Accidents gulp 3% GDP – Chidoka

The Corp Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Osita Chidoka has regretted that road accidents across major roads in the country takes three per cent toll on the economy, while calling for the re-training of drivers as well as a review on regulation and monitoring of importation of vehicles.

Chidoka said this in Abuja while delivering a keynote address at the third Annual Delegates’ Conference of Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), branch of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG).

“Road transport crashes take us about three per cent of our GDP which comes to N6 billion annually. There is absence of regulation and monitoring of importation of cars into the country, unlike in other developed countries.

“Before I leave FRSC, we will know how many vehicles and how many drivers we have in Nigeria, to enable for proper planning, we will commercialise driver’s licence and make sure that only those qualified gets it, ”Chidoka maintained.

Stressing the need for the training and re-training of drivers the Corp Marshal said the World Bank is sponsoring FRSC staff on training in France, and that tanker training centres would be set up in the six geo-political zones, emphasising that speed is a killer when combined with petroleum products.
He quipped that the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, has taken a decision that no truck without auto reflective test would be allowed to cross the borders.

Speaking at the event, the President of the Nigeria labour Congress (NLC), Abdulhameed Umar, called on NUPENG and the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN to consider the plight of the common Nigerian and resolve the disagreement which has led to the current scarcity of Petroleum products in the country.