Federal Government on Thursday said safety of lives and goods on the nation’s roads was key to the actualisation of its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (2017-2020).

Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, stated this while inaugurating the Technical Working Group (TWG) of the National Road Safety Advisory Council.

The TWG is a think tank of the council tasked with driving implementation of the Nigeria Road Safety Strategy (NRSS) 2014-2018.

Udoma said the NRSS, which targets a 35 per cent reduction in road accident deaths in the country by 2018, was in line with the national socio-economic priorities of the present administration.

This, he said, informs the massive investment by the Federal Government in road infrastructure across the country.

Membership of the working group comprises the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), state traffic management agencies, the police and professional bodies.

Others are: relevant ministries, departments and agencies of the federal Government, including the National Planning Commission; road transport associations and the media.

Udoma pledged the support of the federal government through his ministry to the group on sourcing international funding from development partners for implementation of the NRSS.

Corps Marshal of the FRSC, Boboye Oyeyemi, said the TWG would be responsible for implementation of uniform standards on traffic enforcement, vehicle inspection, road signs and markings.

Oyeyemi said it would also make recommendations to FRSC on issues that required national regulation and standards, prepare annual budget for the Nigeria Road Safety Fund and conduct annual reviews of the NRSS, among others.

The FRSC boss said NRSS, which was approved by the Federal Executive Council in 2016, was the country’s response to the United Nations’ Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020).

The declaration demands that all UN member states should provide a direction toward achieving a 50 per cent reduction in road traffic accidents and fatalities by 2020.

Oyeyemi said when fully implemented as envisioned, the NRSS would transform Nigeria into a country where road traffic crash would result in no death.

Present at the inauguration were representatives of the governors of Delta, Kwara, Gombe, Anambra, Kaduna and Lagos who are members of the road safety advisory council.