Four people were burnt to death on Wednesday morning in an Abuja-Lokoja highway crash after two commercial buses collided and caught fire at Piri village, in the latest of several fatal incidents on the notorious road corridor this week.
An eyewitness, Markus Nathaniel, said the crash happened at about 5:48am and involved a J5 Peugeot bus with registration number JJN 605 ZY and a second, unregistered Peugeot bus. One of the vehicles was fully loaded with bananas, pineapples and oranges bound for markets along the route.
According to Nathaniel, the fruit-laden bus was travelling at high speed from the Lokoja end of the highway when its driver attempted a dangerous overtake, resulting in a head-on collision with the oncoming bus. He said the impact sent the fruit-laden vehicle up in flames almost immediately, trapping all four occupants, including the driver.
The Abuja-Lokoja highway crash left the victims burnt beyond recognition, according to Nathaniel, who was among those who arrived at the scene shortly after the collision.
An official of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) who took part in the rescue operation, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the deaths. He said the corpses, including that of the driver, were deposited at the Kwali General Hospital morgue.
The FRSC official attributed the Abuja-Lokoja highway crash to wrongful overtaking and a breach of speed limits, a familiar pattern on the stretch between the Federal Capital Territory and Kogi State.
He also disclosed that a separate Abuja-Lokoja highway crash occurred later on Wednesday near Government Secondary School, Yangoji, along the same road. That collision, which happened at about 8:15am, involved an unregistered Toyota Highlander jeep and a Howo trailer with registration number GWL 292 YM.
According to the official, the jeep was overtaking another vehicle at speed when it collided head-on with the trailer, killing three male adults on the spot. Two other occupants sustained injuries and were taken to Kwali General Hospital for treatment.
The Yangoji collision brought Wednesday’s death toll from the two Abuja-Lokoja highway crash incidents to seven, within roughly three hours of each other.
The FCT Sector Commander of the FRSC, Iliyasu Tijjani, confirmed both accidents by telephone but declined to give further details on the Abuja-Lokoja highway crash investigations.
Road crashes on the Abuja-Lokoja corridor have followed a similar pattern in recent years. Road safety officials have long flagged the corridor as one of Nigeria’s deadliest, with fatalities repeatedly blamed on speeding, dangerous overtaking, driver fatigue and poorly maintained commercial vehicles.
Villages along the route, including Piri, Kwaita, Yangoji and Gada-Biu, feature repeatedly in FRSC incident reports stretching back more than a decade.
Commercial drivers plying the route between the Federal Capital Territory and Kogi State often carry produce and passengers on long hauls with little rest, a factor officials say contributes to reckless overtaking on the narrow, heavily trafficked stretch. Wednesday’s fatal Abuja-Lokoja highway crash at Piri village followed exactly that pattern, according to the account given by Nathaniel and corroborated by the FRSC official at the scene.
Transport analysts have long called for stricter enforcement of speed limits and overtaking rules on the corridor, alongside improved road infrastructure and more visible patrols, to curb the frequency of crashes linking the capital to Nigeria’s southern and eastern states. Successive FRSC sector commanders have issued similar warnings after past incidents, with limited change in outcomes.
For families of commercial drivers and traders who rely on the Abuja-Lokoja highway to move goods such as fruit and produce to market, Wednesday’s crash is a grim reminder of the risks embedded in daily commerce along the corridor. The fruit-laden bus destroyed in the Piri village fire was reportedly carrying goods meant for markets in Abuja.
The FRSC has yet to release a formal statement detailing full casualty figures for both Wednesday incidents, though officials at the scene confirmed the toll to reporters. Tijjani’s office is expected to issue an update once investigations into both crashes are concluded.
