SCI took road safety campaign to Abuja schools

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

Save the Children International (SCI), on Friday took road safety campaigns to schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The campaign which was in line with United Nations (UN) week for road safety was meant to sensitize road users on the need to observe road safety rules.

Speaking at Junior Secondary School Life Camp, FCT, SCI Head of Safety and security, Peter Adomi, said SCI focused on children to ensure their safety on the road and at traffic areas.

“We are sensitizing them to observe various rules on the roads. We have been to other schools and we are happy with the campaign because we are educating the children to understand the various challenges on the roads.”

Speaking on the theme, ‘Zebra crossing’, he said SCI is educating them on Zebra crossing because “our drivers don’t understand road signs. If the children know how to use the Zebra crossing, it will be easier for them to access the road.” travelling outside the country or intend to, most of those who hold the passport do so for identification purposes. For some, it is also a thing of pride to be able to brandish the green back of the passport. But for those outside the country, the passport is the proof of their existence. Inability to produce it on demand may bring untoward consequences. The government therefore wants to provide the passport for anyone desirous of it within reasonable time, at affordable price and without any stress whatsoever.

He said they are not only talking to the children but also talking to drivers, road users and commuters.

He said statistics revealed that road transport crashes are more around private schools.

The second is the need, flowing from the first, to break out of the regular”, he maintained.”

While speaking, the Minister promised to conclude negotiations with NIPOST on the usage of its speedy mail service to start delivering passport to Nigerians who opt for such service.

“We are in the final stage of concluding negotiations with NIPOST to begin using its speed mail service to deliver passports to Nigerians wherever they are in the world after production,” the Minister remarked.

Aregbesola, while stating that Edo State has one of the highest passport applications in Nigeria, revealed that the waiting period between application and collection would likely increase due to the recent increase in demand.

In his words; “Our current working schedule is that fresh application would take six weeks after biometric data registration and three weeks for renewal. This is reasonable, competitive and in line the global best practices.

The challenge however is the waiting period at the point of application and data registration.

All applicants will be put on a queue, depending on the centre of their choice, to determine the registration date. Regrettably, it might take two months in some highly competitive centres where application is very high. We have no control over this.

He however said that the Federal Government is intentional about opening more front desk offices, in order to increase the registration centres and reduce the waiting period before biometric data capture.

“It is our projection that by the time we open more front offices like this, the waiting period will not be more than three days. Indeed, the more front offices we have, the less the waiting period. Our long term plan will be to involve private operators who will provide the lounge for a fee, but the equipment and personnel will be provided by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS)”, he added.

Commending the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) for improving on their services, which includes issuance of top quality passport booklet, Aregbesola affirmed that Nigeria is among the first five countries in the world and the first in Africa to have the enhanced e-passport.

Adding that “The reform introduced to the NIS led to the Automated Passport issuance process which has eliminated touts and racketeers in Passport administration, introduction of E-border Management, MIDAS and the commencement of E-Passport across Passport Control Offices and Diplomatic Missions.

“That’s where you have the largest traffic of school pickup and drop off and that’s where you find people being in a hurry to dash in and out to pick their children . Our focus is that children needs to know what to do.”

Also speaking, Advocacy Campaign and Policy Manager, SCI, Edith Gumut Nankiling, said the week was a busy week as SCI engaged with organisations like Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, VIO and Secondary schools in the FCT to create awareness on why children should obey road safety rules.

“We will continue to work with the FRSC and school management to see how we can establish a road safety club and use those platforms to engage with the children and consistently see how they get to obey with road safety rules.

“We also had a quiz and gave gifts of T-shirts to 10 students from each schools who answered our questions on road safety.”