By Tracy Moses
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has tasked cargo owners, transporters and drivers with ensuring strict compliance with safe loading practices, warning that overloading and improperly secured goods pose serious risks to lives, vehicles and road infrastructure.
The Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed, gave the charge on Thursday in Abuja at a National Breakfast Policy Dialogue, where the FRSC launched the National Movement for Safe Loading and Safe Road Use in partnership with BusinessDay Media Limited.
The dialogue, themed “Ending Overloading, Saving Lives: A National Commitment to Safer Roads and Responsible Transportation in Nigeria,” brought together government agencies, transport operators, cargo owners, regulators, civil society organisations and the media.
Mohammed described overloading as more than a traffic violation, saying it was also a road safety, infrastructure, logistics and economic development issue.
According to him, excessive loads compromise vehicle braking, steering and stability, accelerate vehicle deterioration and increase the risk of crashes, while also contributing to the premature deterioration of road infrastructure.
He also warned against mixed and improper loading, including the combination of passengers and cargo, the transportation of incompatible or dangerous materials, and poorly distributed loads.
He said, “A vehicle must carry only what it is designed, licensed, and safely configured to carry. No reduction in transportation costs or commercial benefit is worth the loss of human lives.”
Mohammed said cargo owners and shippers had a responsibility to accurately declare the weight of goods, while transport operators must ensure that vehicles are properly maintained and comply with prescribed loading limits.
He also charged drivers to reject unsafe or poorly secured loads, stressing that responsibility for road safety must not be left solely to enforcement agencies.
“Responsibility must be shared by cargo owners, shippers, loading agents, transporters, fleet operators, drivers, regulators and government,” he said.
The Corps Marshal noted that Nigeria’s economy depended heavily on the safe movement of agricultural produce, raw materials, manufactured goods, fuel and other commodities, making responsible transportation essential to economic activity.
“When overloading damages our roads, government bears the cost. When it damages vehicles, operators bear the cost. When it delays the movement of goods, businesses and consumers bear the cost. But when it causes a fatal crash, a Nigerian family bears the cost that money can never replace,” he said.
Mohammed said the FRSC would intensify enforcement, public education, intelligence-led operations and the use of technology to improve compliance with safe loading regulations.
He, however, stressed that enforcement alone could not end the practice, urging all stakeholders in the transportation chain to take ownership of road safety.
On the adoption of the Abuja Declaration 2026, Mohammed said the commitments made at the dialogue must translate into measurable changes on Nigerian roads rather than end with the signing ceremony.
“Our assessment will not be measured by the quality of our speeches or the number of signatures. It will be measured by what changes on our roads. Are fewer vehicles overloaded? Are cargo weights properly declared? Are crashes and fatalities reducing?” he asked.
He added, “Our roads must carry Nigeria’s goods. They must carry our people. They must carry our economic aspirations. But they must not carry avoidable deaths.”
The keynote speaker and Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Jibrin Baba Ndace, also urged drivers, transport unions and regulators to treat passenger safety as non-negotiable.
Ndace, who recounted four near-fatal road accidents he experienced in Kaduna and Kano states, urged drivers to listen to passengers and prioritise safety over speed.
He recalled one incident involving a vehicle he was travelling in near an NYSC camp in Kaduna shortly after dusk.
“The driver saw a tire on the road. It was almost getting dark and he applied the brakes and the vehicle somersaulted. The vehicle turned to its side. The driver was down. I was in the front. I was up. The glass was broken, but we were all lucky to survive,” he said.
Ndace said he escaped through the broken windscreen and helped other passengers, mostly women, out of the vehicle before assisting the driver.
“The lesson there is that sometimes drivers don’t listen to passengers even when you caution them,” he noted.