I was talking with one of my absolutely “kilonpop . . .gbabe” cool cousin a while back about Nigeria and the many accidents people have and no insurance to help them. He surprised me! He said there was actually an elaborate insurance system and that he was an insurance agent until he relocated to the USA. I lost touch with my cousin for over 10years as a result of me moving back to the States before he did. I was pleasantly surprised to hear this but wondered why, before I left Nigeria and the few times I have returned, car accidents happen and there seems to be no help whatsoever for the wounded.
This leads me to the unfortunate sad news the music industry just recently got hit with. The industry just lost MC Loph, the hitmaker who gave us Osondi Owendi. Nigerian news media reports and blogs indicate he was on his way for traditional wedding rituals, with his Fiancee, when he got into a fatal car accident. ** (Many news media say his wife died but Magdalene Nwoko, a reader of Africamusiclaw.com, informs me she read Mc Loph and his sister died and his wife is recovering and is pregnant with child). The pictures are quite gruesome.
May their soul rest in peace.
Now I wonder about personal injury law in an instance like this. Any of my learned legal colleagues in that practice area, in Nigeria, reading this? Could you shed light on how that system works? Who compensates the family, monetarily, for a loss like this, assuming the other driver was at fault? Is (having) insurance mandated in a State like Lagos, for example?
Thanks in advance for whenever you see this story and respond to my questions.
Cheers,
Uduak
