The Asagba of Asaba, Chief Chike Edozien, says ensuring the nation’s highways are smooth will help mitigate kidnappings and robberies on bad spots.
The traditional ruler said that bad roads remained one of the major contributors to insecurity on highways across the country.
Edozien made the assertion in Asaba, Delta on Tuesday when he received officials from the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Command and Staff College Udi, Enugu State.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the pioneer graduands of the FRSC college were on a two-day Study Tour of Delta.
The theme of the tour is: “Enhancing Road Safety Partnership for Innovative Intervention”.
The traditional ruler urged the state government to invest in road construction and maintenance.
“Poorly-maintained roads cause a lot of fatal auto accidents as they create an enormous hazard to drivers.
“In many instances, a driver may attempt to avoid a certain situation, like a pothole or pooling water which can cause a serious accident.
“We are appealing to the FRSC and other security agencies to intensify efforts in reducing carnage on highways and protecting lives and property of citizens,” he said.
The Commissioner of Police in Delta, CP Ari Mohammed Ali who spoke on inter-agency rivalry, urged Federal agencies to see themselves as trying to achieve same goal.
“There should be no rivalry among uniformed officers, when we see ourselves as Federal agencies, we should be able to respect ourselves and accord ourselves the respect that we deserve.
“Respect is reciprocal, those members of staff behaving in that way are ignorant of what they are supposed to do,” he said.
The Deputy Corp Marshal of FRSC, Mr Nseobong Akpabio said that road safety required constant enlightenment and partnership with state governments, military, para-military, community and traditional leaders.
“If the community do not appreciate the value of road safety, there will be continuous misunderstandings and road crashes.
“When road users understand the need to obey traffic rules, the better for us, who are managers of traffic on the road, as it will reduce friction.
“Working with other agencies of government, traditional institutions and the state government can help to reduce road traffic crashes,” he said.
