Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Concerns are growing over the state of Nigeria’s roads after a fatal crash on Monday left several people injured British former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and killed two close associates nearby. Lagos.
Joshua, a two-time heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medalist, is recovering from minor injuries following the accident and is under “observation”, his promoter said on Monday.
Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps said the accident along a major highway linking the country’s economic hub of Lagos and Ogun state was caused by “excessive speed and wrongful overtaking”, causing the car to collide with a stationary truck on the side of the road. Witnesses said a tire burst while the vehicle was traveling at high speed.
Joshua recently won a fight against a Youtuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul On December 19, he used this game to improve his physical fitness in order to compete for the future top boxing championship.
According to his promoter Matchroom Boxing, the former world heavyweight champion, who has Nigerian citizenship, is in “stable condition” and will remain in hospital for further “observation.” Joshua’s long-time friends and team members Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele died in the accident, the promoters said in a statement released on X.
Gami is Joshua’s strength and conditioning coach, while Ayodele is the coach. Just hours before the accident, Joshua and Ayodele posted clips on social media of playing table tennis together.
Concern over frequent road traffic accidents in Nigeria
The high-profile accident has raised serious concerns about road safety on Nigeria’s accident-prone highways.
The West African country had 9,570 road accidents in 2024, resulting in 5,421 deaths, according to the country’s federal road safety force. Its data showed that 340 more people died in road traffic accidents last year compared with 2023.
Experts say the grim statistics are caused by a combination of dilapidated road networks, lax enforcement of traffic laws and undisciplined drivers.
The stationary truck that Joshua’s vehicle hit is a fixture on Nigeria’s highways, often causing severe traffic jams. Goods and food are transported across Nigeria’s vast geography via these trucks, which experts say are often in poor condition and are responsible for many accidents.
“The high number of accidents in Nigeria is a serious problem,” Ache Ogu, chief executive of the Center for Road Accident Prevention Network, an Abuja-based NGO, told The Associated Press. “Most of the trucks are in poor condition and law enforcement needs to step up their efforts.”
Monisola Abosede, a 27-year-old marketer who lives in Lagos and drives several kilometers to work every working day, was involved in two accidents in December alone.
“In Lagos, everyone is in a hurry to get somewhere; people are always moving,” she told The Associated Press, blaming the crash on the city’s heavy traffic and poor road network.