The Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Boboye Oyeyemi has reiterated the need for the retraining of government officials’ drivers in order to avoid convoy crashes. Oyeyemi made this known following the fatal accident, which occurred on Sunday along Kaduna- Abuja road in which the Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, Barrister James Eneojo Ocholi, his wife and son died.

The Corps Marshal, who addressed a section of members of the press in the aftermath of the crash, noted that the death of the minister in the crash was a tragic incident that has challenged FRSC to step up its campaigns against carnage. Oyeyemi said he was personally touched and would work with relevant stakeholders to develop appropriate strategies that could address future occurrences. According to the Corps Marshal, following the unfortunate incident, FRSC is more determined to work with the Executive and members of the National Assembly as well as other relevant stakeholders to workout appropriate modalities for ensuring crash-free roads.

He said the training and retraining of government drivers is part of the immediate measures being taken by the FRSC to avert convoy crashes in the country. He noted that when FRSC trained the drivers of the Governors’ convoy, the benefits in terms of improved driving culture became immediately noticeable, saying the Corps would be working with members of the Federal Executive Council to put some measures in place, including re-training of their drivers to avoid convoy crashes.

“We are working with the Minister of Works, Power and Housing to install traffic signs at some strategic points along the highways. We are equally committed to working with the National Assembly to step up advocacy and enforcement strategies to curtail issues of speed violation and promotion of use of seatbelt,” Oyeyemi said. Meanwhile, the Corps Marshal has revealed that, James Elegbede, the driver of the late Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Barrister James Ocholi had no driver’s license as his name was not found on the data base of FRSC. Oyeyemi, who stated this while presenting the accident’s Road Traffic Crash Investigation Interim Report to the Federal Executive Council, FEC, on Wednesday at the meeting of the body at the presidential villa, Abuja, said Ocholi, his wife and son had died in the accident as a result of over speeding.

He disclosed that a search conducted on the commission’s database showed that the driver do not have a valid driver’s licence. Oyeyemi said “There was no record in the driver’s national data base of the driver of the minister with the name Taiwo James Elegbede. “However, there was a record found on the driver’s licence database of the driver of minister’s back up vehicle with the name Ibrahim Abubakar. Oyeyemi said after losing one of the rear tyres of the vehicle, the driver who was in high speed applied break and thereafter lost control of the vehicle.

Credit: NationalMirror