Nigeria roads to be one of 20 safest roads in the world by 2020- FRSC

The Federal Government through the instrumentality of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has reiterated its commitment to making Nigerian roads one of the top 20 safest roads to drive on in the world by the year 2020 as encapsulated in the road safety perspective of the vision 2020:20 of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The Corps Marshal FRSC, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi stated this during a paper presentation on ‘ Road Traffic Crash Trend in Nigeria’ at the 2018 Annual training workshop of the Nigerian Motoring Journalists Association in Lagos.

The Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi kazeem, also quoted Oyeyemi as saying that the pace of technological advancement especially in the automobile world has enhanced man’s mobility as well as posed serious concerns on human safety.

Due to access of automobile by unqualified persons, the world’s roads including that of Nigeria have become increasingly dangerous
to travel on throughout history.

Oyeyemi further stated that Nigeria like other sub-Sahara Africa nations have been hardly hit by road traffic crashes.

The overall effect which is largely preventable has impacted negatively on productive manpower, economy and the socio-political sectors of the country.

“Despite massive global awareness of the road traffic crash problem, forecast show that the trend could soar if nothing is done to reverse the present situation.” He added.

Kazeem also quoted the Corps marshal as saying that before, the establishment of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigeria’s roads were rated the worst next to Ethiopia.

He added that the Federal Government took steps to reverse the trend through institutional arrangements and policies like; Establishment of National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) in 1974.

Establishment of Oyo State Road Safety Corps 1977, and Establishment of Federal Road Safety Commission on 18 Febuary, 1988 all geared towards eradicating the menace of road traffic crash.

Going further, Oyeyemi also said that Justifying the need for Government to establish a Lead Agency on Road Safety, the FRSC deployed strategies that led to accelerated decline from 25,792 to 8,477 in RTC trends in the country.

He said, “The key success factors that led to observed decline in RTC Trend from 1988 to 2010 revolved around the 4e’s strategies of the Corps, namely: Enforcement, Education, Enlightenment and Engineering”.

Speaking on the efforts the Corps has put in place over the years to combat crash on the road, Oyeyemi revealed that to further sustain the declining RTC trend in Nigeria, FRSC aligned with regional and global initiatives such as the Accra Declaration of ‘’2007-2015’’ and the UN Decade of Action programme (2011-2020) while keying into the “safe systems approach” to advance global action on reducing road traffic crash fatality and injuries.

As a result of the aforementioned, the country’s RTC profile has consistently trended downwards due to sustainability of efforts and improvements of current strategies and policies like; Compulsory Crash Helmet and Seatbelt Usage, Improvement of the Driver’s License and Plate Number scheme, Implementation of the Road Transport Safety Standardization Scheme (RTSSS),

Introduction of Standard School Bus Policy, Introduction of Standard School Bus Policy, Implementation of the Road Transport Safety Standardization Scheme (RTSSS), Enforcement of Speed Limiting Device Installation, Enforcement of the Safe –To-Load Programme, Expansion of Emergency Ambulance Service Scheme and so on.

Kazeem also noted that the Corps Marshal is confident of the capability of the FRSC as Nigeria looks forward to attaining
Zero Road Traffic Death.

This is in line with its vision zero concept as aspired by other nations of the world. To achieve this however, some national and global steps have been taken.

Road Safety has relevance in 6 (goals 2;3;4;11;13;17) of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) expected to end in year 2030.