Kano governor declares mourning day following deaths of athletes who were competing from the state at a national sporting event.
A bus accident involving Nigeria’s northern state of Kano has resulted in the deaths of 22 athletes returning home from a national sporting event, as per the local governor.
The bus, which was said to have had over 30 people on board, fell off the Chiromawa Bridge on the Kano-Zaria expressway on Saturday, Kano Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf announced to The Associated Press news agency.
The reason for the accident was not stated, but the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said it “may have happened due to driver fatigue and overspeed” after a long night journey. The crash survivors were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
According to Yusuf, the athletes, who were with their coaches and sporting officials, were representing Kano State at the Nigerian National Sports Festival, which took place around 1,000km (620 miles) to the south in Ogun State.
He has announced Monday as a day of mourning for the state. His deputy, Aminu Gwarzo, announced that the victim’s families would be given 1 million naira (approximately $630) and foodstuffs as a form of assistance.
The National Association of Nigerian Students issued a statement, according to the Nigerian daily paper The Guardian, that the “heartbreaking” tragedy had “cast a shadow of grief over the entire nation, especially the youth and sports communities.”.
Road crashes are not unusual in Africa’s largest nation, partly because of bad roads and lack of enforcement of traffic regulations. Six persons died in March near the capital Abuja, when a trailer rammed into standing vehicles and ignited.
Nigeria witnessed 9,570 road crashes last year, killing 5,421 people, FRSC statistics showed. The Nigerian National Sports Festival, with athletes representing the nation’s 35 states every two years, provides a showcase of sports including wheelchair basketball and traditional West African wrestling.
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu declared recently that the games are “the unity, strength and resilience that define us as a nation.”.
