President Jonathan launches new licence to reduce road fatality

Osita Chidoka, Corps Marshal

President Jonathan launches new licence to reduce road fatality
Lawan Hamidu, Abuja

Nigerian government says it will employ every means to secure the country against what it called evil forces that sabotage the country.

President Goodluck Jonathan stated this while launching the new National Drivers’ Licence and Number Plates in Abuja, the capital.

President Jonathan who described the new initiative as a positive development said the project would provide the country with credible data as part of effort to improve public safety.

He charged the nation’s Road Safety agency to come up with action plan to reduce road fertility in line with the UN declaration on road accidents.

“This is part of this administration’s transformation drive. This positive development would assist the country in acquiring credible data on drivers and vehicles in an effort to improve public security” President Jonathan said.

Earlier, the Corps Marshal, Mr Osita Chidoka said the initiative is part of new regulatory regime that would assist the country in meeting the 2015 date line of reducing road fertility across the country.

The Effort So far

Nigeria is a signatory of Vienna and Geneva convention on Road Signs as well as Accra Declaration on reducing roads fertility aimed at reducing road accidents by 50% in the next four years.

President Jonathan has also directed the Federal Road Safety Corp, FRSC, to curb the indiscriminate use of sirens by un-authorized individuals, removed trucks and tankers parked on the high ways which account for substantial percentage of road accidents.

New Initiative

The new initiative which was part of driving schools standardization provide that only individuals certified by authorized driving schools would have the licence to drive on the country’s roads.

It also made it mandatory for drivers to keep on updating knowledge on the road usage as well as licence to motorcycle drivers across the country.

“Government would support the FRSC in its quest to sustained the decline in road accidents across the country, so that Nigeria will be among the World’s 20 Countries with safest roads by 2020”, Jonathan declared.

Iheanacho