The activist criticised the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), saying the agency has failed in its core mandate of saving lives on Nigerian roads.
Former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) and human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, has said Nigeria’s collapsed emergency response system is responsible for a significant number of road accident deaths in the country.
Sowore explained that that two team members of the former boxing champion Anthony Joshua who died in a recent crash on the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway could have survived if proper emergency care was available.
Speaking during a live BBC broadcast on road safety, Joshua and Nigeria’s failing national emergency services, Sowore said he was deeply disturbed by images from the crash scene showing victims being rescued without basic first aid, stretchers or trained emergency personnel.
"I was really distraught by the images I saw of Anthony Joshua being pulled out of such a ghastly auto accident without any form of emergency first aid, no stretcher," Sowore said.
"And to know that there were also, there could have been some of his colleagues who survived but were not given those initial emergency supports to get to the hospital on time and probably we will be having a different conversation today."
According to Sowore, poor emergency response accounts for between 50 and 60 per cent of fatalities recorded on Nigerian highways, particularly on the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, which he described as one of the deadliest roads in the country.
“That road kills an average of 70 to 80 people every month,” he said. “If Joshua wasn’t involved, you probably wouldn’t have heard about this story at all.
"The Lagos-Ibadan Road is very notorious for such types of accidents and poor emergency services contribute to what would be about 50 to 60% of why the fatality rate is high.
“If that kind of accident had immediate assistance in terms of emergency services, probably some of his friends might have survived and several other persons that have died on that Lagos-Ibadan expressway. Those are deaths that you can refer to as needless death."
The activist criticised the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), saying the agency has failed in its core mandate of saving lives on Nigerian roads.
While noting that the FRSC is statutorily equipped with ambulances and emergency tools, Sowore alleged that the reality on ground tells a different story.
“Nigeria has a road safety agency, they call them the Federal Road Safety Corps, and they're supposed to have ambulances, they're supposed to have stretchers, they're supposed to be able to support victims of accidents,” he said.
"But what they do naturally on that road, I can't tell you, but sometimes they just stay there and extort money from motorists, that's what they do."
Sowore recalled that when the agency was first established and overseen by Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka, it was an institution Nigerians could be proud of.
“But when it was first established and was handled by Professor Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate, it used to be an agency to be proud of, but today it's a shadow of itself, so they no longer have those emergency services,” he said.
He further rejected claims that Nigeria lacks the financial capacity to provide advanced emergency services such as air ambulances, describing the issue as one of misplaced priorities by the political elite.
“If the president of Nigeria or their children fall sick or get into an accident, air ambulances suddenly become available to take them to Germany or the UK,” Sowore said. “So why can’t we afford it for the generality of our people?”
Live BBC BROADCAST WITH YELE SOWORE On ANTHONY JOSHUA And ROAD SAFETY AND NIGERIA’S FAILED NATIONAL EMERGENCY SERVICES pic.twitter.com/5j8DdZQxRu
— Omoyele Sowore (@sowore) December 31, 2025
Citing the case of a son of former President Muhammadu Buhari who was flown to Germany following a motorbike accident, Sowore argued that the cost of such emergency evacuations for a few privileged individuals could have funded multiple emergency helicopters for public use.
“There was a son of former President Buhari who was in a motorbike accident. They got him to Germany before daybreak, and I'm sure that costs more money than we could have used to provide maybe three or four helicopters. It's a matter of national priority, and I must tell you that we can afford it.
“Nigeria can afford those kind of emergency services, yes, certainly, but we don't have the kind of leadership that is good enough to handle those kinds of things, sadly," he said.
Sowore, however, called for urgent reforms in Nigeria’s road safety and emergency response systems, warning that without decisive action, preventable deaths will continue to occur daily on the nation’s highways.
Joshua was involved in a road accident on Monday in Makun, on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Ogun State.
Eyewitnesses reportedly said that the accident occurred when the vehicle conveying the boxer ran into a stationary truck.