Weekend Arena - Nigerians Are Dying Like Flies

The death of Chidinma Ajoku, a 27-year old lady, and her colleague, Chima, last Sunday was a very sad and unfortunate incident. 

Both Staffers of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN,were crushed to death when a container fell off a truck at Ilasa Bus Stop in Lagos. The two were on their way home from work that evening when the accident, a very avoidable one, snuffed their lives, in a rather cruel manner.



The anguish was palpable all over her mother who saw a mangled mass of tissues as the remains of her lovely daughter. Chidinma, full of hopes, was working hard towards pursuing further studies in Europe after her first degree at the Babcock University. Of course, her mother was concerned like many Nigerians why nothing is ever being done in the country to mitigate the harrowing experience of road users in the hands of truck drivers. 

Chidinma and Chima are two of the estimated 39,000 casualties, whose lives are carelessly, wasted on Nigerian roads yearly, according to statistics from the World Health Organisation. Like many before them, nothing may happen after all. Already the police have hinted that they could not trace the driver of the truck, but that they were in touch with the owner of the vehicle. The Nigerian factor may well explain why the police are more interested in the owner of the vehicle than the driver whose negligence actually caused the havoc.

 I don’t know what charges anyone would press against the owner of the truck!



Although it may seem a fruitless effort, considering what Nigeria has become in terms of protecting the lives of citizens, Chidinma’s mother has vowed to pursue the matter. According to her, “There had been several similar cases that happened and nothing was done to bring justice to the victims. But my daughter’s can’t go just like that If my daughter’s case will be used to stop this unwarranted killing, then, let it be what I have achieved. I know they will say I am ‘a nobody’. But I think everybody in Lagos, whether you have a car or not, our lives are in danger because we encounter these trailers and containers every day; they are very reckless. We should champion this cause together.”



It will be interesting to see the offenders in this particular case tried for murder (not manslaughter). But will they?


The FRSC Statistics Digest, a publication by the Federal Road Safety Corps is a living proof that trucks constitute bulk of the accidents on Nigerian roads. In fact, in one of the charts comparing road accidents among major fleet operators in Nigeria, Dangote Group came tops, and those who use the highways regularly must have seen traces of this in their numbers.



While accidents are what they are, quite unavoidable, something could be done to drastically reduce the numbers, especially from trucks, because lawlessness, lack of political will, inefficient transportation system and lack of infrastructure seem to be the major reasons why Nigerians are more vulnerable. A good look at some of the trucks being used for haulage in the country will reveal why such accidents are inevitable. Many trucks drive out of the wharf without the necessary safety measures in place, and to imagine that they would drive past several FRSC monitoring posts aside the road blocks by other security agencies, without being detected raises a poser. But the same security team will be quick to monitor private cars and what they have in their boots. 

 Trucks used to convey containers are supposed to be mandatorily built for it, with the necessary straps to make sure no havoc is caused, considering the dilapidated state of Nigerian roads.


Nigeria, as a consuming nation, whose wharf in Lagos is very busy receiving all kinds of imports (including tooth picks) incidentally failed to develop its railway infrastructure when it mattered most. The implication is that heavy containers have to be moved around by road, mostly by drivers who see themselves as kings of the roads, with their intimidating way of driving.

 The lawlessness on the part of these drivers may be traceable to the owners of the fleets who are very influential Nigerians indeed. A lot could be deduced from the ever present gridlock, snaking out of Apapa to other parts of Lagos that has constantly made life very unbearable in the city, where a commute from Ikeja to Lekki takes more time than travelling from Nigeria to London.



While proffering a solution to the perennial gridlock at Apapa, the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo had ordered some measures aimed at decongestion, but that order was never implemented; today those trucks are back in full swing, causing more obstruction on the roads in Lagos. In fact, some of them habitually park their trucks on the bridges which are built for vehicles to drive through and not to park on a permanent basis.


In reality, the failure on the part of government has exposed the Nigerian to deaths of all sorts, more like flies. If he is not killed by an accident, insecurity, malnutrition, lack of healthcare facilities, a depressed spouse, the system-induced ‘brief illness’ will snuff his life. With these, it is actually a miracle to wake up every new day in the country.

*Though this write up is on point,its rather sad that everything you said is the sad reality of what Nigerian has become....