Corps Marshal decorates First Lady as Grand Matron of FRSC Special Marshals
The First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, was on Tuesday decorated as the Grand Matron of the Road Safety Special Marshals.
Supreme news reports that the title of Grand Matron of the Road Safety Special Marshal, is an honorary position conferred upon highly placed, influential women who have shown notable and outstanding contributions to road safety advocacy and initiatives.
The decoration ceremony took place in Abuja, where she received the management of the FRSC led by Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed.
The first lady expressed her gratitude for the recognition and urged the adoption of more technology and improved inter-agency collaboration to reduce the number of road crashes in Nigeria.
She also called for better enforcement of speed limits and the deployment of more FRSC personnel during festive periods to ensure safer roads.
The first lady also acknowledged that many roads across the country still required significant improvement, even though rehabilitation and construction efforts were ongoing.
She encouraged the FRSC to expand public sensitisation and invest more in enforcing speed regulations effectively.
She further underscored the need to provide adequate care for victims and children affected by road crashes, calling for stronger collaboration between the FRSC, relevant ministries, and government agencies.
She said with coordinated action, that both the government and the Corps will be better positioned to safeguard the lives of Nigerians.
“I believe we should do more with speed limits, are people complying because we don’t want to see accidents on our road.
“Speed limit is very crucial and people are supposed to adhere to it, even in other developed countries, speed limits are adhered to.
“We also need more officers on the road, in other countries, we see a lot of teams working together, we don’t want to see lives lost especially during the Yuletide season, you will need more personels on the road to caution people.
Earlier, Mohammed, said the honour was bestowed on the first lady in recognition of her commitment to the welfare of Nigerians and her support for road safety advocacy.
The corps marshal also stressed the importance of accident reduction and prompt emergency response, in the country in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
According to Mohammed, all efforts of the corps, towards safety sensitisation, are measured by success in preventing road traffic crashes and providing effective post-crash care.
“As the mother of the nation, we felt, making her the ground matron of FRSC means she is the one to canvass, to lead and championing the campaign for road safety so that our lives can be safe and accidents will reduce drastically.
”We are finalising the crash victims day today and coming to the First Lady for her blessing and to also decorate her shows there is a commitment and action on reducing road crashes in Nigeria.
“Going by that role, Nigerians will show that there is a political will and commitment from the leadership of the country to support FRSC not only in Nigeria but globally.
“Over three decades we have been sensitising and doing public education on the citizens on ways to abide by road traffic rules and regulations, however, we require discipline, honour, trust and respect for humanity to be able to achieve it.
“Once citizens will abide by those ones, we are sure that road crashes will reduce drastically and we will achieve our target of reducing auto accidents by 50 per cent by year 2030.
Mohammed also highlighted the alarming rate of road-related trauma in Nigeria, noting that the country records more than 6,000 deaths annually.
These losses according to him, leave deep mental and social impacts, particularly on students, women, and families who lose loved ones.
The corps marshal emphasised the need for stronger partnerships to reduce road crashes and called for increased national support.
He urged the first lady to join the corps in its safety sensitisation campaigns.
He further expressed confidence that the involvement of the Mrs Tinubu, would strengthen advocacy efforts and amplify public awareness to reduce accident on the roads.
Supreme news reports that the FRSC on Saturday launched Road Traffic Crash Victims Day which brought together over 100 scholars and experts from various countries.
