PEOPLE travelling by road in Kaduna state are more likely to experience road accidents than in other states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), data analysed by The ICIR from Federal Government agencies have shown.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report stated that in 2023, 5,081 people were killed in various forms of road accidents. Also, 31,873 people suffered various forms of injury on the nation’s roads within the year.
Kaduna state had the highest incidents of both deaths and injuries. The state recorded 490 deaths; this is almost 10 per cent of the total road deaths recorded across the country within the year.
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This is followed by Ogun, Niger and the FCT, with road death casualties of 394, 325, and 316, respectively, reported by NBS.
Also, 2,907 people, representing 9.12 per cent, sustained injuries within Kaduna, the highest reported in the year. The FCT followed it with 2,457 people, and Ogun with 2,433 people.
The ICIR reported that between January 1 and December 31, 2023, 10,617 road traffic crashes were recorded across the country, representing a 22 per cent decrease as against 13,656 crashes reported in 2022.
Why Kaduna?
For more than a decade, Kaduna state has been in the spotlight for several deaths recorded due to road crashes.
Data gleaned by The ICIR from the Federal Road Safety Commission’s (FRSC) website show that Kaduna recorded the highest number of casualties and fatalities from road accidents between 2007 and 2016.
Findings showed that 4,025 people were killed in road accidents in the state within those years.
Additional findings from data available at the NBS showed that between 2017 and 2022, 3,307 died in road accidents.
This would mean that in 17 years, a total of 7,332 people have been killed by road in Kaduna state.
| Year | Number of deaths |
| 2007-2016 | 4,025 |
| 2017 | 558 |
| 2,018 | 515 |
| 2019 | 484 |
| 2020 | 393 |
| 2,021 | 677 |
| 2022 | 680 |
| 2023 | 490 |
| Total | 7,822 |
Deaths recorded from road accidents in Kaduna state/ Source: NBS, FRSC
The ICIR contacted the Kaduna State Traffic Enforcement Authority (KASTLEA) last October, seeking to know the state’s effort to reduce the death rate reported on its roads.
The Head of ICT and Statistics, Jibril Mohammad, said that the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano was one of the busiest highways connecting Nigerians to the North and South.
“This asserts that the volume of traffic traversing these highways is significantly high due to the strategic geographical location of Kaduna as the major linkage between the northern states and the Federal capital territory, Abuja,” he said.
Mohammad added that KASTLEA implemented and enforced the provisions of the Road Traffic Law Cap 135 Law of Kaduna State 1991 and the Road Traffic Regulation 2007 in Kaduna State.
He said, “The authority also deployed human and digital enforcement. Digital enforcement is embedded with artificial intelligence (e-enforcement) strategies to help in effective traffic control and monitoring, rapid response and social services to improve and better the road user experience in Kaduna state.”
Kehinde Ogunyale tells stories by using data to hold power into account. You can send him a mail at jameskennyogunyale@gmail or Twitter: Prof_KennyJames | LinkedIn: Kehinde Ogunyale