By Olatunde Dodondawa
In its over three decades of entrenching safety and creating a safer motoring environment in Nigeria, the Federal Road Safety Corps through the coordinated formulation and implementation of life saving policies, has successfully clamped down on factors that have bedeviled the highways on Nigeria roads.
Also, in a bid to effectively discharged its operations , the agency has recently inaugurated its National Road safety Advisory Council
It also be noted that since 18 February, 1988 when the Corps commenced full operational activities, it was geared towards eradicating road traffic crashes, the Federal Road Safety Corps has brought down annual record of crashes from over Forty Thousand deaths per year to below Five Thousand deaths.
Meanwhile, Corps Marshal, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi whose administration defined its cause in tandem with UN Decade of Action as well as the mantra of functional 21st century organization by chatting a path to meet the Accra Declaration of 50% reduction in fatality by 2015, achieve the UN decade of action on road Safety of 50% fatality reduction by 2021 and the rollover of UN Decade of Action in 2031 among others.
The Corps Marshal, apart from succeeding in securing the endorsement of the first National Road Safety Strategy in 2016, made Nigeria the first African country to be admitted into International Traffic Safety Data analysis group IRTAD, became the first African country to accede to six (6) United Nations Conventions on Road Safety. These efforts have been systematically coordinated to align with global best practice as the standards have been domesticated and part of this domestication led to the birth of the National Road Safety Strategy for the years 2021-2030.
This quest to have a coordinated road safety framework anchored on the safe system approach and the five pillars of UN Decade of Action was aggressively pursued by the Corps Marshal owing to the fact that according to the United Nations, Africa faces specific issues exacerbating road traffic crashes. The UN report revealed that the population in Africa is steadily growing. The region’s economy is growing faster than any other continent, less affected by the global economic crisis, which results in a rapid expansion in middle class and increasing motorization in the continent.
Expectedly, the need to set Nigeria on a path that will exonerate her from the identified risk factors, is the propelling factor that triggered Oyeyemi’s resolve and determination to ensure that Nigeria has a working document that will not only coordinate the implementation of road safety policies, but also encompass everyone ranging from the public to private sectors, civil society to non-governmental organizations and government at all levels; vis Federal, State and Local government.
It would be recalled that in the year 2011, which was marked by the launch of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety, the UN called on Member states, international agencies, civil society, businesses and community leaders to ensure that the Decade leads to real improvement, and recommended governments to develop national action plans for the decade 2011-2020.
As a response, several countries released or updated in 2011 their national road safety strategies. The achievement of this ambitious objective significantly reduced the consequences of road traffic crashes as well as physical and mental torment of direct victims and their relatives.
As a response, several countries released or updated in 2011 their national road safety strategies. The achievement of this ambitious objective significantly reduced the consequences of road traffic crashes as well as physical and mental torment of direct victims and their relatives.
In addition to the purely human dimension, road traffic crashes also carry an economic dimension; therefore a substantial reduction in road traffic accidents represents considerable savings for the whole society.
By adopting the first National Road Safety Strategy, Nigeria joined in with countries where citizens have shown their will to fight against the new global epidemics – epidemics of serious consequences of road traffic crashes. As such, a major precondition for successfully achieving the objectives of the new Strategy is to have road traffic safety adopted by each and everyone as their personal right and responsibility.
By adopting the first National Road Safety Strategy, Nigeria joined in with countries where citizens have shown their will to fight against the new global epidemics – epidemics of serious consequences of road traffic crashes. As such, a major precondition for successfully achieving the objectives of the new Strategy is to have road traffic safety adopted by each and everyone as their personal right and responsibility.
