Highways of Life, Not Death

Tunde Akanni

By far impacting the most devastating effect on Nigerians, home and abroad as 2025 began to wind down was the fatal accident involving the UK-based Nigerian boxer, Anthony Joshua, fondly hailed, AJ. The tragedy instantly claimed the lives of two of AJ’s associates, Sina Ghami and Lateef Ayodele, otherwise, Latz. Inalilai wa inailei rajiun. May their precious souls rest in eternal peace, amen.

From a video recording of the tragedy, the hypermedia-consuming street boys and others readily recognised AJ even as trapped within the badly mangled remains of the SUV they were all travelling in. The car bore no marks to reveal anything yet they shouted ”na AJ ooo!”. Thus commenced rescue operations. But his two friends had breathed their last. Dead.

Governments of both Lagos and Ogun states responded promptly and marshalled all available facilities to support AJ, ensuring his immediate evacuation to Duchess International Hospital, Ikeja GRA. Duly discharged, he managed to fly out to go pay his last respect to the departed lofty souls of his late associates eventually interned Sunday January 4, 2025. What a huge and painful loss, at once, to our dear AJ.

AJ’s accident provoked boundless reactions oozing assorted perspectives including those laced with political colouration with the simplistic thesis that Nigeria happened to Team AJ. But the simpletons were immediately countered. The more sober voices dismissed the unfounded sentiments and also ensured their own voices counted as much as those of the nation’s relentless disparagers.

Notably, Ambassador Designate Reno Omokri cited similar previous incidents around the world including that of Princess Diana of the UK in which the son of the Egyptian born British billionaire, Dodi Fayed died. According to Reno, taking AJ to hospital in government ambulance took far fewer minutes than it took victims of similar accidents around the world. He went further to challenge whoever had contrary information to volunteer such. None since!

This does not amount to an absolutely perfect official attention to such incidents. There are probably countless others compelling some pleasantly revisionist intervention from responsible government agencies like the Tunji Bello-led Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. This Commission is, for instance, doing its best with its campaign slogan of Demand and Insist to alert Nigerians to their statutory entitlement in emergency situations to treatment in public health facilities before being asked to make any payment. If only the rule of law as being advocated by FCCPC, accompanied by compassion, had always prevailed…

Tragic trajectories all the way. In April 2010, Nigerians suddenly woke up to the tragic news of the shocking death of that fast rising rapper, Dagrin. He rammed his car into a stationary truck in Mushin, apparently while returning from an all-night show. Dagrin held so much promise, according to his fans making his death send ripples to far and near. Barely one year later, yet another star, of the comedy genre, CD John, died in a similar manner. As recently as October 7, 2025, still in the showbiz world, Chris Jeyibo a music producer, had a collision with a truck park.

Similar contexts for all, as obvious. No mechanical dysfunction in any of their vehicles. Misuse of road spaces sticks out in all but there is also a peculiar angle especially in AJ’s case. Reinforcing an earlier claim by a Facebook user, a renowned broadcaster, Anike-Ade Funke Treasure who claims to live in Nigeria by choice cautions against heaping all the blames on the bad road conditions. Ironically, according to her, the good condition of some roads tempt into tragedies. “Over speeding kills. I ply that road often, it’s a recently reconstructed road. Such a ghastly accident has no other explanation than over speeding.”

Apparently also endorsing Omokri, She continues: “I feel for men of the FRSC who beat the traffic build-up by running to the scene…”. The earlier commenter, a Sayo Aluko, argues: I mean this was a multi-lane expressway with a shoulder…A stationary trailer parked on the shoulder does not , by itself cause a catastrophic collision: such outcomes are shaped by speed, control and judgement on the point of impact. Roads do not create speed, drivers do…this accident could have occurred in (sic) anywhere under the same conditions of speed and recklessness, and the trailer in that could have been a fat oak.”

Incidentally, highway remains the flagship physical accomplishment of the President Tinubu’s administration amply signposted by the innovative duo of the Lagos-Calabar Highway and the Sokoto-Badagry Highway. Add that to the ingenuity of the enhanced use of local content of cement for the roads most popularised by a tested engineer himself, the incumbent Works Minister, David Umahi, when he was Ebonyi State Governor.

But the human factor holds sway always, head or tail, with the possibility of harvesting negative results even when positive outcomes are glaringly low hanging fruits. Soyinka’s play, The Road, offers a most convincing, unnecessary mystification of Ogun as killer on the road even as its susceptibility to manipulation by human beings is limitless. Drivers are quick to accuse Ogun, being the Yoruba god of iron embodying vehicles, of being murderous when accidents happen on the road. Forever, they want to wash their hands clean from automobile accidents, in spite of the total control of automobile technology that humans have. The debates could have been endless and in fact globally so with the (dis)advantage of the global spread of the naïve nitwits, if only to be exhibitionist about their fandom for AJ or sheer gullible criticism of the government they loath without limit.

With this global dimension added to the series of the road tragedies in Nigeria in this internet age will probably come some succor to unfounded fault finding with the nation’s road condition. There are bad roads but there are probably as many bad road users. It is inconceivable for instance how, unlike Lagos, drivers in Abuja relish defying traffic lights in the nation’s capital with impunity. Even in Lagos where it is public knowledge that there are CCTV cameras overlooking highways, unpleasant situations such as had claimed the lives of some of the music producer, Chris Jeyibo, still happen.

Notwithstanding the predictable, largely online criticism of it, the Lagos-Calabar Highway has turned out to be a most precocious or rather ambitious project. Even as it remains far from being fully completed, it now helps to relieve the pre-existing roads on Lagos Island connecting outward, inter-state roads for vehicles heading for southernly Western and Eastern regions of the country. That road project has clearly earned Nigeria a lofty ranking on the world road rating scale with all resultant positive projections of economic benefits beyond what were earlier anticipated thus recommending it easily for robust international funding support

But we cannot continue to sit back without accompanying our civilisational advancement with required or appropriate knowledge democratisation efforts. And we can never have enough of these. From the relevant state actors at the national level like the FRSC to those at the subnational level like the Lagos State Transport Management Authority, LASTMA, efforts must be stepped up to be more proactive in the discharge of duties. While public education campaigns, especially during festive periods must not be deployed as sheer cosmetic interventions, they must not be seen as yet another opportunity to extort innocent road users either.

Equally strategic in this context are the unmistakably well resourced non-state actors who only need to be properly inspired by relevant state actors to reinforce relevant official activities. The likes of the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, and some others with membership encompassing grassroots operators like drivers of tricycles as well as commercial bikers will do well to ensure due percolation of the new consciousness that must accompany the renewal agenda of the Tinubu administration. The doability is pretty real especially with the readiness of the federal government to be demonstrative with attention to even affairs at the very base ward level. Non state actors must also seek out allies in the corporate operators of the emerging car rental service companies such as often patronised by the likes of the unfortunate Team AJ.

With the acknowledged, unprecedented road development now, even in the regions, perhaps most exemplified in Imo and Osun states, obviously deriving from substantially improved funding allocation from the revenue mindful federal government, safety concerns deserve urgent attention. Indeed, offering a commendable example from Osun State is the Ede ThinkTank, a cell of Ede Descendants Union. Populated by intellectuals with diverse academic and professional leanings, it is currently led by the Obafemi Awolowo University Professor of Medicine, Abubakar Abefe Sanusi. As proactive as ever, the model group formulated a dedicated campaign for enhanced road safety for the community following massive road development. Ede is better for it now even as Ede Think Tank, while monitoring that, has moved on to engage with tech-driven multi-sectoral productivity taking advantage of its social clout. For the group, no national or international official is unreachable. Fundamentally however, for the group led by a medical veteran, the right to life is supreme.

Highways therefore must support better lives, not snuff them.

Prof. Akanni is a LASU-based Development Communications expert currently on sabbatical tenure at FCCPC, Abuja. Follow him further online on medium.com