FRSC, others chart path to accident-free roads

By The Guardian Newspaper

THE Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and stakeholders in the road transport sector yesterday deliberated on a draft document, Road Safety Strategy 2012-2016, with the aim of reducing road carnage in the country.

Corps Marshal and Chief Executive, FRSC, Osita Chidoka, who presented a keynote address at the stakeholders’ conference on the Nigeria Road Safety Strategy (NRSS) 2012-2016 organised by the FRSC in Enugu, regretted that the current road safety situation in the country had not met the expectations of the citizenry.

He stated that the conference was in line with meeting the goals of the United Nations (UN) Global Decade of Action 2012-2020, in addition to aligning with the Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda.

According to Chidoka, “the Nigeria Road Safety Strategy Document is being developed to position the Corps within the league of countries with 20 safest roads in the world”.

He charged participants to make inputs into the document and disclosed that a national summit on the NRSS would hold on April 17, in Abuja 2012.

Osita assured that FRSC was commitment to planning and implementing the NRSS.

After going through the draft document, stakeholders from Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu states proffered suggestions that were adopted to form part of the final document.

The stakeholders recommended synergy between the Ministry of Works and the FRSC in monitoring road design and construction of roads and a strict adherence to the provisions of the draft document.

They also sought improved budgetary provisions towards road safety management in the country and asked the Federal Government to reduce tariff on imported new vehicles to minimise crashes caused by rickety vehicles.

The stakeholders also stressed the need to properly spell out roles and responsibilities under the NRSS document to minimise conflicts among different agencies and called for extension of the period on the draft document to at least 2020, with the objectives broken down to long, medium and short-term goals.