Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun state on Thursday emphasized the importance of Road Safety in the the country while also promising to collaborate with Osun State Command of Federal Road Safety Corps.
The governor made this known during a courtesy visit by the new Zonal Commanding Officer, Federal Road Safety Corps Zone RS 11 Osogbo, ACM Hyginus U. Omeje, at the Governor’s Office in Osogbo.
During his address, Governor Adeleke noted that FRSC officers are playing significant role in the state and the country as whole.
He, however promised to meet all their demands in the state, by collaborating and providing all necessary needs needed by the FRSC officers in Osun state.
“FRSC is important you know to us, not only in Osun state but also to Nigeria as a whole, that is why all your requests we will look into it and make sure we do the needful that’s supposed to be done.
“You cannot come over here and be living where rain will be falling on you. So I know it’s a temporary place. We will look for a permanent place for you.
“And for the unit that you want to create in there,I think it’s a good idea so that at least you stretch it towards the other side of the town, and so it is done. So when you are ready, we try to look for a space.
“And well, you see, a lot of your job,
most of your job you have not even started doing it because there’s a lot of people, even both, now they have these Okada people, even some people doing Uber, some people doing taxi and all that. Some people, I don’t know how they do it.
“They will just send somebody to go and collect license, and they cannot even drive. You know, that’s what contributes to a lot of, accidents and everything.
“In our state, we must make sure that we find a way before anybody can get license, we’ll make sure that person is tested to make sure that at least he can drive, he can go back and forth and then be able to read the sign.
“I know you have a copy of the sign
that when he says stop, it’s a sign of stop. In America, before you can get license, you go and do a test.
“We will support you, We will support you in doing that. You must have a field where you will train people and where you will do what you call it, even exam. You know, you do that, right?
“Consider that, where you will do exam
and test people before license issued.
You must make it difficult for people to just go and say, I want to drive, give me a license, and you give them a license, people, they will notice sign”, the Governor noted.
Speaking earlier, the new zonal commandant officer ACM Hyginus U. Omeje, called the attention of the governor on some of the challenges FRSC is witnessing in the state.
According to him, “it’s still imperative that I need to intimidate you with some observations and challenges that we think robbing mind we would move the state forward.
“On that note, you will know that the Ibadan-Ife-Gbongan-Osogbo route is very critical, and that corridor has been witnessing a series of crashes, yes, at the same time.So I will appreciate if that support you gave us when you gave us that ambulance.
You can look into it now because intervention is now becoming difficult for us with that single ambulance.
“We have about four units lined up in that corridor,so if you put it on this end, if anything happens at the end, you want to respond because it will be too late. And timeliness is very, very key in our rescue operations.
“Similarly, that tow truck you gave us is over five years old now. And if we have any major incidents today, that we need a heavy duty tow truck to move to achieve it, because of your infrastructural development, I’ve seen the massive roadworks that is going on.
“It comes with also some additional tweaks because as you are expanding the road network, you can also be sure that it has to be policed, it has to be marked through safety wires. And all these things that I am mentioning, they are very, very important.
“Ede, for example, is becoming a major component because of the British area, because of the expansion work that is going on in good networks and all these things.
And we are proposing that with the Excellency’s support, we need a unit combined now in Ede.
“So we need to appeal to you that if you can give us accommodation there, the call will do the rest. Give us accommodation and you can give us at least even just one patrol vehicle. The call can now go to the passengers. And it also comes with some other advantages.
“It has a multiplier effect too. The average GDP of a farmer there will also increase because we need vegetables and everything that they are producing there. So I want you to please help us if we can get office accommodation and a patrol vehicle to set up a unit in that plac”, he said.
The Zonal Commander, however promised the state government that FRSC will not just receive, but they’re ready to give back to the state of Osun.
“We are not just about giving, giving, giving. We also have something we can also give in return. We know you have a state traffic management agency. And it will not be out of place if we can extend hands of fellowship in terms of training and capacity building for this state traffic management agency.
“Consequently, if we are given the privilege, we don’t mind developing their capacity in terms of also training and retraining”, he added.
