By Friday Idachaba, Lokoja
A transport expert has warned that Nigeria risks sinking deeper into an endless cycle of road carnage unless urgent reforms are made to its transport policy and urban planning.
Professor Musilimu Adeyinka Adetunji, delivering the 30th Inaugural Lecture of the Federal University Lokoja (FUL), said Nigeria’s obsession with automobiles and chaotic city planning is fuelling deaths, pollution, and economic waste.
“Enough is enough. Nigerians cannot continue to live in perpetual mourning over recurring road crashes. The time has come to redesign our cities and rethink our transport system,” he declared.
Citing World Health Organization figures, Adetunji said road traffic accidents claimed 1.19 million lives globally in 2023, with Nigeria contributing a grim share. In Kogi State, he added, the tragedy has become so frequent that “people are exhausted from constantly burying their loved ones.”
The professor outlined urgent remedies to include revamp of Nigeria’s transport policy to reduce dependence on cars, smart City master plans to guide urban development, Mass transit and light rail systems in major cities and safer road designs with bicycle lanes, pedestrian walkways, zebra crossings, and street lighting.
He warned that without a bold shift to sustainable transport models, Nigeria’s rapid urbanisation will choke mobility, deepen poverty, and shorten lives.
FUL Vice Chancellor, Prof. Olayemi Akinwumi, described the lecture as “timely and topical,” noting that mobility and city growth are among Nigeria’s most urgent development challenges.
