By Adesegun Osibanjo
Introduction
Anthony Joshua’s recent road accident on the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway should not be reduced to celebrity misfortune or misused as fodder for unproductive narratives about national image.
It is, rather, a preventable tragedy that exposes long-standing weaknesses in Nigeria’s institutional systems—particularly those governing road safety, driver education, traffic enforcement, and civic responsibility.
While early commentary surrounding the incident was clouded by speculation, verifiable accounts from credible authorities, including the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), have since clarified the circumstances.
These reports indicate that the vehicle conveying the boxing champion was driven at excessive speed, engaged in unlawful overtaking from the right, and unlawfully utilised the hard shoulder—a lane strictly reserved for emergencies.
In the course of this reckless manoeuvre, the vehicle rammed into a stationary truck parked on that emergency lane.
The consequences were devastating. Two occupants of the vehicle—close associates of Anthony Joshua—lost their lives. This loss underscores a painful truth: when reckless behaviour meets institutional weakness, the outcome is often fatal.
The Hard Shoulder Is Not an Overtaking Lane
The hard shoulder, also known as the emergency lane, exists for one purpose only: to provide refuge for broken-down vehicles, accident victims, and access for emergency responders. It is not an auxiliary carriageway, a fast lane, or a congestion workaround.
Driving or overtaking on this lane removes margins for error and places motorists directly in the path of stationary vehicles with no capacity for evasive action.
Yet this violation has become disturbingly routine on Nigerian highways. What should attract immediate sanctions is often tolerated, reinforced by weak enforcement and a driving culture that prioritises speed and bravado over safety.
Many of Nigeria’s most catastrophic road accidents follow this same pattern—reckless overtaking, misuse of the hard shoulder, and high-impact collisions with immobile obstacles. These are not random occurrences; they are predictable outcomes of sustained lawlessness.
Individual Recklessness Within Systemic Failure
The driver’s conduct in this incident reflects a grave disregard for traffic rules and basic safety ethics. However, stopping at individual culpability would be insufficient. The more consequential question is how such a driver was licensed, retained, and entrusted with human lives.
Nigeria maintains statutory institutions responsible for driver education, testing, licensing, and renewal. In practice, these processes are frequently compromised. Licences and training certificates are often procured rather than earned, with little emphasis on formal instruction, ethical conduct, or periodic reassessment of competence. Enforcement is inconsistent, penalties are weakly applied, and deterrence is minimal.
This did not begin today. It is the result of decades of institutional erosion—an age-long failure that has normalised dangerous behaviour and turned public roads into high-risk environments.
Passenger Responsibility and the Limits of Silence
Responsibility for road safety does not end behind the steering wheel. High-profile passengers, particularly those accustomed to jurisdictions with strict traffic discipline, cannot reasonably claim ignorance when exposed to manifestly dangerous driving behaviour.
Anthony Joshua operates primarily within the United Kingdom, where lane discipline, speed regulation, and compliance with traffic laws are rigorously enforced. Excessive speeding, overtaking from the right, and misuse of the hard shoulder are universally recognised as high-risk violations. Awareness of these dangers is therefore not optional.
Silence in the face of recklessness is not neutrality; it is acquiescence. In this instance, that silence came at the cost of two lives.
This obligation extends beyond a single individual. Chauffeur-driven travel, particularly among VIPs, public officials, corporate leaders, and public figures, must not translate into abdication of oversight.
Driving is a shared risk. Passengers have a duty to remain observant, to insist on compliance with basic safety standards, and to intervene when those standards are breached. The presence of a driver does not absolve responsibility; it merely redistributes it.
Citizen Recklessness Must Be Confronted Alongside Government Failure
Institutional reform cannot succeed if citizen behaviour remains exempt from scrutiny. Speeding, dangerous overtaking, and abuse of emergency lanes are not imposed by government policy; they are chosen by individuals.
When such conduct becomes widespread, it undermines enforcement efforts and entrenches a culture of impunity.
Demanding accountability from public institutions while excusing everyday lawlessness creates a false moral divide. Reckless governance and reckless citizenship reinforce one another. Addressing one without confronting the other guarantees repetition of the same tragedies.
Beyond Blame: The Institutional Imperative
This incident should not be weaponised against any single administration. The deficiencies exposed were inherited, sustained across successive governments, and tolerated for far too long. What is required is not outrage, but institutional reactivation—credible driver education, uncompromising licensing standards, consistent enforcement, and sustained public safety education.
Anthony Joshua survived the crash. Two others did not. That distinction must remain central.
When institutions fail, survival becomes a matter of chance. Nigeria cannot continue to rely on luck. Restoring discipline, responsibility, and integrity to its road safety systems is no longer optional—it is a national imperative measured in human lives.
Engr. Adesegun Osibanjo BENG, MBA is the Lead Transformation Strategist, Ade-Nexus Centre for Energy & Climate Innovation and a Registered Engineer of the Federal republic.