The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported that road accidents in Nigeria increased to 2,731 in the fourth quarter of 2025, representing 12.2% higher than the 2,434 crashes in the preceding quarter and 6.72% rise from the 2,559 crashes recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2024.
In its latest road accidents report released on Wednesday, the statistics agency disclosed that the road mishaps claimed 1,374 lives and injured 8,726 people.
According to the Bureau, serious crashes accounted for the largest share of the accidents with 1,775 cases, followed by fatal crashes with 677 cases, while minor crashes were the least totalling 279 during the quarter under review.
When analyzed on gender basis, the report’s data indicated that 1,085 males lost their lives, representing 78.97% of total fatalities compared with 289 females, who accounted for 21.03% of the total causalities.
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Similarly, the report showed that males accounted for the majority of persons injured in road crashes as 6,561 males sustained injuries, representing 75.19% of the total number of injured persons, while 2,165 females were injured, accounting for 24.81% of the injured during the quarter.
A further analysis of the report reflected that the number of vehicles involved in road traffic accidents also increased in Q4 2025 nationwide, with 4,059 vehicles recorded or 9.41% rise from the 3,710 vehicles recorded in the preceding quarter.
When analyzed on zonal basis, the data on the road traffic crashes revealed that South-West zone recorded the highest number of crashes with 763 cases, followed by North-Central zone with 744 cases while South-South zone recorded the lowest crashes totalling 152 during the quarter.
On the rate of casualties (deaths plus injuries), North-Central zone led with 2,649, followed by North-West with 2,497 and just as was the case with road crashes rate, South-South recorded the least number of casualties at 420.
The latest road accidents and casualties rates are worrisome when analyzed based on the road traffic management efforts by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to mitigate the challenge nationwide.
As expected, the World Health Organisation (WHO) ranks Nigeria among the deadliest globally on road mishaps, with 22.4 per 100,000 people affected yearly in the country.
