If Monica Dongban-Mensem, a judge at the Abuja court of
appeal, had her way, she would have prevented the death of Samson Kwapda’as,
her son, in 2011.
It was meant to be a day of celebration for the family. The
then 32-year-old student had graduated with a law degree from the University of
Jos (UNIJOS), Plateau state, and had gone to the capital city to get his
certificate.
“I gave up sleep, hoping that my son will walk through the
door and give me a big hug. I also left a plate of food on the table hoping he
would return hungry,” she told BBC.
But then, the unthinkable happened.
He was said to have been knocked down by a hit-and-run
driver at the Miners Junction in the Tundun Wada area of the city and died
after moments of writhing in excruciating pains without help from on-lookers.
“My son wanted to be the best prosecutor in the world but
died like a chicken on the street after being knocked down,” she said.
“He broke his two legs and neighbours within the area looked
the other way as my son groaned in pain, bleeding from one end of the road to
the other.
“He gave up the ghost in the pool of his own blood but I am
sure he would have survived if he was rushed to the hospital.”
It was an incident that evokes sad memory for
Dongban-Mensem, but the 62-year-old is rooting to avoid a repeat of such
occurrence on Nigerian roads.
After the incident, she took to road safety advocacy with
the Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC) and was certified as a traffic warden in
2016.
She has since been engaging in the coordination of traffic
movement in the nation’s capital at her leisure time.
Aside this, Dongban-Mensem also floated Kwapda’as Road
Safety Demand, a non-profit organisation, named after her son.
The organisation aims to educate and sensitise motorists on
road safety tips, while she also plans to establish driving school for commercial
drivers — so as to offer free training to drivers.
“It was a very bad experience which I would not want any
other parent to feel and that was what drove me into safety advocacy,” she told
the news outlet.
“Better road safety will mean dignity of life. It will mean
the government and the people taking more responsibility to dignify people’s
lives by providing good motorable roads and ensuring that those who are allowed
to drive on the road are persons who are willing to take up responsibility for
their actions.
“We’ll not give up, we shall continue to go out, talk to
people, appeal to their consciences, appeal to government, appeal to corporate
organisations. We are not asking for their money, we are asking them to take
responsibility to ensure that motorists are educated.”
According to the Nigerian constitution, hit-and-run drivers,
if apprehended and found guilty, can be charged with manslaughter and face up
to 14 years in jail.
But Dongban-Mensem noted a stricter measures such as life
imprisonment for such people would address the situation, adding that affected
families should also get financial compensation.
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