Enugu Plans Road Safety Outfit

The Enugu State Government is to establish a road safety outfit to complement the efforts of the Federal Road Safety Commission and traffic wardens to maintain order and ensure safety on roads.  The state governor, Mr. Sullivan Chime, announced this when he received in audience the chairman and members of board of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) during a courtesy visit to his office.

The governor described the degree of lawlessness and disobedience to traffic rules in the country as very unfortunate and unacceptable and therefore called for the collaborative efforts of both federal and state agencies to check them.

The state chief executive said that his administration has completed plans to make Enugu State a model with well-furnished road with safety and traffic control system, adding that already some modern road traffic controls and signs had been acquired and were being mounted on all the roads in the city.

He said that the marking of all the roads within the state capital with traffic control lights and directions was going on, adding that once these were completed, any traffic offender in any part of the state capital would be apprehended and punished.

Governor Chime commended the board and management of the Federal Road Safety Commission for their efforts in carrying out their assignment and assured the cooperation of his government to improve on their present level of performance, assuring of speedy completion of its academy at Udi.

He stressed the need for more serious public enlightenment campaign to educate motorists on the Highway Code and road signs, adding that “the earlier we imbibe the culture and tradition of obeying traffic rules without being monitored, the better for the people.”

The governor disagreed with the commission’s proposal to introduce road signs written in local languages on the country’s roads and highways on the grounds that there would be problems of their interpretation.

Earlier in his speech the FRSC chairman, Col. Lawan Gwadabe (rtd.), noted that poor attitudinal disposition to road safety education more than any other factor accounts for the high incidence of road accidents on the nation’s roads.  Col. Gwadebe, quoting a United Nations report, said that about 1.3 million people die annually through road accidents, adding that such huge losses posed a big challenge to the economy and workforce.

The FRSC boss commended the Enugu State Government for its cooperation and assistance as a good host of the commission and pledged that the board would continue to moderate the activities of the corps and harness all resources to ensure optimum performance.

He specifically mentioned the donation of N2.5 million naira to the centre for the processing of drivers license in the state, and donation of site for the FRSC academy as the state government’s commitment to the operational efficiency of the commission.

Col Gwadabe told the governor that he was in the state to explore new ways of partnering with his government, adding that already the good network of roads in the state has made their job better and easier.

He then appealed to him to assist them with towing vans, operational vehicles and find ways to subsidize the cost of crash helmets in the state.