New Telegraph

Road safety is our priority, Osinbajo tells UN

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has told the United Nations (UN) that in line with the government’s development objectives, road safety has been considered as a major development and economic priority at all levels, as it ensures the safety and protection of lives, and the well-being of the citizenry. Osinbajo said this on Thursday evening when he received on a courtesy call at the Presidential Villa the UN’s Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Mr. Jean Todt, who was accompanied by the Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Dr Boboye Oyeyemi.

In a release signed by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, the VP said “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.” Noting that road safety and welfare of the citizens were crucial issues to the government, the Vice President stated that this was a reason “it is that we have done and continue to do as much as possible to promote the work of our federal road safety corps.”

He added that 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.”

Osinbajo commended the UN Special Envoy, who visited Nigeria some few years ago, for “continuing the good work of road safety across the world.” He also praised the FRSC Corps Marshal for his very extensive work in road safety matters in Nigeria. In his remarks, the UN Special Envoy emphasized on the importance of road safety, especially in a populous country such as Nigeria, as well as raising more awareness on the need to prevent roads accidents in Nigeria and Africa. Also speaking, Corps Marshal Boboye disclosed that Nigeria (alongside four other African countries; Ghana, Morocco, Namibia and South Africa), received the first-ever Kofi Annan Road Safety Award on Wednesday at a ceremony in Accra, Ghana.

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