Ebere Nwoji
Worried by the rising quantum of claims coming to the insurance sector from motor insurance market segment,due to increasing rate of motor accidents on Nigerian roads,Wapic insurance Plc, is collaborating with the Federal Road Safety Commission and Lagos State Transport Management Authority(LASTMA) to kick off the ‘Safety on wheels ‘ campaign targeted at reducing road accident and raising general awareness on road safety responsibility.
The safety campaign according to the company is also targeted at raising the number of safety- conscious road users in Nigeria.
Addressing the media on the campaign, Managing Director of Wapic Insurance, Adeyinka Adekoya, noted that deaths caused by road accidents in recent times is more than that caused by malaria which hitherto,was thought to be the number one killer in Africa.
She said against this backdrop,the campaign has been targeted at raising collective consciousness about the need for road-users to imbibe and practice appropriate road-use culture in Nigeria,
She added that the initiative, is an educational advocacy campaign executed in partnership with the relevant government agencies including the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) and Lagos State Transport Management Authority(LASTMA).
She said the campaign which kicks off on saturday is a demonstration by the company that proactive risk avoidance is a tenet the company preaches to its stakeholders.
“This seems to be the underpinning message of the ‘Safety-on-Wheels’ campaign launched by the company to raise the number of safety-conscious road-users in Nigeria.
As a social-focused risk advisory initiative, the ‘Safety-on-Wheels’ campaign is conceived to empower Nigerians with relevant knowledge and apposite skills that will reduce road accidents,and raise general awareness about our collective road safety responsibility”, she said.
According to her,the campaign, which will commence on Saturday, February 17, 2018 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium with 1000 drivers across Lagos State, will educate participants about safe road-use practices, importance of adherence to road traffic regulations and appropriate road as well as vehicle maintenance cultures.
She said the safety campaign has become necessary given the fact that statistics on road accident recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed geometric increase in number of accidents that occurred on Nigerian roads year in year out.
” Worried about the spate of causalities and deaths from road accidents, validated by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data that “of the 11, 363 roads accidents recorded in 2016, 5,053 resulted in deathâ€.
“We are aware that road accidents have far-reaching emotional, financial and psychological effects on families and the workforce, which in turn have significant negative effects on socio-economic facets of the society. As an organisation, Wapic Insurance is triggered by this awareness to collaborate with other stakeholders to combat this menace with the ‘Safety-on-Wheels’ Initiative. Our plan is to take the campaign across the country starting with Lagos Stateâ€, she informed.
She said in the Wapic Insurance ‘Safety-on-Wheels’ initiative, drivers will not only benefit from the road-use trainings, they will also participate in a series of eye and blood pressure tests, conducted by a team of qualified medical personnel to determine their personal physical road worthiness.
“Most especially, participating drivers will undertake specialised trainings which will equip them with working knowledge of road use and safety commandments.
“Wapic Insurance has invested in this initiative and built credible partnership with state and federal road-safety bodies to provide quality trainings to all beneficiaries and provide them with necessary orientation with a view to raising social advocates for road safety and build a community of people who know that road-use rules are to protect, and not restrain”, she stated.
She said with creating sustainable value for the society at the centre of Wapic Insurance’s social responsibility activities, the company, intends to drive social progression and build safe-road use culture in Nigerians by ensuring that motorists, passengers, pedestrians and the society at large are knowledgeable about road-use commandments that guide traffic interactions.
She said with the awareness that safety is not just a personal effort, but depends largely on the safety, consciousness of other road users will rise to an impressive level, such that every road user takes responsibility for his own safety and others by adopting the right attitude on the road.
She said though the campaign is kicking off in Lagos, the company has ntension of carrying it to other parts of the country and will through radio giggles translate the message to major Nigerian languages to accommodate less educated road users.
