The Federal Government has sought the support of the United Nations on Road Safety in order to reduce fatality on Nigerian roads in line with the United Nations focus on fatality reduction as enshrined in its Decade for Action Plan for Road Safety.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha made the disclosure when the Special Envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Jean Todt with his team paid a courtesy visit in his office.
He said Nigeria is seeking cooperation with the United Nations on six key areas in order to meet its goal of attaining road safety targets.
In his words,
“The Special envoy is invited to consider the following areas of possible collaboration and intervention on road safety on Sustainable Technical support implementation of the accented six (6) UN Road Safety Conventions and Agreements; Improvement in data management particularly on Nigeria and WHO annual data on road safety; Assist Nigeria in establishing the 3rd Regional Centre of Excellence in Road Safety Management in Africa after Tanzania and Cameroon; Assist Nigeria’s drive to transit to electric vehicles through advocacy at the United Nations and World Bank who are ready to fund the transition; Provide support for the Corps on electric vehicles transition through a sectoral approach in the area of technical and infrastructural capacity; and Assist Nigeria in advancing traffic management through deployment of cutting-edge solutions such as smart road pricing and other measures”.
SGF said the federal government has been supportive in enhancing the initiatives and programmes of the Federal Road Safety Service Corps (FRSC) in ensuring safety of roads. In his words:
“Specifically, the government has continued to enhance the activities of the FRSC and all its initiatives and programmes. This administration is equally committed to providing a better safe motoring to the nation in alignment with the United Nations focus on fatality reduction as well as those of African regional plan. Nigeria has been able to channel adequate resources towards meeting the global goals.”
He further said that Nigeria has attended all high level global ministerial meetings on Road Safety and will continue to participate and align with all schedule meetings and protocols. He added that Nigeria’s resolve to participate at these meetings is predicated on bringing on board initiatives and innovations that may be adapted to Sub-Sahara and developing countries on the basis of some peculiarities and experiences.
Speaking earlier, the Special Envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nations on Road Safety, Mr. Jean Todt has commended the federal government’s initiative for establishing the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) which has helped in reducing road fatalities and also for its efforts in ensuring road safety in the global scene.
He said that his team has visited key stakeholders from some MDAs with the aim of knowing the challenges confronting the sector with the aim of mitigating road fatalities in Nigeria. He added that UN would support Nigeria in achieving accuracy of data.