Government should take care of vulnerable and disabled -Rufus Egunyomi

RUFUS EGUNYOMI is the founder of a non-governmental organization, Right Advocacy Initiatives for Road Accident Victims in Nigeria. In this chat with ISAAC NGUMAH, Egunyomi talks about the NGO’s operations and what the government can do to assist. Read on:

What does your organization stand for?

What our organization stands for is to take care of road accident victims and to promote the welfare and well-being of accident victims and their dependants.

What made you to start the NGO?

Passion; we are doing it free of charge; we are not taking money from the victims in case of accidents. We promote their welfares and the well-being of their dependants. We also provide medical support for them.

What were you doing before you started an NGO?

I have been involved in other activities. I am a lawyer by profession, an insurance practitioner, and licensed claim adjuster in the USA, a trained and accredited alternative resolution.

Do you get support from government, individuals and corporate organizations?

We suppose to get grants from the government as a matter of fact; individual volunteers are the ones supporting us presently.

What are your challenges while running your NGO?

This particular type of NGO is something you just go to the media, we do a referral, those people we have settled always refer people to us help them we don’t check ambulances; we don’t run after anybody. In case of any accident, we start running up and down. Our major challenge is that people involved in accidents are so many; so, we look at the major ones that need assistance. Government has tried in their own way and so many Nigerians are not taking advantage of that; there is a registration in Nigeria; before you put your vehicle on the road, you must have insurance. Some people will not take appropriate insurance, they will take fake paper; therefore, insurance will not be able to come to assistance if there is an accident. If you take a genuine paper of a particular insurance company, you will see that during any accident, we will be able to come to your assistance.

What drives you?

The passion to save lives; some people don’t have people to talk for them; I mean people of circumstances; they don’t have people to talk for them and to advocate for them. When they have accidents, some will say this is how God wants it. It’s wrong to say that, you supposed to help them; government should encourage those involved in accidents and help them. We are there for them in case of anything to get justice as well.

What experiences have you gathered since you have been running your NGO?

We always have challenges with the police; for instance, we have to get some police report to carry out our humanitarian jobs whenever there is an accident.

How many states in Nigeria has your NGO got to?

We cover every part of Nigeria with the help and assistance of some lawyers. To get things done, we partner with them in every part of Nigeria.

Can you tell us about your awareness campaign so far?

So far so good; we are trying in that aspect; we have created a lot of awareness

What year was your NGO created?

It was established in the 2018 and we started full operations in 2020.

What and what do you want government to do to support your NGO?

Government should take care of those who are vulnerable and the disabled ones. Basically, it is an area that government should look into. If you go to the hospitals, you will see the number of people involved in accidents and it will marvel you. The disabled don’t have any way to go for their daily needs to support their medical bills and many are totally disabled but we look into that to help and assist them. If you look at the whole of Nigeria today, you will see the percentage of people involved in accidents within the quarter of a year apart from all these kidnapping, terrorism, accidents’ victims become the major epidemics .When you see the number of people involved in accidents nowadays, we cannot account for them because people are not cautious of the fact that people are involved in accidents. Government needs to look into that. As an organization, we do our best as quickly as possible to save lives; you know that accident victims are in every part of Nigeria; not in one particular region.

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