Seventy-Five primary school pupils in Mushin were inducted into the Cakasa Road Safety Club by the Federal Road Safety Commission on Wednesday 30 March 2022.
The Cakasa Road Safety Club is an initiative of Cakasa Nigeria Limited and its CSR arm, Cakasa Ebenezer Foundation.
In his remarks at the occasion, Engr. Philip Yaro, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Cakasa Nigeria Company Ltd. and Chairman, Cakasa Ebenezer Foundation, expressed appreciation to the pupils for presenting themselves for training on safety.
Represented by Mr Martins Agbetuyi, Assistant General Manager Quality, Health, Safety and Environment (QHSE), Cakasa, Engr. Yaro said that children’s safety needed to be written into Nigeria’s road safety plan.
According to him, “We must agree that more needs to be done in our various communities to improve road safety for children and, more critically, that measures are put in place to prevent our children from being seriously hurt through road traffic collision. This means that children’s safety needs to be a central part of Nigeria’s national road safety plan.”
He continued. “But not just the national road safety plan; all Nigerian adults must be involved in children’s road safety. In their early years, children require a lot of help from older ones in their use of the road.”
“They need specific assistance in detecting the presence of traffic and judging the speed and distance of oncoming traffic,” he said.
Speaking to the children directly, Engr. Yaro admonished the children to listen attentively to their parents as they are being instructed on road safety.
Also speaking at the induction ceremony, FRSC Unit Commander, Ikeja Command, Mrs Emma Fekoya, said that the objectives of the command were to catch the pupils young and teach them the ethics of safety at home, school and on the road.
Represented by Mrs Ugochi Ikokwu, Fekoya said that the pupils would in turn teach their peers and relatives the importance of safety.
Fekoya said, “You are supposed to be a role model in all you are doing. Show that you live by example.”
Throwing light on the event, Mr Nsikak Isonguyo, Unit Coordinator, Special Marshal, Unit 111, Cakasa, said that the induction of the pupils was an enlightenment campaign to teach the pupils the ethics of safety on the roads and at home.
The main organisers of the event, Cakasa Ebenezer Foundation, plan to inaugurate more Cakasa Road Safety Clubs around the country.
According to the Executive Director of the foundation, Mrs Helen Egbe, this was to ensure that the road safety culture was deeply instilled in children to prevent the many traffic accidents involving children, which have been mainly unreported around the country.
“It is imperative that every child must have that road safety consciousness. The more consciousness that exists in the children, the safer they will conduct themselves.”
Quoting statistics, she said that traffic collisions were the number one cause of death among children aged five to 19 around the world and more than 500 children were killed every day because of road traffic collisions, while tens of thousands were injured, often suffering lifelong disabilities.
The pupils inducted were drawn from New City Primary School, Palm Avenue Primary School and Oduduwa Primary School, all in Mushin Local Government Area.
The highlight of the ceremony was the induction which saw the pupils pledge allegiance to the country and the FRSC and to be of good behaviour in all their endeavours.
Also in attendance was the State Coordinator, Lagos State Special Marshalls, Pastor Olusegun Akintan, who was represented by Pastor Jimmy Amosun.