The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Thursday launched ‘National Movement for Safe Loading and Safe Road Use’ across the transportation value chain to end unsafe loading practices and reduce fatal crash.
The movement was launched on Thursday in Abuja at the National Breakfast Policy Dialogue in Abuja convened in partnership with Business Day Media Limited.
The event brought together government agencies, transport operators, cargo owners, regulators, civil society, and the media under the theme: _“Ending Overloading, Saving Lives: A National Commitment to Safer Roads and Responsible Transportation in Nigeria.
The Corp Marshal, FRSC, Shehu Mohammed, noted overloading is not just a traffic violation but a road safety, infrastructure, logistics and economic development issue.
He explained that excessive loads compromise braking, steering, and vehicle stability.
The corps marshal added that it also accelerates vehicle deterioration, increases crash rates, and contributes to the premature deterioration of our road infrastructure.
His words: “The danger also lies in mixed and improper loading, including the combination of passengers and cargo, incompatible or dangerous materials, and poorly distributed loads which put drivers, passengers and other road users at risk.
“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 maintained that Nigeria’s economy depends on the safe movement of agricultural produce, raw materials, manufactured goods, fuel and other commodities, and that a safe transport system is the foundation for prosperity.
He added: “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 stressed that enforcement alone cannot end the problem, saying that ‘responsibility must be shared by cargo owners, shippers, loading agents, transporters, fleet operators, drivers, regulators and government.’
Mohammed urged cargo owners to accurately declare weights, operators to maintain vehicles and comply with limits, and drivers to refuse unsafe or poorly secured loads.
Regulators, he said, must strengthen weigh infrastructure, data sharing and coordination.
The corp marshal stressed that FRSC would intensify enforcement, public education, intelligence-led operations and the use of technology to drive compliance, shifting from reactive enforcement to proactive and preventive road safety.
On the adoption and signing of the Abuja Declaration 2026, he said the declaration must go beyond ceremony to become a national compact with clear responsibilities, measurable commitments, timelines and monitoring mechanisms.
Mohammed stated: “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?
“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.”