Oritsegbubemi Omatseyin
Lagos — The Nigerian Shippers’ Council, NSC, and the Federal Road Safety Corp, FRSC, have reaffirmed their commitment to work together to ensure safety of cargoes and vehicles on the highways through standardisation of haulage operations.
It would be recalled that the two agencies entered a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, in 2017 to proffer solutions to the incessant accidents on the highways and the challenges hindering seamless evacuation of cargoes from the seaports to the hinterlands.
The MoU states that both agencies shall engage in collaborative enlightenment for transporters and general public with a view to ensuring safety of lives and cargoes in the transit in Nigeria under the Road Transport Safety Standardisation Scheme, RTSSS.
The concept of RTSSS is aimed at regulating road transport, ensuring a culture of safety consciousness in organisations and fleets of vehicles and to maximise loss of lives and properties on the highways.
Addressing stakeholders at the sensitisation workshop in Lagos, the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of NSC, Barr. Akutah Pius, expressed the Council’s readiness to liaise with appropriate arms of government with a view to identifying issues and problems affecting inland transportation across transport modes.
Akutah said that safety of cargoes and road infrastructure are critical to economic growth, noting that the Council as a port economic regulator is saddled with diverse responsibilities of ensuring equity and fairness among stakeholders in the maritime industry.
According to him, the drivers are not meant to undergo fatigue on the highways while driving and this brought about the establishment of vehicle transit areas at the various designated locations.
Speaking at the event, the Corps Marshal, FRSC, Shehu Muhammed stressed the need for investors to reap their investments without hindrance.
According to him, the haulage business is contributing immensely to the economic development of Nigeria and there is a need to engage the National Security Adviser, NSA, to make Nigeria a business haven for investors.
The Director, Inland Transport Services Department of the Council, Mrs. Ify Okolue said that the concept of standardised fleet transport operations is to entrench the culture of safety consciousness in organisations and companies with a fleet of vehicles.
