The story of the Titanic tragedy is one from which the world learnt a great lesson of how the deliberate refusal by an individual or group to heed repeated warnings of a looming calamity could be devastatingly ruinous. The Titanic story is a tragedy about the British ocean liner that sank on its maiden voyage on April 14–15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg. Considered the largest and most luxurious ship at the time, it was traveling from Southampton, England, to New York City. The collision with the iceberg resulted in the deaths of over 1,500 of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew. The disaster occurred because all the multiple ice warnings received from various ships were ignored.
Given the semantics of its body-language including how for decades it remained insensitive to the plight of the communities that have always been victims of several petrol tanker explosions and other devastations caused mainly by the terrible state of the road, government could be taken to be an unmistaken admirer of the Captain of the Titanic vessel, Edward Smith.
For the past 30 long years during which the Agaie-Bida section of the federal road that links the entire northern part of the country with the whole of south-west Nigeria went bad, enough warnings, cautions, complaints, calls, lamentations, pleas, and woes have been reported or published as news, newspaper articles, columns, features, and even editorials in the media; all of which never moved the government to fix this failed portion of the road that stretches over a distance of barely 50 km. It would be recalled that this is the third time in 8 years that this column, philosofaith, would make the indescribable condition of this road a subject matter. The first was published on Saturday April 8, 2017 with the title “Oga Fashola, what’s the ‘sin’ of Nupe communities?” The second, which was published on Saturday August 21, 2021, had the title “The ‘best’ road in Nigeria.”
The road was constructed by the administration of former President Shehu Shagari in 1980/81. While DTV engineering company constructed the Bida-Agaie-Lapai section of the road, the Lapai-Lambata axis was built by Gufanti construction company. Ordinarily, a road that has been in use for over 40 years is old enough to have critically gone bad. Where governance is a priority, the Agaie-Bida road should have been reconstructed, at least, twice.
Almost everything that needed to be said about the government-forsaken Agaie-Bida highway has been said by residents, religious leaders, and royal fathers of the communities situated along the road. On a weekly basis, this road throws residents of Niger state into grief-stricken pains and sorrows. Its long years of neglect has regrettably cost more lives and resources than the price of its repair. The latest tragedy occurred on Tuesday October 21, 2025 at Essa village, about 4km to Badeggi along the Agaie-Bida road.
This latest incident involving a petrol tanker explosion left over 40 people most of them women and children, burnt to death. More than 40 people with various degrees of burns are also reported to be in critical conditions. The petrol tanker, which was coming from Lagos, was en route the northern part of the country when it fell. We are all still mourning in Niger state. Two days earlier, a tanker carrying vegetable oil fell and residents of the communities around the scene of the accident rushed in their dozens to scoop the product.
According available records, over 30 tanker trailers had been involved in accidents this month (October 2025) alone on this same road due to its deplorable state. Unfortunately, each time such incident occurs, youths in surrounding communities would rush out to scoop fuel from the fallen petrol tanker. Between August 2024 and October 2025, tanker explosions in various accidents across Niger State, especially on the Agaie-Bida road have claimed not less than 194 lives, with several dozens injured. This road, in the most conservative sense, is a national tragedy.
Government cannot pretend to be unaware of the strategic relevance of this road to national economy. Within the context of the supply chain of petroleum products, the Lambata-Lapai-Agaie-Bida could be considered without mincing words as the nation’s economic lifeline. A few of hours of blockage on the road could cripple the country’s economy. This is why Aliko Dangote, too, should be worried about the state of this road. Of course, there are other federal roads that are in various states of disrepair, but even the self-acclaimed ‘Professor’ (?) Umahi as Minister of Works cannot dispute the fact that Agaie-Bida road is one of the most critical of all the federal roads. I thought professorship in the university system is for excellence in knowledge, research and community service; not for failures. Most sections of the federal roads in the country are in a serious state of disrepair.
While we call for improved emergency response to accidents involving petrol tankers, we call on relevant agencies to enforce the law that puts the maximum load of a petrol tanker to 45,000 liters. What’s wrong if all the 774 local government chairmen in the country buy one fire-fighting truck each? Believing that we are a nation of people that knows and appreciates the value of human life, we are once again appealing to government to fix this national tragedy. Otherwise, governance failure would, like the iceberg that crushed the Tatanic into two, lead us into a worse catastrophe. May Allah touch the heart of Oga Engr ‘Prof’ Umahi to do all that is necessary to once again make the Agaie-Bida road motorable, Amin.
