Highways Under Threat in Nigeria: Recent Evidence

Abstract

The study investigates where, how and why highways in Nigeria become unsafe for transportation. It adopted an empirical methodology which rest on secondary data on criminality on roads provided by European Asylum Support Office. The findings revealed a higher concentration of road criminality in the northern parts of the country. Results further show that Northeast, Northwest and Southwest zones recorded high frequency of highway criminality among the geo-political zones in the country. It was also discovered that the common forms of strategies of victim abuse in Nigeria include kidnapping, killing and armed robbery. The study thus recommended road vegetation clearing, strengthening of railway operations in affected areas, air surveillance of criminally endemic roads, eradication of poverty and inequality, enlightenment policies and programmes against criminality and rigorous research on the road menace to channel the way out of the calamity.