By Gami Tadanyigbe
An NGO, Greenlight Initiative with support from The Pollination Project USA, on Saturday trained 60 advocates on road safety tips and regulations to reduce road crashes in the country.
The Executive Director of the group, Mr Simon Obi said the training was aimed at improving safety on Nigerian roads through the implementation of evidence-backed interventions and awareness.
According to him, the number of road traffic deaths from global perspective has increased to 1.35 million annually, saying there is need to reduce the carnage through preventive measures.
He said road crashes have killed more Nigerians than the violent Boko Haram group, adding that the task of ensuring safety on roads should not be left to the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) alone.
“Nigera, with other low income African countries, has one per cent of the worlds registered vehicles but leading to traffic deaths at 13 per cent.
“We commend the efforts of the FRSC, but to attain the zenith of a road free record and utmost safety on our roads, we all have a collective responsibility.
“As part of our commitment to achieving this aim, we organised this traffic safety training programme to groom more advocates in the country.
“The training is a programme which will empower and improve the capacity of 60 young people to organise and implement policies for improving road safety and traffic in Nigeria,” he said.
Mrs Aishat Saadu, the FRSC instructor, identified some major causes of road crashes to be reckless driving, bad tyres, over loading and wrong overtaking among others.
She called on motorist to adhere strictly to traffic rules and regulations to reduce road crashes in the country.
Mr Babagana Bulama, speaking on behalf of the trainees, thanked the organisation for the training programme and promised to use the knowledge acquired to reduce road crashes in the country.
