Six-Hour Gridlock Strands Motorists on Lagos–Benin Expressway
Motorists, commuters and long-distance travellers were stranded for more than six hours on Saturday along the Lagos–Benin Expressway, about 50 kilometres from Benin City, near Okada Town, following multiple accidents that crippled traffic flow.
The gridlock was triggered by two separate incidents that occurred within a short distance of each other along the Okada axis. The first involved a trailer reportedly owned by BHN and loaded with cartons of Hero lager beer. Eyewitnesses said the driver lost control, causing the vehicle to crash onto the central median. The impact left the trailer sprawled across both carriageways, effectively blocking traffic in both directions.
Barely a kilometre away from the initial crash site, a second accident occurred when two trailers collided, compounding the obstruction and worsening the congestion.
Travellers expressed frustration over the absence of emergency responders, noting that officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps, the police, and other traffic management agencies were not immediately present at the scene. In their absence, stranded motorists and local residents took it upon themselves to manage the situation.
Operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, commercial transport workers, and other volunteers eventually intervened, assisting in efforts to clear the wreckage and restore partial movement.
The situation was further complicated by debris from spilled cartons of beer, which littered the roadway and made passage difficult for vehicles. In addition, some drivers worsened the congestion by driving against traffic in an attempt to bypass the obstruction.
As of the time of filing this report, many travellers were still trapped in the backlog, with some feared likely to spend the night on the highway. The incident has once again highlighted concerns over emergency response times and traffic management on one of the country’s busiest highways.
