Sixteen people died and six were injured in a fatal road crash at Aku village along the Okene–Lokoja Road in Kogi State at about 9:20 p.m. on Thursday. The crash involved a white commercial Toyota Hiace bus with registration number BUS 17 ZD, which veered off the road and plunged into a ditch. The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Kogi sector commander, Lawan Fagge, confirmed the incident in a statement on Friday. He said 22 people were on board, including 21 male adults and one female adult. Sixteen of them—15 men and one woman—died at the scene. The six injured survivors, all male, were taken to hospitals in Lokoja. One was admitted to Specialist Hospital, Lokoja, while five others received treatment at Osara Hospital. According to Fagge, preliminary findings from survivors pointed to speeding and driver fatigue as causes of the crash. The vehicle was travelling from Jos to Lagos at the time. Fagge described the crash as avoidable and criticized night journeys made without sufficient rest. He urged drivers to stop and rest at motor parks before continuing long trips. He also warned against driving under stress and exceeding speed limits, citing these as major contributors to road accidents nationwide. Fagge expressed sympathy to the families of the deceased and wished the injured a quick recovery.
Lawan Fagge blames fatigue and speeding for a crash that killed 16 on the Jos-Lagos route, yet the same route remains unregulated for overnight travel. His advice for drivers to rest at motor parks does not address the lack of safe, monitored stops along the highway. If the FRSC knows fatigue is deadly, why are there no enforced rest intervals for interstate buses? The victims were on a known dangerous stretch—yet no structural fixes follow each tragedy.
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