Nigeria records mixed trends in road crashes in Q1 2026

The National Bureau of Statistics’ (NBS) Q1 2026 Road Transport Data shows that 2,720 road traffic crashes were recorded in Q1 2026.
This reflects a 0.40 percent decline from Q4 2025 (2,731 crashes) but a 2.64 percent increase compared to Q1 2025 (2,650 crashes), indicating mixed trends in road safety performance.
By severity, serious crashes accounted for the largest share, with 1,761 cases, followed by fatal crashes with 714 cases, while minor crashes recorded 245 cases.
Gender-disaggregated data shows that males accounted for 79.88 percent of total fatalities and 76.35 percent of total injured persons, while females accounted for 20.12 percent of total fatalities and 23.65 percent of total injured persons.
Regionally, the North-Central recorded the highest number of crashes with 752 cases, followed by the South-West with 699 cases, while the South-South recorded the lowest with 137 cases.
In terms of casualties, the North-West recorded the highest burden with 2,675 casualties, followed by the North-Central with 2,544 casualties, while the South-South recorded the lowest with 402 casualties.
Such road crashes have significant economic implications for Nigeria, including loss of productive labour, increased healthcare and emergency response costs, the destruction of property and infrastructure, reduced household income, and broader declines in national productivity and economic growth.
The government can reduce road crashes by improving road infrastructure, enforcing traffic regulations, strengthening driver education and licensing systems, regulating vehicle safety standards, expanding road signage and lighting, and improving emergency response and road monitoring systems.