Abuja – The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, says the ministry will partner Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) to reduce road accidents caused by human error.
The minister said this when a delegation of RTEAN paid him a courtesy visit on Tuesday in Abuja.
Amaechi, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Mr Sabiu Zakari, said the partnership was necessary because RTEAN is one of the major stakeholders in the sector.
He noted that 93 per cent of road accidents were caused by human error and urged members of RTEAN to ensure that their drivers were properly trained.
“You are one of our major stakeholders as far as the function and duty of this particular ministry is concerned; there is nothing we can do without partnering with Road Transport Employers Association.
“So, I think many things that were raised in this speech are very genuine, to ensure that our own policies and programmes are entrenched as it is supposed to be.
“As you have stated here, statistics has shown that over 93 per cent of road accidents in Nigeria is as a result of human error which could have been avoided, if the drivers were well trained.
“Some of these errors would have been avoided but because they are not trained and you, as the employers of these drivers must know because it is your vehicles.
“So, I think we don’t have any better partners than you who are the employers and the need therefore, to collaborate together to move the sector forward cannot be overemphasized.
“We need to rub minds and move this sector forward; we take you as partners in progress to ensure that the transportation sector in this country is ahead,“ the minister said.
Earlier, the President of the Association, Alhaji Musa Isiwele, said the visit was important to brief the minister about the various achievements of the union.
He said the association had embarked on a mass transit scheme with over 4, 000 vehicles in the fleet in addition to a mass housing scheme of 1,000 units of houses.
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“ We have established modern workshops in each state, including FCT, and drivers’ academies in each geopolitical zone to train our drivers on a continuous basis.
“This is with a view to encouraging greater sanity on our roads, as statistics have shown that human error accounts for 93 per cent of road accidents in Nigeria.
“The whole idea behind the projects as mentioned above is to economically empower our members to serve Nigerians better and to create jobs for our teeming Nigerian youths, in addition to creating opportunities for skills acquisition for them.”
Isiwele, therefore, solicited the ministry’s support for the various projects to enhance the development of the transport sector.
He further urged the ministry work toward establishing a specialised bank to enable transporters to secure soft loans at single digit interest.
On the issue of ensuring durable roads,he said that weigh-bridges should be introduced on the highways to check excess luggage by heavy duty trucks that may lead to road collapse. (NAN)
