The Kaduna State Government (KDSG) declared that it was embarking on a collaboration with the State House of Assembly to enact regulations on traffic violations and rickety vehicles in the state. Sen. Uba Sani, the state Governor, announced the plans at the formal flag-off of the 2023 Ember Months Campaign by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), which was held in Kaduna Sector Command, Kaduna State. Also, he said the theme of the 2023 Ember Campaign to be “Speed thrills but Kills: Drive responsibly and avoid Overloading.”
Kaduna State Commissioner for Public Works and Infrastructure, Hamza Ibrahim, represented Sani, the state Governor at the flag-off ceremony. He stated that State Road Safety Advisory Council was recently inaugurated by the state government, and this was in accordance with the Nigerian Road Safety Strategy II to establish sanity on roads in the state. He highlighted that five computerized vehicle testing centres have been established by the state government as a part of the diligence to guarantee that vehicles obeyed all established safety standards in the state.
Residents were urged to take road safety as an individual responsibility.
Sani expressed his gratitude to the former government for deploying their services in the aspect of infrastructural development in the state, done through the Kaduna State Urban Renewal Project as a medium of development and improvement on road network in the state. He mentioned that the efforts have been in alignment with global best practices and with the second pillar of the UN Decade of Action Safe System approach of safer mobility. Moreover, the commitment of the state government has been restated by the governor to promote the activities of FRSC in Kaduna.
Furthermore, residents of Kaduna were implored by the governor to continuously comply with all safety guidelines and standards on usage of the road. The people were also implored to take road safety as an individual responsibility and support FRSC to achieve the desired result of reduction of crashes of road traffic to the minimum level. The Sector Commander of the FRSC, Kaduna Sector Command, Mr. Kabiru Nadabo, said that every year, ember months — September to December — always come with heavy traffic jam in the country.
FRSC has promised never to relent in their efforts.
Also, he added that over the years, FRSC, as a proactive government agency, had established many initiatives and ideas to level up its preparedness on rescue and patrol activities. Furthermore, according to him, the agency held massive public engagement and enlightenment with its stakeholders as one of the measures to apprehend infamous trends on the road. The programme was said by Nadabo to be part of the sustained preparations by the corps, which is an improvement towards the reduction of road crashes. This is commonly experienced during the ember season.
Based on the 2023 campaign theme, it was chosen to create awareness to all road users, drivers and pedestrians, on the urgency to abide with traffic regulations and rules for safety while driving. Nadabo said that a comparative reduction has been recorded by the corps in road traffic crashes in the 3rd quarter (Q3) of 2023. Also, the organisation promised never to relent in their efforts, for it is monumentally massive. He expressed gratitude to the Kaduna State Government for it unwavering support on road safety through the provision of corps’ road rehabilitation and Logistics for activities to create a safe motoring environment in Kaduna.
All road users should ensure adherence to traffic regulations.
Applause was given to the government by Nadabo for the inauguration of the Road Safety Advisory Council (KASARC) to promote the collective effort of the FRSC to enhance traffic administration and effective road safety management. According to the Sector Commander, KASTLEA and FRSC had built areas of mutual collaboration and effective synergy to retrain and train officers on rescue activities for the public safety. Also, he implored all road uses to ensure that they all abide with traffic regulations and rules.
