Nigerian Public Safety Threat: Exorcising the “Witchcraft” of Recurring Safety Incidents

Recurring safety incidents constitute a significant public safety threat in Nigeria. Petrol tanker explosions, pipeline fires, generator-related carbon monoxide poisoning, domestic and electrical fires, electrocution, soakaway-pit fatalities, drowning, chemical ingestion, slips and falls, gas-related incidents, and unsafe electrical practices continue despite regulations, safety campaigns, emergency-response systems, and previous experience. This article examines the persistence of these incidents between 2005 and 2025, identifies factors responsible for their recurrence, and proposes a systems-based framework for reducing their frequency and consequences. A hybrid approach involving longitudinal review of available safety statistics, published incident evidence, systems-safety perspectives, and policy analysis was adopted to examine recurring patterns across major public safety hazards. Particular attention is given to human and organizational factors, inadequate infrastructure and maintenance, regulatory and enforcement gaps, socioeconomic pressures, fragmented institutional responsibilities, weak incident reporting, and failure to convert investigations into sustained preventive action. The article also examines sociocultural perceptions, particularly the tendency to attribute repeated or unexplained incidents to fate, supernatural influence, or “witchcraft.” This expression is used metaphorically to describe the apparent mystery surrounding preventable incidents whose causal mechanisms are inadequately investigated, communicated, and controlled. The analysis argues that recurrence is fundamentally a systems-learning and governance problem rather than evidence of uncontrollable forces. A National Safety Learning and Prevention Framework is proposed, incorporating integrated incident reporting, systematic causal investigation, engineering controls, regulatory coordination, public safety education, community participation, corrective-action tracking, and verification of lessons learned. The article concludes that Nigeria can reduce recurring safety incidents by transitioning from reactive response to proactive prevention, institutional learning, evidence-based communication, and continuous safety improvement.

Public safety; recurring safety incidents; safety culture; accident prevention; witchcraft; institutional learning; risk perception; systems safety.

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