Gov Emmanuel Sets up Technical Group to Ensure Safety on Roads

Okon Bassey in Uyo

Worried by the alarming statistics of road accidents in the country, critical stakeholders in the transportation sub-sector of the economy have been tasked to ensure the nation’s roads are safe and secure for motorists.

The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, expressed the concern while inaugurating a 25-member Technical Working Group of the State Road Safety Advisory Council in Uyo yesterday.

The governor, who was represented by his Deputy Governor, Mr. Moses Ekpo, stressed that the call became imminent considering the current security challenges facing the nation.

Emmanuel said that the committee was very strategic to the current efforts to sanitise the sector, and therefore urged the technical working group to be patriotic and committed to the task of ensuring a new dawn in the sector.

The governor said he was concerned about safety of lives of citizens on roads in the state, which informed the necessity for the inauguration of the body to justify his administration’s huge investment on roads construction and infrastructural development.

According to the governor, the composition of the body reflects that of the national technical group for the same purpose, stressing the importance of every member drawn from organisations and agencies involved in safety of lives and property.

The committee, he said is diversified with relevant responsibilities reflecting their various backgrounds and services.

He further stated that road situations differ from one location to another, hence the need for them to do appraisal of each scenario and create templates necessary to make the road safe for motorists and pedestrians in order to achieve the objective of the federal policy on road safety and management.

Earlier, the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Akwa Ibom Command, Mr. Matthew Olonisaye who is also the Secretary of the State Road Safety Advisory Council (SRSAC) said the existence of the advisory council was timely.

The body, he said, is to help develop and deploy strategies needed to achieve the road safety vision which is to ensure that crash incidence is minimised and to also ensure that they do not result to human injury or death.