President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has said that bad roads do not necessarily lead to an increase in road accidents.
Jonathan said that it has equally been discovered that good roads result in a lot of accidents.
The President, who spoke on Saturday at the burial of a former National Security Adviser, General Owoye Azazi in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said a survey by the Federal Road Safety Commission had revealed that a lot of crashes occur in the country where there are good roads.
In a remark he made in reaction to the position of the Catholic Bishop of Bomadi, Rev. Hyacinth Egbebo, that corruption fuels a lot of the ills in the country, which in turn leads to poor infrastructure, including bad roads that cause most crashes in the country, Jonathan disagreed, saying what the country required was an attitudinal change.
Jonathan said: “If Nigerians would change their attitude, you will realise that most of these issues being attributed to corruption are not caused by corruption.
“Recently, I met with officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps who told me that they had discovered that majority of the road accidents are recorded on good roads.
“So you can see it is not a matter of corruption.
“It is an issue of the people’s attitude.”
Jonathan, in his remarks at the burial, urged Nigerians to emulate Azazi.
He said: “If 50 per cent of Nigerians would behave like late Azazi, believe me, this country will change for the better.
“I had no regret when I appointed him National Security Adviser.
“He was a good Nigerian.”
“As we mourn Azazi, let us learn from his lifetime achievements to do what is right for the general good of our nation.
“Let us begin to pattern our lives in emulation of late Azazi’s life of devotion and dedication to national service.”
The Rivers State Governor, Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, said the Niger Delta and Nigeria had lost a perfect military officer.
Amaechi said a major road currently under construction in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, would be named after Azazi to immortalise him.
Azazi’s remains were buried at the Ijaw National Heroes Park, Yenagoa.
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