Technical report on National Road Safety Strategy ready soon — FRSC

By Harrison Arubu

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) says the report of the Technical Working Group (TWG) on the Nigeria Road Safety Strategy (NRSS) will soon be ready.

Corps Marshal of the agency, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, stated this in an interview with newsmen on the sidelines of the TWG second meeting in Abuja on Wednesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the TWG is a think-tank of the National Road Safety Advisory Council (NRSAC) tasked with driving implementation of the NRSS.

Approved by the Federal Executive Council in 2016, the NRSS is a platform for an integrated national approach toward reducing carnage on the nation’s highways.

Among other objectives, it is targeting a 35-per-cent reduction in road accident fatalities by 2018 in line with the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020).

Oyeyemi said the group’s responsibility was to produce a technical report for the NRSAC of which the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, is the chairman.

“This is our second meeting; we are working toward it and by February next year the memo to be considered by the NRSAC will be ready.

“From the road safety advisory council, it will go to the National Economic Council (NEC) for endorsement by states; you know states are members of NEC.

“The Vice President will then present it to the Federal Executive Council for ratification which will make it binding.

“One of the critical things we want to achieve is to make sure that budgetary provisions by states for their traffic management are fully implemented, and road infrastructure provided nationwide,’’ he said.

“When the NRSS becomes operational, there will be no more friction between the federal and state governments over jurisdiction,’’ he said.

Oyeyemi said that the nation’s roads had been fully defined, setting the country on course for a coordinated and effective road traffic management.

Describing the NRSS as encouraging, the corps marshal said all critical stakeholders both at the federal and state levels were now participating in its advancement.

Membership of the TWG, inaugurated on Aug. 3, comprise the FRSC, the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning, state vehicle administration and traffic management agencies and transport unions.

Others include: the Nigeria Medical Association, Standards Organisation of Nigeria and the Nigeria Institute of Town Planning.