•Speed limiter worth N40bn in first year –NSE
From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Boboye Oyeyemi, has said speeding accounts for 60 per cent of road crashes in the country.
Oyeyemi said this, yesterday, at a thanksgiving service to mark the 4th United Nations Global Road Safety Week at the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in Gigiriing, Jos, Plateau, with the theme “Managing Speed.”
Oyeyemi, represented by the Zonal Commanding Officer, Jos zone, Oludare Fadogba, said speeding remains the most prevalent cause of road crashes in Nigeria and across the globe.
“Speeding is one of the most prevalent causes of road collision and attendant fatalities in Nigeria and even globally.
“The risk of crashes occurring is greater as speeding gets higher.
“Statistics shows that speeding and involvement of commercial vehicles consistently account for about 60 per cent of road traffic crashes in Nigeria.
“This is why the Federal Government endorsed implementation of speed limit device on commercial vehicles, to curtail accidents,” said Oyeyemi.
Elsewhere, the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) said it is in the forefront of the advocacy to manufacture of Vehicle Speed Limiter Devices (VSLD) locally, to boost the country’s economy.
NSE also said with a target of one million commercial vehicles at the rate of N40,000 per unit, the FRSC will be making N40 billion within the first 12 months of its enforcement.
The FRSC began enforcement on installation of the device on February 1, 2017, with a target of one million commercial vehicles, at the cost of N40,000 per unit.
“This will translate to N40 billion in one year and possibly, double the amount the following year, by the time private vehicles are added,” noted NSE President, Otis Anyaeji.
He said this, in Kaduna, during a public lecture organised by the Auto and Locomotive Engineers Institute (AutoEI), at the weekend.
Otis urged the FRSC to carry Nigerian engineers along as “they are equal to the task.” Represented at the lecture by the Vice President, Ishidi Yohanna Edith, Otis said introduction of the device will help the country make economic progress by making it 100 percent local production, without necessarily importing any part thereof.
“The NSE has been at the forefront of the advocacy for the manufacture of VSLD locally. On Thursday, March 17, 2017, we made this position known to the federal government when we visited the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, in Abuja.
“From the preliminary information at our disposal, VSLD has a recommended retail price of Forty Thousand Naira per unit on the open market. In view of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), focus on commercial vehicles to immediately comply, it is estimated that not less than One million vehicles will install the device in the first year of its enforcement. This makes it a forty billion industry to start with.