Governor Nasir El Rufai has inaugurated Kaduna State Road Safety Advisory Council (SaRSAC) to give guidance on a cohesive and efficient system to enhance over all safety.
The governor said that SaRSAC is to strengthen the giant strides that his administration has made towards enforcing traffic laws and returning sanity on Kaduna state roads.
El Rufai recalled that his administration developed the State Transport Policy in 2017 which gave rise to the establishment of the Kaduna State Traffic Law Enforcement Agency (KASTLEA), the Kaduna State Road Agency (KADRA) and the Kaduna State Transport Regulatory Authority (KADSTRA).
‘’The Kaduna Urban Renewal Project is addressing the issues of safer mobility through massive road expansions and upgrades across the State to meet with global best practices and eliminate attendant hardship encountered by motorist as a result of bad roads,’’ he said.
Speaking while inaugurated the 21 member council which will be chaired by the Deputy Governor, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, El Rufai said that the advisory council will set state road safety targets and ensure coordination between states and local governments in achieving them.
The governor promised that government will provide all the support necessary to ensure the success of the Kaduna State Road Safety Advisory Council.
‘’We will work together to achieve a new and higher level of safety on our roads in line with Global standards,’’ El Rufai added.
He recalled the National Road Safety Advisory Council was inaugurated in February 2017 by the Vice President and each State was directed to inaugurate its own council.
According to El Rufai, the council is ‘’ to ensure zonal coordination to make inroads towards the success of the Councils. I myself represent the north – west zone on the National Council.’’
The governor lamented that ‘’road safety data indicate that more than 1.25 million people die on the world’s roads and tens of millions are seriously injured every year.’’
‘’This includes the toll on our young people, with road traffic crashes identified as the number one killer of young people aged 15–29 and the eighth leading cause of death among all people worldwide,’’ he said.
El Rufai noted that ‘’each year, developing countries lose between 1% and 3% of their gross domestic product (GDP) due to medical costs, productivity losses, and other expenses resulting from deaths and injuries on the road, which is more than most of them receive in development aid.’’
‘’To respond to this, the United Nations General Assembly passed resolution 64/2551 in March 2010 declaring the Global Decade of Action for Road Safety from 2010 to 2020, and more recently February 2020, via resolution 74/299, a second Decade of Action from 2021 to 2030 was proclaimed.
‘’The new proclamation stated a new target to reduce road deaths and injuries by 50% by 2030,’’ the governor recalled.
