far because if you take the person far from that particular health facility that is not more than 1000 meters away, the person may die, so if you have a closer facility, they will tell you emergency card is N5000 which is very outrageous. So, if government can subsidize that amount or as a law as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility to humanity that survivors of road accidents’ medical card is free or government to subsidize it.
Do you have specific people along the major highway routes that you that call you in case of accidents?
Yes, we do. Incidentally, the people in the state are keen listeners of my Radio Benue ‘Road Traffic Mata’ programme. Now, that the governor has acquired a 20 kilowatts transmitter for the station, their coverage will now go beyond Benue State to neighbouring states. Also, a lot of people are willing to be part of our NGO. Because most of the communities living along the highway are the first people that have contacts with the accidents and they do call us because most of them don’t have the Road Safety or police numbers. They prefer to call us because they feel comfortable with us. There is a kind of sensitization now that people should know their rights. Some people feel if you use your phone to call a policeman and say there is accident and it is a hit-and-run, the police would now ask about the colour of the vehicle, the number of the vehicle, is the person driving short or tall, so a lot of people are scared to give information but they are very free with us because they know we are not police, we are civil society, NGO that are coming to save lives, so that is why you see we have more calls more than the police and the Road Safety. So that fear in people is not there as we don’t have anywhere to lock up people. However, the police should only get information on the hit-and-run driver. Prosecution is the sole responsibility of the Police. Our responsibility is to ensure that live is not lost. We are playing a big role as we need support from government, individuals, institutions and the rest so that we can put things in order. We do a lot of synergy to ensure that Nigeria roads are also free of accidents. Most of the accidents are occasioned by government negligence of putting bad portions of the road in order. So, we are appealing to the governments at all levels to fit all bad roads so that we should loss precious lives.
How many people were you able to rescue since you officially started this NGO in 2017?
Most of these motorists don’t know anything about the highway codes. Due to insecurity mostly in the rural areas, a lot of people have moved to the urban areas and most of them are riding these machines in the town which they learn in one week and they don’t know the road codes. We have a lot of casualties through Okada riders. Also, people who are learners, don’t want to go to licensed driving school but only engage other people to teach them. Besides, these learners don’t want to put on the leaners sign. People use expensive cars to learn and that is a high level of indiscipline. Accident rates of Okada are over 2000. They are of the highest rate. Also, car accidents are getting high as everybody is claiming right of way. They will be dragging the right of way with each other. Many people also use phone or ear piece while driving. Since we came on board, we have rescued over 1500 survivors of accidents with cars involving learners, underaged driving.
Apart from human rescue, you safeguard victims’ cash. How much have you been able to secure?
A lot of money have been saved for victims. The matter of first responders to accident scene is very important. When people get to an accident scene, they are looking for items to steal like cash, wrist watches, bags, shoes and also searching the body of the victims for valuables who are crying in pains. We have retrieved a lot of phones, monies and recovered huge sums of money from victims of road accidents and return to their family members especially those who lost their lives. Sometimes some of these victims don’t have money to buy food and we will buy food for them to be able to take their medications.
How many Volunteer Scouts do you have?
The core volunteers we have. We have informants who are volunteers that if anything happens, they are going to call. Some of them in other to encourage them we have to buy small phones to arm them as some of them are petty traders who are trading on the highway. Some of them don’t even have telephone, so what TRAVSI did was to give them smaller phones and once there is an accident, they will call us. Our core staff strength is 15 and with the coming of the new ambulance we have just advertised for employment for nurses, drivers and support staff. The Red Cross are ready to train our staff professionally.
Many people are emotionally when it comes to accident rescue. How do you feel when first arrive at an accident scene?
It just like a lot people who choose profession. Some say they want to be doctors but when it gets to that practical aspect, some of them will withdraw and change courses. Some people would write examination to become nurses and when they start going to the clinic and seeing terrible accidents, they run away. So, you have to have the heart that you are going to help people. So, for us, we have the heart. There is no magnitude of accident that we cannot carry the person to the hospital because we want that life that wants to go should remain.
The Federal Highway Code is obsolete, they need to review the law. Our services are free. We don’t ask people for money, instead we use our own money to ensure that we save lives.
Johnson Idoko, 39, a Clinical Psychologist, join TRAVSI in 2020
“By then, there was no vehicle and most times, Gadafi is the one to go to the accident scene and will be telling us what to do and there was no much funds. I was working at the Primary Health Centre at Wadata area of Makurdi under the Nigeria government’s N-Power programme. Freelancer on Clinical Psychologist. I joined two years ago but became active during the festive period when the call for added hands became necessary. We do go out when there are events and the need for road safety agencies are supposed to be there, but there is none. The work is quite a good thing, though we are still soliciting for more hands because there are so many other places to cover. Government, well-wishers and religious bodies can come and identify with the NGO. The local population are really appreciating us.”
Ansha Kelvin, 36 years, works at Benue State Ministry of Agriculture as a Higher Agriculture Superintended.
“People prefer to call TRAVSI because of prompt response. When they say they are calling in five minutes, they will be there are that time, exact. TRAVSI don’t collect money as mobilization for fuel the vehicle and doesn’t give excuses. As you call him, he is there. I am not a volunteer but I do move around with him too.”
Blessing Bitrus had an accident on March 10, 2022 near the Central Bank of Nigeria, Makurdi branch and had injuries in my hand, face and back. She finished at Government College, Obi, Nasarawa State in 2017.
She said: “This man is a nice. He helps people. He saved my life. He paid money for my medical treatment and other bills. I pray God to increase him. I like the work he does. He is a man full of pity. He defended us.”
Volunteer Scout Agada Edoka Mathew, a graduate of Chemistry from the University of Jos. Plateau State.
“The NGO has been working tirelessly in ensuring safety within the state and the adjourning states. The NGO helps to safeguard lives as most persons drive carelessly who are mostly drunk. We also help curb casualties and striving to become better. Advice to motorist is to reduce excessive speed, adhere to road signs and obey traffic rules. I like helping the community with humanitarian work.
Muhammadu Ibrahim alias “Big smoke” fell from a motorcycle on December 26, 2021 opposite the Benue State Library around Wurukum area, Makurdi
‘I am very well now. I thank you [TRAVSI] very much. I am very grateful. The work is good. It is about helping people.”
