The Nigerian Council of Education has made a landmark decision to integrate road safety education into three core subjects – English, Religious and Cultural Studies, and Science Education – across all schools in the country.
In a recent announcement made by Chidiebere Benjamin, Deputy Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), at a management retreat in Abuja, the initiative is set to start taking shape. According to Benjamin, during the latest council meeting, a unanimous decision was reached to include road safety education in the mentioned subjects.
The FRSC is already working on this project, crafting road safety education materials for various school levels, from primary to junior secondary. “As we speak, we’re in the process of creating books for basic primary schools, senior primary schools, and junior secondary schools,” Benjamin revealed. Additionally, the FRSC has deployed its corps members to teach students safety education directly in schools.
Benjamin emphasized the importance of catching students at a young age: “The Corps members are deployed to schools to teach them road culture, ensuring that students learn proper road rules early on. We believe it’s crucial to instill road safety habits in children, as it’s said in the Bible, ‘Train a child in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not turn from it.'” This initiative aims to prevent the mistakes made by previous generations and promote a safer transportation system.
The importance of the Ember Months, characterized by increased traffic and road accidents, was a recurrent theme. Olusegun Ogungbemide, Corps Public Education Officer, highlighted the risks associated with this period: “Ember Months witness high vehicular movement, gridlocks, and road traffic crashes, resulting in avoidable loss of lives and properties.”
In response, Corps Marshal Shehu Mohammed launched the 2024 Ember Months campaign, focusing on public enlightenment and sensitization across the country, including the Federal Capital Territory. The goal is to reduce road traffic fatalities by 5%, improve traffic flow, and enhance the enforcement of traffic laws, ultimately encouraging safe road usage.
Ogungbemide stressed that the initiative is not just about improving road transportation but about transforming drivers’ behavior, with the ultimate goal of positioning Nigeria as a safety-conscious nation. Despite the challenges, the FRSC is committed to addressing road safety concerns and ensuring the safety of lives on Nigerian roads.
