NNPC/Chevron, FRSC launch child safety campaign in Ondo

In a frantic bid to promote child passenger safety on the highway, Chevron Nigeria Limited has advocated for the training of children as “Road Safety Champions” to serve as enlightenment agents among peers and older road users.

The General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs of Chevron, Mr. Deji Haastrup, made this known in Akure at the weekend during the 2016 edition of the Arrive Alive Road Safety Initiative (AARSI) Child Safety Programme.

The programme entitled: “Click it: why risk it?” was berthed by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in collaboration with AARSI but sponsored by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and Chevron Joint Venture to raise 100 road safety champions among primary school pupils in Ondo State.

Haastrup disclosed that the programme, which has spread to Abuja, Lagos, Delta, Rivers, Ondo and Imo states, was initiated in 2011 to forestall the reoccurrence of a fatal, multiple accident along Lekki-Epe Road in Lagos involving seven vehicles and 19 persons, that led to the death of four school children in a bus.

The Executive Secretary of AARSI, Mr. Ike Okonkwo, lectured the pupils on the whole gamut of road safety guidelines and precautionary measures, urging them not to sit at the front seat if they are below 12 years.

Okonkwo warned the new 100 Road Safety Champions to look left, right and left again before crossing the road, and must not sit in the car without using seat belt. He lamented that reports confirmed that it is only the children that often ride unstrapped.

The FRSC Sector Commander of the state command, Mr. Edward Zamber, noted that the campaign hinges on community partnership, which gives parents and guidance germane roles to play in the society. He pledged to always “commit more efforts to ensuring that our roads are safe in this state.”

The state Commissioner for Transport, Nicholas Tofowomo, lauded the initiative, which he said “is in line with the Free School Bus Shuttle programme initiated by Governor Olusegun Mimiko four years ago to reduce road accident among Ondo State students.