WAPIC, FRSC, LASTMA Collaborate on Safety Awareness Campaign
Worried about the rising quantum of claims coming from the 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 (FRSC) and Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA) to commence the ‘Safety on wheels’.
The campaign is targeted at reducing road accident and raising general awareness on road safety responsibility and the number of safety- conscious road users in Nigeria.
Addressing journalists on the campaign, Managing Director of WAPIC Insurance, Adeyinka Adekoya, noted that deaths caused by road accidents in recent times are 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 FRSC and LASTMA.
She said the campaign, which kicks off tomorrow (Saturday, February 17), 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 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 death. 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 State”, she stressed.