Overview

Abuja’s smooth highways turn death racetracks for exotic car owners. 

For many users, motorsports and street racing come with certain thrills; from high-speed competition, adrenaline-pumping overtakes, and the precision required to navigate sharp corners.

Drivers and fans alike enjoy the intense rivalries, strategic maneuvers, and the roar of powerful engines.

In Abuja, these activities have been on the rise and have significantly contributed to the severity of accidents.

Recently, on February 16,  a video posted by an X user, @supercarsofnigeria showed the moment the driver of a 2017 Honda Accord crashed into a 2022 Lexus IS350 on a highway in Abuja during a car meet.

While there is scarce data about road crashes and fatalities resulting from street racing and general motorsport in Abuja, Sunday PUNCH gathered that some of these races were held during the weekends to minimise collisions with pedestrians and motorists.

In September 2024, an X user, @Trammania, sought the help of well-meaning Nigerians, to pay off a debt, which he incurred after wrecking a rented sports car, precisely a 2022 Corvette Stingray valued at N100.3m.

He reportedly crashed into a Dodge Challenger during an illegal drag race in Lagos.

The crash, which involved multiple high-performance vehicles, resulted in severe injuries and extensive property damage. Fortunately, all those involved in the accident survived.

A dangerous pattern

In a report published in February 2025, the Federal Road Safety Corps disclosed that no fewer than 55,015 lives had been lost to road crashes across the country, over the past 10 years, with records also showing that 108,369 road crashes occurred within the same period.

Between December 15, 2024, and January 15, 2025, the FRSC reported 531 road traffic crashes nationwide, a 16.2 percent decrease from the 634 crashes recorded during the same period in the previous year.

However, the fatalities during this time frame rose to 402, compared to 335 in the previous year, marking a 20 per cent increase.

Road fatalities are largely attributed to human factors such as poor road networks and reckless driving behaviour including overloading, excessive speeding, and driver fatigue.

As of Q2 2024, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, in a road traffic report, recorded 292 total cases of road accidents in the FCT. Of those, 47 were fatal, 191 were serious, while 54 were minor, involving a total of 1,837 persons and resulting in a total casualty of 766.

According to the report, the leading causes of road crashes in the North Central are speed violations, 503; followed closely by mechanically deficient vehicles (182), route violations (57); tyre bursts (54); overloading, 49 and sleeping on the wheel (40), among other causes.

 These statistics show a pattern of dangerous driving practices, majorly speed violations.

‘Why we go on car racing’

A sports car enthusiast and former street racer, who declined to be named in this report, told our correspondent that some of the spots for car race include the Idu Industrial Area, off the Lugbe-Airport Junction Expressway, and behind the Grand Square mall in the Central Area.

“You can check around the Idu Industrial Area on Sundays. We also meet behind Grand Square in town. We meet during weekends; Saturday and Sunday evenings between 4 pm and 7 pm.

“There are no set days and meet-up locations change too. We have a group, and whenever we are bored, we mobilise for that weekend and set up a time and location.

“For official car shows with sponsorship and gate fees, we usually put out ads on Instagram and other social media platforms informing interested persons about the date and time. These are usually during festive periods like Sallah and Christmas. We have a car group, so whenever we are bored, we mobilise for that weekend and set up a time and location,” he said.

He, however, explained that the car meets and events had reduced after a set of twins, who were among the founders of the group, died in an accident during a car race.

“The last accident that happened claimed two boys – twins. They were not drifting though, but they were in a sports car. They both died. They were the founders of the group,” he added.

The President of the Automobile Racing Team of Nigeria, who gave his name only as Damisa, noted that some “bad eggs” in the sports car racing community have turned car meets into competitive races, adding that despite efforts to control the practice, it had become impossible to stop.

“It all started as us just hanging out on Sundays. We all brought our cars and we would just drive to a certain location. Idu drift location where we used to drift before. And then, we were just like let us do a convoy, let’s drive there.

“But some people decided to make it competitive, they will just start saying ‘My car is finer than yours’, ‘I am a better driver than you’, that is how it started. We always try to control it, but it gets out of hand. That is how it started, and then it somehow became a bad tradition.

“We do not like it, but it is something that can’t be stopped, I think. It is a bad thing, and we are trying to regulate it now, but there are always those bad eggs that will try to spoil something good,” Damisa said.

He further explained that he would prefer that street racing be scrapped totally, and expressed concerns about casualties and fatalities that have resulted from the activity.

“We all know the risks involved in street racing. Left to me, let us scrap it. We should have a space and safety for all of that. We should not be doing it on public roads. First, we don’t wish accidents on anyone.

“The first question I ask when I hear there is an accident is, I hope they did not hit any random person, or no one died because that will be a big problem for us. Then I will say to myself, if we have a space to do all this, we will not be having these problems. I made a post about this once.

“We want the community to be safe, but we all have those bad eggs that sabotage it. That is the problem we are facing. You want to plan something safely but then some people decide to act mad and spoil it. Once I hear no one was hurt, we do not care about the cars because they can always be fixed or bought again. It is the lives that matter most,” he noted.

Violation of safety rules

Similarly, the president and founder of Auto League Nigeria Automobile and Motorsport Media, Tamuno Lawson, also blamed the accidents from drag racing and street racing, on bad eggs who disobeyed safety rules set by the ARTN.

Lawson stated, “I want to correct something; the people having accidents are not the drag racers. Back then when it was a thing, it was not the drag racers that were having or getting into accidents. Those guys had nothing to do with drag racing because they were well-organised.

“The ARTN then made it well organised, well arranged and well safeguarded. It is the bad eggs that don’t listen to safety advice, and when we tell them don’t race on public roads or don’t do this or that; that is when you hear of accidents.

“And it is normally after the drag race has been done before you start hearing of accidents. So I would like to correct that, it is not the drag racing that causes the accidents, just the few bad eggs that refuse to listen.”

Asked about what measures were put in place to prevent accidents resulting from the racing events, Lawson stated, “First, we try our best not to do it on public roads and try to do it on empty street roads without traffic. But it has been stopped for a while because nobody has been doing drag races again because of the many accidents, and the bad eggs that refused to stop.

“Then, we also used to make sure no kids were driving. Safety precautions, fire extinguishers, seatbelts, all those things have to be available before you start the drag race. And we always have an end point where you stop, and you must stop,” he explained.

Source Punch