The Senior Director, Africa Development Bank (ADB) Group, Nigeria Country Department, Mr Ebrima Faal has stated that the Bank is ready to partner with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to build a Centre of Excellence in Road Safety Management for Anglo Africa in Nigeria.

This, according to the Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem was said on Monday during a visit to the ADB group,Nigeria Country Department office in Abuja, by the Corps Marshal, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi in the company of some members of the management .

Speaking on the rationale behind the visit, the Corps Marshal first appreciated the Bank for its unwavering support to road traffic safety in Africa. And also beckoned on the Bank to build a Centre for Excellence in Road Safety management for Anglo African countries.

Oyeyemi noted that in the whole of Africa, only two of such centres exist and they are located in Tanzania and Cameroon. According to him, having one built in West African Sub- Region, particularly Nigeria, will not only advance the course of safety, but also chat a way forward towards the realisation of a crash free continent.

Buttressing this further, the Corps Marshal reiterated the importance of such Centres to road safety administration and traffic management. He therefore advocated for improved data collection in road traffic matters in Africa, especially data on road traffic crashes.

Accordingly,he called for a uniform template for road traffic data collection in Africa, such that, whatever is applicable in Nigeria will be applicable in other African countries.

In another subtle parlance, Oyeyemi stated that Nigeria, especially under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, has shown great deal of commitment to road safety matters. This commitment, according to him, could be seen in Nigeria’s recent accession to the six (6) United Nations Conventions which makes her the first African country among the ten countries in the world that have acceded to these conventions.

Responding, the Senior Director, ADB Group thanked the Corps Marshal for the visit and also admitted that the establishment of the Centre in Nigeria will definitely be a good idea for road safety management in West Africa.

Mr Ebrima further emphasized that the Bank is impressed with the advancement in FRSC data collection system and engineering and also promised to engage with FRSC technical team to see areas that the Bank can assist.

He therefore agreed to set up a technical team of ADB personnel to collaborate with FRSC to ensure the realisation of the stated goal.