By Emmanuel Kwada
Former Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and ex-Minister of Aviation, Professor Osita Chidoka, has issued a stark warning that Nigeria risks losing approximately 65,000 citizens to road traffic crashes by 2030 if urgent and decisive actions are not taken to reverse the current trend.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief programme on Monday, Chidoka expressed alarm at the nation’s rising road fatality figures, stressing that no country loses 5,000 people in a single type of incident year after year and remains complacent.
“No country loses 5,000 people from a particular incident and does nothing,” Prof. Chidoka declared. “Let me tell you the price of doing nothing: if we do nothing and these things keep growing at the current 10 per cent between 2024 and 2025, by 2030 we could have lost about 65,000 Nigerians from road crashes.”
The former FRSC helmsman, who served as Corps Marshal between 2007 and 2014, described road traffic deaths as a preventable national emergency that has been allowed to escalate unchecked.
He called for a radical overhaul of road safety policies, stricter enforcement of traffic laws, improved driver education, vehicle maintenance standards, and massive investment in safer road infrastructure.
Chidoka further urged the current leadership of the FRSC, state governments, and the National Assembly to treat road safety with the same urgency accorded to terrorism and banditry, warning that the projected 65,000 deaths by 2030 would represent an unacceptable human and economic tragedy.
“Nigeria cannot continue to treat road crashes as normal. These are not mere statistics; they are fathers, mothers, children, and breadwinners,” he said.
The warning comes amid growing concerns over Nigeria’s road safety record, with the World Health Organisation estimating that the country records one of the highest road traffic mortality rates in Africa.
Road safety advocates have echoed Prof. Chidoka’s call, urging President Bola Tinubu to declare a national emergency on road safety and convene an urgent summit of stakeholders to chart a decisive path toward zero tolerance for preventable road deaths.
