The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Lagos State Sector Command, has advised school owners and administrators to ensure strict compliance with COVID-19 preventive guidelines in their bus system.
The Lagos State Sector Commander of FRSC, Mr Olusegun Ogungbemide, gave this advice in a statement issued on Monday in Lagos by Mrs Olabisi Sonusi, the commander’s Public Education Officer.
Ogungbemide, who said that school resumption should not be an avenue to spread the deadly pandemic in the state, stressed that school bus drivers must be retrained and ensure observance of the safety protocols.
According to him, the command will not look away if school owners and administrators are flouting the COVID-19 safety precautions in their bus system.
“It is no longer news that schools are resuming and students will be on the move to and fro their schools after about six months at home.
“We want to advise proprietors, proprietresses and school managers with bus system to ensure strictlly observance of COVID-19 preventive measures in their transport operations.
“We cannot lose the gains the state and the country have made in checkmating the spread of COVID-19 pandemic now.
“The life of each student should be very important to school managers; hence the years of packing students like sardine in buses are over.
“We shall be on the look out to enforce the law against over loading of vehicles especially as it affect this COVID-19 era,” the FRSC boss said
.
He said that school resumption was not an indication that COVID-19 pandemic was over.
Ogungbemide said that any school operator that flouted the law would be arrested and prosecuted in accordance with the law.
He also urged motorists to be conscious of students commuting to and from schools, hence the need to adhere strictly to common sense speed limits around school zones
.
The sector commander further noted that with the resumption of schools, it was expected that there would be an upsurge in traffic volume on the road.
“Road users must ensure that school pupils are considered on the road,” he said. (NAN)
