By Oluwatoyin Mathnuel
It was a depth safety enlightenment campaign as Guinness Nigeria collaborated with the Federal Road Safety Commission ( FRSC) Nigerians safety during the ember months which has been tagged “notorious” with the theme Take Responsibility for Your Safety, “Stop Distracted Driving” .
At a recent press conference held at the Lagos Command Headquarters Ojodu office of the commission, he speech of Corps Marshall Shehu Mohammed speaks volumes of the importance of safety to humanity :
The Lagos sector Commander CC Ganiyu Kehinde Hamzat in the flagging off of this year Ember Months Public Sensitiation campaign protocols and enlightenment messages from Corps Marshal Shehu Mohammed ; reeled out success endeavors and cautious as he advised the general public to take safety as a day to day measures to avoid unnecessary casualties. As he appreciated, commended Guinness safety collaboration of 20years partnership.
In his words:
” It is my pleasure to address you at this press conference which marks the flag-off of our 2025 Ember Months road safety sensitization campaign. The Ember month campaign is a yearly tradition through which the Federal Road Safety Corps intensifies its advocacy and public awareness on the need for safer road use. As we are all aware, the ember months is a season marked by increased travel, higher traffic volume and attendant rise in road crash injuries and fatalities.
I wish to express my profound appreciation to our esteemed stakeholder, Guinness Nigeria Plc for partnering with the Federal Road Safety Corps in this life-saving campaign. Your continued corporate social responsibility efforts toward promoting safety on our roads are deeply commendable and align perfectly with our mission of creating safer motoring environments across Nigeria. Also the members of the press, for your unwavering commitment to advancing road safety enlightenment. Your platforms have consistently amplified our voices as crucial stakeholders thus improving road safety awareness in Nigeria. I wish to assure you that we in the Federal Road Safety Corps recognize the media as a critical platform for enlightenment and orientation and that underscores the need for this conference.
The theme for this year’s campaign is Take Responsibility for Your Safety: Stop Distracted Driving. The theme reinforces the view that human factor is one of the major causes of road crashes. It also draws attention to the fact that drivers are largely responsible for crashes on our highways.
The 2024 Operation Zero (15 December, 2024 – 15 January 2025) crash statistics reveal that 432 persons were killed; 2,070 persons were injured out of 533 reported cases of road crashes. The records also showed that the major causes of those crashes were driver fatigue, overloading of persons, conveyance of persons in haulage vehicles and traveling with fuel in plastic containers. Apparently, driver behaviour is a fundamental element in determining safety on our highways.
Therefore, the choice of the 2025 End-of-Year campaign theme Taking Responsibility for Your Safety was deliberate and well thought-out. It was carefully chosen to address road traffic infringements by drivers which were largely responsible for the previous road crash records. These violations include the following:
a. Failure to adhere to road traffic rules and regulations;
b. Speed limit Violations;
c. Driving Under Influence (alcohol and drugs);
d. Seat belt violations; and,
e. Road rage; amongst other driver-related causes of road crashes such as the use of phones while driving.
In line with our commitment to achieve the desired outcome of the 2025 end of year campaign, Federal Road Safety Corps has mapped out the following actionable measures:
a. Deployment of FRSC personnel and Special Marshals across major highways and crash-prone corridors nationwide;
b. Free-vehicle check exercise to improve vehicle road worthiness;
c. Conducting motor park rallies and motorcar carnivals nationwide to raise awareness level of motorist and the general public;
d. Organizing Townhall meetings to strengthen collaboration with transport unions, security agencies, and other critical road safety stakeholders for a seamless ember-months campaign.
These measures, in addition to our routine enforcement operations are designed to raise awareness against reckless driving usually associated with the ember months. It is also expected that the implementation of these measures will significantly reduce the percentage of occurrence of road crashes and drive down road crash-related deaths and injuries.
Over the past months, FRSC has achieved a milestone in strategic partnership and capacity building. Driving schools were engaged to raise the standard of driver training; fleet operators were also tasked to meet up with the minimum vehicle safety standards for fleet operations. We have also interfaced with NGOs and civil society groups to strengthen advocacy for road safety. Mobile courts and stop-over operations were also constituted to address persistent causes of crashes such as overloading and speed violations; and, these have yielded remarkable results.
One of the major platforms adopted by the Corps to canvass support for road safety is the FRSC Annual Lecture Series. The Lecture Series was resuscitated this year to create awareness on the recurrent issues on road safety as a major public health challenge requiring urgent attention and action. It is gratifying to note that consultations at the Lecture provided critical perspectives on global best practices on road safety through strategic partnership.
In addition, we have activated plans to overcome the perenial challenges associated with delays in obtaining the drivers license and number plates. Our printing facility has been upgraded to print an average of 15,000 drivers license daily. This production average will be increased to clear the backlog before the second week of November 2025.
We are also about to commence the contactless biometric capture with on-spot printing of the license which will eliminate temporary licenses thereby signaling the beginning of digitalized one-stop-shop for processing drivers license. With this development, it is expected that delays and other challenges related to the national drivers license will be history. This Press will be treated to a demonstration of this process immediately after this briefing.
Furthermore, plans have reached advanced stage to convene an international conference on road crash victims for Africa between 16-18 November, 2025. The conference was conceived in partnership with the Kwapda’s Road Safety Demands (KRSD) to strengthen post-crash care for road crash victims in line with the fifth pillar of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety in Africa. It is expected that these efforts will translate into zero-road crash-related deaths as we drive into the Yuletide and the New Year.
Today’s partnership with Guinness Nigeria Plc exemplifies the value of public-private collaboration in addressing road safety challenges. Their partnership of this campaign reinforces the shared belief that road safety is a collective responsibility that requires government, corporate organizations, and the general public to work together toward a common goal — saving lives
Meanwhile, I wish to put it on record that Government support is substantially responsible for the modest achievement of the Federal Road Safety Corps over the years. Accordingly, I wish to appreciate the Federal Government of Nigeria, especially, the Office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) for its advisory oversight. I urge all Nigerians to continue to support the Corps as we strive to create a safer motoring environment for our dear nation.
On this note, I wish to flag off the 2025 Ember Months Campaign believing that we can collectively change our road traffic behaviour for safer roads and fuller lives for our nation.
Corporate Relations Director, Mr Rotimi Odusola, revealed Guinness Nigeria steadfastness in supporting FRSC for decades through continuous responsible drinking campaigns
The exercise was part of FRSC activities to flagged-off 2025 ’ember Months’ sensitization and public awareness programme in avoiding risks related with the road regarding adverse weather, reckless driving by enforcing traffic rules and regulations in educating motorists, passengers for safety measures.
The event was to highlight the agency’s strategic plan in partnership with Guinness in advancing public enlightenment.
“Don’t Drink and Drive”. is a life saving slogan for encouragement and assurance of safety compliance among motorists, road users at the yuletide and always .
The “Annual ’ember Months’ sensitization programme in collaboration with FRSC especially during the busy festive period was to raise awareness about road safety and the dangers of drinking and driving.
Guinness Nigeria is part of the Beer Sectoral Group (BSG) of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, which collectively promotes ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’ messages, Mr Odusola reintrated.
The host, FRSC Lagos sector Commander CC Ganiyu Kehinde Hamzat concluded by imploring motorists, roads uses to change their attitudes towards roads for ” Ember Months Do Not Kill but Human Attitudes Need to Change”
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