THE Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, on Thursday called on the Federal Government to increase funding for the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), in order to effectively reduce the high rate of accidents on Nigerian roads.
He also called for speedy amendment of the FRSC laws so as to strengthen the agency in delivery of its mandate as the lead safety organisation in the country.
Ogunwusi, made the call at the 7th Annual Lecture Series of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) with the theme: Achieving the Goal of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety in Africa held at the Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Oba Adeyeye who was the Chairman of the occasion urged the legislatures to show support by amending the laws guiding the FRSC and increase its budgetary allocation to enable it carry out its duties effectively.
He said this has become imperative because we are loosing future leaders of this country on our roads. He said that youths are the major road users in Nigeria.
He noted that the most productive time among the productive people are being spent on the road, called on government to focus on development of roads.
Ooni who said there should be more sensitisation of the youths on how they use roads, reminded that bad road should not be reason for not guiding our life jealously, adding that life lost cannot be replaced.
In his remark, the pioneer chairman of the FRSC, Professor Wole Soyinka while giving the historical perspective of the Corps, said the FRSC has also tamed the excesses of the military on the highways.
Soyinka who said that the military used to be the highest killer on road because of their recklessness noted that today the situation is not the same.
Nobel Laurette recalled that it was as result of fatigue from attending burial of friends and students who lose their lives on road accidents and regular visitation to hospitals to see accident victims that compelled him to put a request to the then governor of Oyo State that led to the formation of the FRSC which started as Oyo State Road Safety Corps.
