The inspiration and root of GreenLight Initiative trace back to 2013, during my National Youth Service Corps year in Abuja. Fresh out of Anambra State University, I was eager to give back and make a lasting impact in the community where I was posted. That desire led me to initiate a Community Development project I named Project GreenLight. At the time, the initiative was only focused on health and development. I was inspired by a simple yet powerful metaphor: at a traffic intersection, a red light signifies waiting, uncertainty, and delay — while a green light gives hope, progress, and direction. I wanted to be that “Green light” for underserved communities – offering a signal of possibility and a path forward to those society often overlooks. During my NYSC service year, I mobilised resources and volunteers to build and rehabilitate a a fully furnished library for Ketti Community School. I organised free medical outreaches, and distributed free educational materials to orphans and vulnerable children in Kuje Secondary School, Abuja. At the end of my service year, these efforts earned me recognition as the Overall Best National Youth Service Corps Member in the FCT, the Ministerial Award from the FCT Minister, and a nomination for the Nigerian Presidential National Youth Award. Two years later, while working with a nonprofit organisation, I came across a disturbing report. The report published in a national daily stated that more Nigerians were dying from road crashes than from any other form of violence means. More shocking was how little attention or investment this crisis received. I dug deeper and discovered that the burden of road traffic crashes disproportionately affects low-income families, people whose stories are rarely heard and whose losses rarely make headlines. That realisation hit me hard. I saw road safety not just as a transport issue, but as a social justice issue — deeply intertwined with equity, health, and economic stability. It was at that moment I knew I had to act. I repurposed my NYSC community project into a full-fledged organisation named GreenLight Initiative dedicated to promoting road safety, sustainable mobility, and public health. What began as a simple passion to bring hope to one community has evolved into a mission to save lives and advocate for systemic change across Nigeria and beyond.
Actually, road crashes are the leading cause of death among young people aged 5 to 29 years, not just in Nigeria, but across the globe. Yet, despite this alarming reality, road safety remains one of the most neglected issues in public discourse and policymaking. I believe these issues receive so little attention in public discourse and policymaking because of two reasons. Firstly, road crashes disproportionately affect low-income individuals — people who often lack the platforms, resources, or influence to demand safer roads. Contrast this with air travel, which is statistically the safest mode of transport. One might assume flying is riskier, but it’s actually far safer than traveling by road. I believe this is largely in part, because air travel primarily serves higher-income individuals. This has driven significant investments in aviation safety from rigorous pilot training to advanced aircraft safety engineering. If road travels were treated with the same priority, the number of crashes would not be nearly as high as we see today. Secondly, there’s a deeply rooted misconception that road crashes are merely “acts of God” or supernatural occurrences. In some communities, they are even attributed to witches and wizards. But as experts, we know better. Road traffic crashes are neither random nor inevitable, they are entirely preventable. The very dictionary definition of an “accident” implies unpredictability and inevitability, yet most road crashes are the result of risky human-made decisions such as speeding, drink driving, failing to wear seatbelts or helmets. When these behaviours are normalised or overlooked, road crashes become predictable and tragically, preventable outcomes. This is why we say that road crashes are preventable and avoidable.
One of the most alarming and thought-provoking trends I have encountered is the stark contrast between road traffic fatalities and COVID-19 deaths in Nigeria during 2020 — a year marked by nationwide lockdowns and travel restrictions. According to data from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, there were approximately 1,289 deaths from COVID-19 by the end of December 2020. In the same year, the Federal Road Safety Corps reported 5,574 deaths from road traffic crashes — more than four times the number of COVID-related deaths. This comparison raises a sobering question: which crisis should truly be treated as a pandemic? Despite mobility restrictions aimed at curbing the COVID-19 virus, road crashes continued to claim thousands of lives quietly, but consistently. These statistics highlight a deeply overlooked public health emergency and underscore the urgent need for greater attention, investment, and policy response to road safety.
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