The shift to a car-centred transport landscape resulted in the increasing cost of transportation, urban noise from vehicles, space consumption, and road crashes in Nigerian cities. Though both governmental and non-governmental efforts were made to transform the mobility system, the outcome was far from satisfactory. The reasons for these include limited knowledge and awareness by decision makers and the public, limited institutional support to develop active mobility framework, and inadequate funding.

Though Abuja has made some level of progress in the development of infrastructure and systems for transportation, little has been made to promote road safety of the cyclists and other vulnerable road users. Therefore, to address the problem, a new UNRSF Project on ‘Improving non-motorized transport system safety through implementation of cycling systems in Nigeria’ gained its approval by the Steering Committee of UNRSF in August 2022. The project aims to develop a long-term national bicycle policy and strategy for Nigeria, build up capacity of relevant stakeholders and promote national awareness of cycling and road safety. On 3 November 2022, relevant stakeholders and implementing partners from ECA, UNEP, UN Habitat, WHO, UNICEF, and local governmental agencies were convened to an online information session organized by UNRSF Secretariat to discuss and develop further details of the focal project.

Learn more about our other upcoming information sessions here: Call for Proposals 2022 | UNRSF.