Omolosho Fatai
Vice president Yemi Osinbajo said in line with its development objectives, federal government has considered road safety a major development and economic priority for government at all levels, as it ensures the safety and protection of lives, and the well-being of the citizenry.
Osinbajo stated this on Thursday, when he received United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Mr. Jean Todt, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, alongside the Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Dr Boboye Oyeyemi.
According to the statement issued on Friday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity, Laolu Akande, Osinbajo said that road safety and welfare of citizens were crucial issues to government, adding that this was a reason “why it is that we have done and continue to do as much as possible to promote the work of our federal road safety corps.”
“In terms of priority, road safety is critical to us. Just looking at the number of fatalities, more attention should be given to road safety issues because, certainly we will have far less fatalities…. we should try and keep the campaign going and adopt different approaches to these issues, so that we don’t have the kinds of huge fatalities,” the VP said.
According to Osinbajo, public education campaign such as that provided by the FRSC traffic radio “is not just important, in terms of the fact that it is helpful in informing people about traffic and all that, but it is also a major means of educating the public about road safety issue.
“Public education is very important to ensuring road safety, because people need to be informed, especially about the simple easy-to-do things such as wearing seat belts, not using the phone while driving, not driving under the influence, and very simple, straight forward preventive measures that is central to people’s lives and their limbs are safe.”
