Anthony Joshua’s recent crash in Ogun State is a tragedy and a warning. It cost two people their lives, left a global sports icon injured, and has once again exposed how fragile road safety and emergency response systems remain across much of Africa.
What Happened In Ogun State
Former two‑time world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua was involved in a serious car crash along the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway near Makun in Ogun State, Nigeria. He was travelling in a Lexus SUV that collided with a stationary truck parked by the roadside, leaving Joshua with minor injuries but killing two close friends and team members and injuring at least one other person.
Video and photos from the scene show Joshua in visible pain being helped out of the wrecked vehicle and later taken to hospital, where officials reported him to be in a stable condition after clinical evaluation. Initial statements mention a collision with a parked truck and suggest factors such as speed, an overtaking manoeuvre or even a burst tyre may have played a role, but the precise technical cause remains under investigation.
The Infrastructure And Emergency Gap
This single crash sits inside a much wider and more brutal pattern. Africa has the highest road traffic death rate in the world, with roughly 26.6 deaths per 100,000 people compared to a global average of about 18.2, and West African countries like Nigeria and Ghana account for thousands of deaths every year. Poorly maintained roads, stalled and overloaded trucks left with minimal warning, weak enforcement and limited post‑crash care all combine to turn highways into killing fields rather than development arteries.
Anyone who has travelled between Accra and Kumasi, or along major Nigerian corridors, knows the sight: heavy trucks broken down on narrow stretches, sometimes marked only by a few branches placed a short distance before the vehicle, with no proper cones, reflective triangles or lighting. At normal highway speeds, a distracted or tired driver can meet their end in seconds, and when crashes do happen, professional emergency response is often slow, under‑equipped or simply absent, leaving bystanders to improvise with no training and little protection.
Elites, Responsibility And Missed Opportunities
Watching Joshua’s accident footage brings a painful contrast to mind. In cities like London or Brussels, a high‑impact crash involving a world‑famous athlete would automatically trigger a coordinated response: ambulances with trained paramedics, clear triage, rapid transfer to a properly equipped trauma centre, and, where justified, even air ambulance support. In much of Africa, the first line of response is still whoever happens to be passing by, plus a police vehicle that may double as transport to the nearest clinic.
This is not only a government failure; it is also a missed opportunity for collaboration between states, the private sector and high‑earning individuals who depend on these same roads. If governments and public figures can mobilize millions for campaigns, concerts and political events, they can also invest in properly staffed and equipped ambulance posts at key points along high‑risk corridors like Lagos–Ibadan, Accra–Kumasi and others. Even subscription‑based private emergency services for affluent travellers and “VIP routes” would be better than leaving everyone—famous or anonymous—to hope that luck and good‑hearted bystanders are enough.
A Message To The Diaspora
For many in the diaspora, “Detty December” and other festive returns home are about love, nostalgia and investment, and they should be. At the same time, the statistics tell a hard truth: road deaths are still rising in parts of Africa, and structured post‑crash care lags far behind what many have come to expect in Europe or North America.
That is why a quiet motto runs through the minds of many who live on the continent: “Africa is nice until something happens to you,” and then you discover that “you are on your own.” It is not a call to abandon home, but a call to be cautious, to drive defensively, to plan for emergencies, and, above all, to demand better from institutions and leaders so that basic civil infrastructure can finally protect lives instead of merely counting losses.
Building Roads That Protect Life
Crashes like the one that injured Anthony Joshua should not end only in mourning and hashtags; they should trigger structural change. Authorities need to enforce rules that keep defective and overloaded vehicles off major highways, mandate proper warning systems for stalled trucks, and invest in trauma‑ready ambulance networks rather than leaving emergency care to chance.
At the same time, high‑profile figures and investors who love the continent have a unique opportunity: to help finance and champion professional emergency response services, from roadside ambulance bases to integrated dispatch systems and trauma centres. Africa needs stars like Joshua not just to survive its roads, but to help build an environment where the next generation of champions, entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens can travel without gambling their lives every time they set out.
Happy New Year—and may it be a year when African roads begin to protect, rather than destroy, the human potential they carry.
Africa Thinkers 