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…. assures partnership with NUJ’s Corporate Online Chapel
The Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), RS 9.1, Enugu Sector Command, Adeyemi Sokumbi has said road safety management requires collective efforts of all stakeholders including the motoring public.
This is even as he assured partnership with the members of the Corporate Online Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Enugu chapter, describing Online media practitioners as drivers of trending events .
Sokumbi gave the assurance on Friday, when he received in audience, members of the Corporate Online Chapel of the NUJ, who paid him a courtesy visit in his office.
He disclosed that since assumption of office the Command had put so many measures in place to reduce road crashes in the State .
He said apart from two major crashes which happened in Nsukka where 17 lives were lost and in Ugwu Onyeama, where 6 lives were lost, road crashes had reduced in the State.
The Sector Commander explained that there were crash prone areas in the state,and one of them is Ugwu Onyeama.
He disclosed that from their findings, most accidents at Ugwu Onyeama occured in the evening. Sokunbi explained that drivers speed to get home before night and on the process of the rush, some drivers overtake anyhow , sometimes two vehicles will be overtaking at the same time, leading to road crash.
” If we take human factor out of it , we will reduce crashes”, he said. The Sector Commander added that the Command had carried out some measures to reduce road crashes . These included enlightening motorists and members of the public on safety measures on the road.
“We had advocacy in the Churches, motor parks and we use the media. Ugwu Onyeama becomes a factor in Enugu state. It has become a recurrency decimal. What is happening there is human factor, wrong overtaking, distractions, pressing of phones while on steering . So, we tried to talk to people and enforce to transverse this our Enugu axis to safety, he said.
The Sector Commander added that they went to Companies to talk to them , to ensure that their drivers are safe.
Sokunbi disclosed that they also applied red flag measure on the road to calm drivers on speed .He said operatives of the Command from time to time go to Ugwu Onyeama to do that. He urged travelers to have an open mind when travelling on the road.
His words, ” there is nothing spectacular in that place. I just realized in the evening people coming into Enugu will be rushing to get home on time, coming from far distances. People that have weigh bills will be calling their clients. In the evening, you see people trying to overtake about two vehicles or trying to rush home. Accidents at that place is not caused by spirit as people were meant to believe. It’s 80% human factor, over speeding, wrong overtaking, distractions among others”.
Applauding the Corporate Online media for their good jobs in the society, Sokunbi said, ,”we are happy you came. We will work with you. Yours is driving what is trending. So, we want you to spread the gospel of the safety of our roads. The gospel is, we kill the speed on our roads before our speed will kill us.”
He promised that the command will work with the Corporate Online Chapel, saying, “we will work in synergy with you”
He appealed to Journalists to always confirm their reports before pushing them to members of the public to avoid misleading the public.
Earlier, the Chairman of Corporate Online Chapel, Comrade Clinton Umeh informed the Sector Commander that the courtesy visit was to intimate him about the chapel. He said the chapel is a new Chapel approved by the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) national, to distinguish professional online Journalists from bloggers who are not Journalists. Umeh hinted that the chapel comprises a diverse group of online media professionals and are keen to foster a strong and collaborative relationship with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Enugu.
” It is our firm belief that understanding your efforts and challenges will enable us to report accurately and effectively on matters of road safety, traffic management and public safety campaigns. It will also afford both parties opportunity to explore potential areas of collaboration where our platforms can support and amplify the critical work your command is doing in promoting road safety and reducing traffic accidents”, Umeh said.
He expressed gratitude to the Sector Commander for the audience given the chapel.
Officers present at the visit were , the Sector Commander RS9.1 Enugu state Sector Command, T. Adeyemi Sokunbi,the Sector Head of Operations, Deputy Corps Commander V A. Osita, the Sector Intelligence Officer, SRC C.C.Ono, the Sector Public Enlightenment, RC Theophilus Okoduwa , Sector Protocol Officer,DRC I.C. Onunkwo and Personal Assistant to the Sector Commander,ARC N.A. Madukwe.