{"id":95588,"date":"2025-12-24T14:07:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T14:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tv.guardian.ng\/?p=95588"},"modified":"2025-12-24T14:10:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T14:10:07","slug":"behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind Festive Travels: What interstate drivers face daily"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"dailymotion-player\"><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/x1ee8e.js\" data-video=\"x9wcb0m\"><\/script><\/div><br><br><p>\nAs the Christmas and New Year festivities draw near, thousands of Nigerians are on the move, travelling across states to reunite with family and loved ones. But for many interstate drivers, this season of joy comes with heightened challenges. We spoke with commercial drivers plying routes from Lagos to Abuja, Kogi, Niger, and Abakaliki, who shared their experiences navigating Nigeria\u2019s highways during this busy festive period and what they want the government to urgently fix.<br \/>\nHere\u2019s what they told us. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the Christmas and New Year festivities draw near, thousands of Nigerians are on the move, travelling across states to reunite with family and loved ones. But for many interstate drivers, this season of joy comes with heightened challenges. We spoke with commercial drivers plying routes from Lagos to Abuja, Kogi, Niger, and Abakaliki, who [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gam_disable_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2022,37964],"tags":[27711,8729,22822,39646,28843,23855],"class_list":["post-95588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gtv-exclusive","category-top-video","tag-daily","tag-drivers","tag-festive","tag-festive-travels","tag-interstate","tag-travels"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Behind Festive Travels: What interstate drivers face daily - GuardianTV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As the Christmas and New Year festivities draw near, thousands of Nigerians are on the move, travelling across states to reunite with family and loved ones.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Behind Festive Travels: What interstate drivers face daily - GuardianTV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the Christmas and New Year festivities draw near, thousands of Nigerians are on the move, travelling across states to reunite with family and loved ones.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GuardianTV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-24T14:07:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-24T14:10:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/tv.guardian.ng\/2025\/12\/REPORT_-Thumbnail_3SEPT-b-Recovered-Recovered-4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abiodun Ogundairo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abiodun Ogundairo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Abiodun Ogundairo\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1\"},\"headline\":\"Behind Festive Travels: What interstate drivers face daily\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-24T14:07:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-24T14:10:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":96,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/REPORT_-Thumbnail_3SEPT-b-Recovered-Recovered-4.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Daily\",\"drivers\",\"festive\",\"festive travels\",\"interstate\",\"Travels\"],\"articleSection\":[\"GTV Exclusive\",\"Top Video\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"Behind Festive Travels: What interstate drivers face daily - GuardianTV\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/REPORT_-Thumbnail_3SEPT-b-Recovered-Recovered-4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-24T14:07:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-24T14:10:07+00:00\",\"description\":\"As the Christmas and New Year festivities draw near, thousands of Nigerians are on the move, travelling across states to reunite with family and loved ones.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/REPORT_-Thumbnail_3SEPT-b-Recovered-Recovered-4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/REPORT_-Thumbnail_3SEPT-b-Recovered-Recovered-4.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Behind festive travels: What interstate drivers face daily\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Behind Festive Travels: What interstate drivers face daily\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\",\"name\":\"GuardianTV\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"GuardianTV\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"GuardianTV\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1\",\"name\":\"Abiodun Ogundairo\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/author\\\/abiodun\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Behind Festive Travels: What interstate drivers face daily - GuardianTV","description":"As the Christmas and New Year festivities draw near, thousands of Nigerians are on the move, travelling across states to reunite with family and loved ones.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Behind Festive Travels: What interstate drivers face daily - GuardianTV","og_description":"As the Christmas and New Year festivities draw near, thousands of Nigerians are on the move, travelling across states to reunite with family and loved ones.","og_url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\/","og_site_name":"GuardianTV","article_published_time":"2025-12-24T14:07:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-24T14:10:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/tv.guardian.ng\/2025\/12\/REPORT_-Thumbnail_3SEPT-b-Recovered-Recovered-4.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Abiodun Ogundairo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Abiodun Ogundairo","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Abiodun Ogundairo","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/person\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1"},"headline":"Behind Festive Travels: What interstate drivers face daily","datePublished":"2025-12-24T14:07:59+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-24T14:10:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\/"},"wordCount":96,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2025\/12\/REPORT_-Thumbnail_3SEPT-b-Recovered-Recovered-4.jpg","keywords":["Daily","drivers","festive","festive travels","interstate","Travels"],"articleSection":["GTV Exclusive","Top Video"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\/","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\/","name":"Behind Festive Travels: What interstate drivers face daily - GuardianTV","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2025\/12\/REPORT_-Thumbnail_3SEPT-b-Recovered-Recovered-4.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-24T14:07:59+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-24T14:10:07+00:00","description":"As the Christmas and New Year festivities draw near, thousands of Nigerians are on the move, travelling across states to reunite with family and loved ones.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2025\/12\/REPORT_-Thumbnail_3SEPT-b-Recovered-Recovered-4.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2025\/12\/REPORT_-Thumbnail_3SEPT-b-Recovered-Recovered-4.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Behind festive travels: What interstate drivers face daily"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/behind-festive-travels-what-interstate-drivers-face-daily-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Behind Festive Travels: What interstate drivers face daily"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#website","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/","name":"GuardianTV","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization","name":"GuardianTV","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png","width":600,"height":96,"caption":"GuardianTV"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/person\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1","name":"Abiodun Ogundairo","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/author\/abiodun\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95588"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95590,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95588\/revisions\/95590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}