The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and Voice of Nigeria (VON) have called for a collective national commitment to ending vehicle overloading and other unsafe road practices.
The call was made at the National Breakfast Policy Dialogue and launch of the National Movement for Safe Loading and Safe Roads.
The Corps Marshal, Shehu Muhammad said, overloading should no longer be viewed simply as a traffic offence, but as an issue with serious implications for road safety, infrastructure, logistics and economic development.
He said excessive load could affect vehicle braking, steering and stability, accelerate vehicle deterioration and increase the risk of crashes, while also contributing to the premature deterioration of roads.
Mr Muhammad warned against mixed or incompatible cargo, stressing that the safety risk depended not only on the weight of the cargo, but also on what was being transported, how it was combined, positioned and secured.
He said the challenge was particularly common in the haulage and logistics sector, where efforts to maximise each journey and reduce transportation costs could sometimes encourage unsafe loading practices.
In his goodwill message, the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of VON, Mallam Jibrin Baba Ndace, said road safety should not be regarded solely as an enforcement responsibility, but as a collective national duty requiring effective communication, public education, stakeholder collaboration and responsible behaviour by all road users.
He said his personal experiences of road crashes had reinforced his conviction that road safety was fundamentally about protecting human lives.
“Behind every road accident is a human story,” he said, noting that families and communities could have their lives changed within seconds by a road crash.
The VON DG urged drivers and other road users to guard against overconfidence, warning that years of driving experience or familiarity with a particular route should not lead to reckless behaviour.
