The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is more than a road. It is Nigeria’s busiest economic corridor, a strategic gateway linking Lagos, the nation’s commercial capital, with the South-West, North-Central, Northern Nigeria, and several neighbouring West African trade routes. Every day, thousands of commuters, businesses, manufacturers, transport operators, and families depend on this highway for their livelihoods.
The Federal Government deserves commendation for undertaking the long-overdue reconstruction and expansion of this critical infrastructure. The transformation of many sections of the expressway has undoubtedly improved travel conditions where work has been completed.
However, constructing a highway is only one part of the equation. Managing, maintaining, and protecting it is equally important. Unfortunately, this is where the system appears to be falling short.
Travelling on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway has become an ordeal that many motorists approach with anxiety. A journey that should ordinarily take between one and two hours can unexpectedly stretch into six, eight, or even ten hours whenever there is a broken-down truck, a fuel tanker accident, or a fire incident. What should be isolated emergencies frequently become all-day gridlocks that cripple movement, disrupt businesses, and expose travellers to unnecessary risks.
One of the most visible shortcomings is the apparent lack of effective highway management. Road maintenance extends beyond laying asphalt. It includes clear lane markings, reflective road signs, functioning emergency shoulders, vegetation control, drainage maintenance, and rapid incident response. Yet significant stretches of the expressway have faded or inadequate lane markings, while routine maintenance appears inconsistent.
These deficiencies become more dangerous at night or during heavy rainfall, when visibility is already compromised.
Equally troubling is the response to traffic incidents.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), established by Decree No. 45 of 1988 and now governed by the Federal Road Safety Corps (Establishment) Act, 2007, was created primarily to make Nigerian roads safer. Among its statutory responsibilities are preventing road crashes, educating motorists, clearing road obstructions, managing traffic during emergencies, conducting rescue operations, and enforcing road traffic regulations.
These responsibilities are not merely administrative functions. They are the very reason the institution exists.
Yet many regular users of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway question whether these responsibilities are being discharged effectively where they matter most.
It is common to encounter FRSC personnel at designated checkpoints alongside other security and law enforcement agencies. While enforcement of traffic laws is an important part of road safety, many motorists believe that too much emphasis has been placed on routine roadside checks, while insufficient attention is given to rapid traffic management and emergency response during major incidents.
Whenever accidents involving articulated vehicles or fuel tankers occur, traffic can remain at a standstill for several hours. During such moments, frustrated motorists often report seeing soldiers, police officers, or even security escorts attached to VIP convoys stepping in to direct traffic before specialised traffic management agencies arrive.
Whether this perception is entirely accurate or not, it reflects a growing crisis of public confidence.
Road safety is measured not by the number of checkpoints established, but by how quickly traffic flows after an accident, how efficiently victims are rescued, and how effectively secondary crashes are prevented.
No institution should be judged solely by its presence on quiet days, but by its performance during emergencies.
My own experience illustrates this concern. On one occasion, after spending more than four hours trapped in a massive gridlock without any visible traffic management effort near the affected area, I was forced to abandon my trip to Ibadan and return to Lagos. It was not merely an inconvenience; it represented lost productivity, wasted fuel, emotional exhaustion, and avoidable economic loss.
Multiply that experience by thousands of motorists every week, and the national economic implications become enormous.
Every hour lost on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway translates into delayed deliveries, disrupted supply chains, missed business appointments, increased transportation costs, and reduced national productivity. This is no longer simply a transportation issue. It is an economic issue.
To be fair, not every traffic crisis can be blamed on the FRSC. Reckless driving, overloaded trucks, poorly maintained vehicles, tanker explosions, indiscriminate parking, mechanical failures, and inadequate coordination among the FRSC, the Nigeria Police Force, the Federal Ministry of Works, emergency responders, and towing services all contribute to the problem. Nevertheless, because the FRSC is Nigeria’s lead agency for road safety management, the public naturally expects it to coordinate effective responses whenever major incidents occur.
Rather than multiplying checkpoints, greater investment should be directed towards rapid-response patrols, intelligent traffic management systems, surveillance technology, heavy-duty recovery vehicles, emergency communication networks, and stronger inter-agency coordination. These interventions would save lives and restore public confidence in the nation’s highway management system.
The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway deserves a permanent incident management framework operating around the clock, capable of clearing obstructions within minutes rather than allowing traffic to remain paralysed for hours.
It is also time for an independent performance audit of road safety operations along this strategic corridor. Such an assessment should evaluate emergency response times, deployment patterns, crash clearance efficiency, public satisfaction, and institutional accountability. Constructive criticism should not be viewed as an attack on the FRSC but as an opportunity for reform and improved service delivery.
This conversation is not about weakening institutions. It is about ensuring that public agencies faithfully discharge the responsibilities for which they were established and are funded by Nigerian taxpayers.
Nigeria deserves highways that are not only well constructed but also professionally managed.
Motorists deserve more than endless checkpoints.
They deserve safe journeys.
They deserve prompt emergency response.
They deserve competent traffic management.
Above all, they deserve public institutions that inspire confidence through professionalism, efficiency, and accountability.
The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway should stand as a symbol of Nigeria’s economic progress, not as a daily reminder of avoidable gridlock, poor incident management, and institutional underperformance.
Engr. Bola Babarinde writes from Lagos, Nigeria.