VP Osinbajo to chair NARSAC

The inauguration of the National Road Safety Advisory Council, will be chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, with the Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Dr Boboye Oyeyemi as Secretary.

Other members of the 29-member Advisory Council include six governors representing the six geo-political zone, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Minister of Transport, Minister of Works, Minister of Health, Minister of Justice, Minister of Education, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Minister of Environment, Minister of Labour and Employment, Minister of Police Affairs, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, National Security Adviser, President, Association of Local Government of Nigeria, ALGON.

The National Road Safety Advisory Council is a critical aspect of the updated or second version of the Nigeria Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030 adopted by NEC and approved by the Federal Executive Council late last year. The updated version came following the expiration of the first document in December, 2020.

And its primary function is to set National Road Safety Strategy target(s), Ensure co-ordination between Federal, States and Local Governments in achieving Road Safety targets, Drive the implementation of the NRSS via: Requests for progress reports from relevant agencies, Invitation of relevant agencies to defend proposed activities and road safety efforts on a quarterly basis, Endorsement of disbursement of pre-approved funds for strategic initiatives, Endorsement of disbursement of pre-approved funds for strategic initiatives and Monitoring of funds disbursement for strategic initiatives among others.

The Council is a very important body in Road safety management in Nigeria whose key role is to enhance the entrenchment of safety of all road users anchored much on the successful implementation of the Nigeria Road Safety strategy (NRSS) 2021-2030 where it is expected as earlier stated that crashes when they occur, result in zero deaths.

The main objective of the NRSS document is to stem the menace of crashes through a systemic, nationally coordinated; deliberate and all inclusive crash management process that manages all the variables that interact on the road. Viz; road, road users, vehicles and road managers.

The National Road Safety Council is part of the general organised efforts of the Corps to ensure that all hands are on deck to end road traffic crashes in Nigeria. The move is to get the buy-in of major stakeholders in the public sector that play critical role in policy formulation.

This is why the understanding and effective implementation of the provisions of the NRSS from the grass-root to the state and federal level will facilitate the achievement of the national goal of having a country where road traffic crashes results in zero death on Nigerian roads.

As such, it is now more than ever, the time for every citizen to wake up to the realities of the present time and begin to contribute towards the actualization of the safety mandate because road safety is indeed, everybody’s business.

It was based on these stated fact, that I leveraged on these successes to summarily adjudge the Corps Marshal’s leadership of the Federal Road Safety Corps as the proper placement of a square peg in a square hole and commend President Muhammadu Buhari for re- appointing Dr. Boboye, whose drive and sense of commitment to duty and professionalism is no doubt a clear justification of President Muhammadu Buhari’s confidence in appointing him Corps Marshal.

Assistant Corps Marshal Bisi Kazeem, fsi, Amnipr is the Head of Public Education Office at the FRSC National Headquarters, Abuja