The distorted road safety enforcement culture in Ibadan

Road safety enforcement in Nigeria continues to suffer from a credibility problem, not because laws do not exist, but because their application is often selective. Across our city, private car owners are routinely stopped, fined, and scrutinised, while commercial vehicle operators, who carry far more passengers and pose greater collective risk, are frequently allowed to operate with minimal oversight.

This imbalance has created a distorted enforcement culture. Ibadan, the state capital of Oyo State, Keke and Micra drivers, in particular, are often treated as untouchable within the road safety ecosystem. Overloading, unsafe vehicle conditions, and reckless practices have become normalised, not because they are acceptable, but because enforcement rarely reaches them with the same consistency applied to private motorists.

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The consequences are visible daily. Vehicles designed for a limited number of passengers are routinely stretched beyond capacity with two passengers stuck in a seat designated for one at the front seat and three or more passengers in a space that should literally accommodate two passengers at the back of Micra cars. Goods, fuel containers, building materials, livestock, and other inappropriate loads are crammed into Micras and tricycles, turning them into mobile hazards. Yet one is forced to ask: what is the most dangerous overload you have personally seen a Micra or Keke carry, and why was it allowed on the road?

More troubling is the growing adaptation by commercial operators to enforcement loopholes. Many now deliberately shift heavy and unsafe operations to the evenings and late nights, fully aware that most road safety officials work fixed daytime hours. When enforcement keeps office hours, lawlessness simply waits for closing time.

Road safety cannot thrive on selective courage. As long as enforcement focuses on the easy targets while ignoring systemic risks, lives will continue to be lost needlessly. True reform begins when we are honest about where the danger lies, and bold enough to enforce the law evenly, consistently, and without fear or favour.

Until then, the question remains: are we truly managing road safety, or merely performing it?

Idris Animasaun. He Can be reached viaanimasaunajibolaidris @gmail.com