Following the second wave of coronavirus (Covid-19) infections recorded in recent weeks in Nigeria by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Boboye Oyeyemi, corps marshal (COMACE) of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has said that, the lead safety agency deepen enlightenment among travelers and motorists on the need to continually observe the extant guidelines on social distancing while on the roads and highways.
Oyeyemi who spoke in Lagos at the weekend during at the 5th annual training/capacity building workshop organized by the Nigeria Auto Journalists’ Association (NAJA) said the agency “would be unrelenting in our commitment to safer road environment through sustained campaigns” even as the year end special patrols begin.
Represented Bisi Kazeem, an assistant corp marshal and corps public enlightenment officer, the FRSC boss assured that his officers would deepen campaigns on social distancing by travelers and motorists to curb the spread of the second wave of pandemic.
BusinessDay checks across bus terminals and parks indicates that, there has been resurgence in coronavirus cases even as many were said to have grossly violated the protocols on social distancing especially by travelers.
Oyeyemi stated that, the capacity building for automotive journalists aligns with the FRSC’s vision “of developing the competencies of our personnel for improved service delivery.”
That is why training and retraining of our personnel for positive impacts on the motoring public has been part of our development agenda in the past six years of my management.
In his submission, “We are conscious of the fact that whatever training that our personnel receive will remain incomplete, if a strategic stakeholder like the Nigeria Auto Journalists Association who report automobile and the road transport sector are not given similar exposure in the field to complement the efforts,’’.
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He noted the outcome of the workshop will contribute immediately to the attainment of the goals of well trained auto journalists who are capable of delivering on the professional competence of reporting the dynamics of automobile industry.
“This is more so that the sophistication in auto engineering, reportage as well as the growing reliance on automobile as a veritable means of transportation for private and commercial purposes has made expert knowledge of the industry inevitable,” he said.
Oyeyemi regretted that recently, the country was thrown into series of security challenges characterised by kidnapping of travelers, banditry and armed robbery all of which are linked to road transportation.
In addition, the nation was faced with COVID-19 pandemic which requires adherence to social distancing protocols by passengers at the parks and inside the vehicles.
“The responsibility of explaining these federal government’s directives and ensuring compliance by all fell on the shoulders of the FRSC which is the lead agency in matters of traffic management and safety administration in the country”. He concluded.
