10 things you will see when traveling on Nigeria’s highways (photos)

Road travel in Nigeria can be educative, interesting and fun.

This is despite the frustrating state of roads abandoned by successive governments which make the journey by road very stressful.

There are common things road travelers won’t miss on the highways. These things have become a major feature for anyone conversant with road travels in Nigeria.

NAIJ.com’s photojournalist, Yinka Adeparusi, documents ten major things that are common sight on Nigeria’s highways.

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See below:

1. Bad roads

Bad roads in Nigeria’s highways are a common sight across the country. The failure of successive governments to fix the roads has caused hardship to Nigerians who ply the various routes to their various destinations. Productive man hours are wasted, journeys are prolonged and armed robbers also take advantage of these bad portions to rob travelers while their vehicles maneuver their way in these bad spots.

2. Women riding “okada”

This is common in mostly South east states. Travelers from other parts of the country who drive through the Igbo region are usually surprised to find women driving motorcycles popularly called “okada” on the highways. This is not the case in other parts of the country, which is why people express surprise seeing the women in the driving seat.

3. Long trucks involved in an accident

This is a common sight on Nigeria’s highways. Long articles and other articulated vehicles usually referred to as “trailer” or “tanker” are notorious for being involved in accidents because of the states of the roads, the badly maintained trucks and the carelessness of the truck drivers.

4. Stranded passengers

Nigeria’s highways are always lined up with stranded passengers who are either victims of a bad vehicle, a robbery attack or over zealous security agents. It is a common sight on Nigeria’s highways to see these passengers making attempts to stop other vehicles to continue their journey to their respective destinations.

5. Security and paramilitary agencies

Various Nigerian security and paramilitary personnel are always stationed in strategic parts of the highways in order to ensure the security of road travelers, adherence to traffic rules and rid the highways of criminal gangs and unwanted elements posing danger to commuters.

6. Villagers and their enterprise

Villagers who live close to the highways use the road side as a place to dry some of their farm produce. It is common sight especially in the North central region to see villagers spreading some of their farm produce by the road side in order for the sun to help dry them. Drivers along these routes always try to avoid driving on the farm produce so as not to destroy what is obviously one of the villagers source of livelihood.

7. Fulani herdsmen and their cows

It is impossible to embark on an inter-state journey in Nigeria without seeing Fulani herdsmen and their cows on the highway. The herdsmen have taken over virtually all the major highways in the country with their cows constantly looking for areas to feed. The herdsmen sometimes obstruct traffic flow when they are crossing the highway with their cows, with no regard to traffic rules.

8. Parked trailers on the highway

Every road traveler in Nigeria knows that at some point in their journey, they will come across a section of the road where long vehicles are parked at the road side and constituting nuisance on the road. Drivers of these trucks are so lawless and have no regards for other road users. They park indiscriminately and sometimes shut down the road with their vehicles causing other road users to take alternative routes.

9. Road side stalls

Road side stalls are a common sight on Nigeria’s highways. Travelers also take advantage of these stalls and patronise them because their commodities are usually cheap. The sellers are villagers who most times get the produce from their farms and can afford to sell them cheaper than the regular price. Most times, travelers with their private cars, park near the stalls and stock their cars with the commodities.

10. Cemeteries 

In some parts of the country, cemeteries are built along major highways by state governments. Although most of them are old, they have been there for decades and have become a major feature on highways.

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