The Work Bank has engaged Integrated Transport Planning (ITP), a UK-based transport consultancy firm, to serve as consultant for Nigeria’s road safety management capacity review.
Mr Osita Chidoka, the Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of the FRSC, disclosed this in Abuja when he received members of the World Bank Review of Road Safety Management Capacity in his office. Chidoka said the bank’s offer was in recognition of the Commission’s campaign toward reducing road accidents in the country and ensuring that its operations met international standards.

He said that some of the identified challenges of road safety practices in the country were being addressed with the establishment of the Commission. One of such challenges, Chidoka said was viewing road safety as a local issue and non-security matter with minimal government participation and inadequate investment.

“This led to a situation where roads were constructed without cost implication for road furniture being incorporated into its construction budget,” he said. To address the situation, Chidoka said the Commission had submitted a memo to the government on the need to dedicate a certain percentage of the cost of road construction for road safety audit and impact assessment.

He said with the country review, Nigeria would be able to achieve strong institutional and legal framework on road safety, attract more funding from government and the World Bank as well as develop a clear vision and time frame for meeting road traffic crash reduction target. In her remark, Tawia Addo-Ashong, a member of the team and Programme Co-coordinator, Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) of the World Bank, said that about 1.2 million deaths occurred annually through road accidents.

Addo-Ashong, who said that 90 per cent of the deaths were recorded in developing countries, said the bank would assist stakeholders in improving on road safety in Nigeria.
She said the bank had set aside more than 300 million dollars to assist in developing projects in the short, medium and long terms with a view to reducing road accidents in the country. In carrying out its assignment, the World Bank team, which will be in Nigeria for two weeks, will visit relevant stakeholders in the road safety sector.