NIGERIA (Abuja) – In 2014, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has promised to organize training and re-training for its staffs in ensuring effective capacity-building.

This was said by the FRSC Corps Marshal Osita Chidoka, yesterday in Onitsha, Anambra State, adding that the exercise would hold in January, 2014 with the assistance from the World Bank.

Speaking with NAN, Chidoka said; “The World Bank has come out with a project that says building roads are not enough anymore; that building roads must go together with managing the roads after construction.

“So, for them, any contract that they are going to fund in road rehabilitation must come with a plan of ensuring that the roads do not lead to death.

“Because of the lessons we have learnt from the World Bank’s safe corridor project, we want to transfer that now to the Nigerian project.

“That the Ministry of Works would not see their roads as beginning and ending with just tarring the roads; it must end with a plan to make sure that those roads remain safe corridors.

“So, we believe that the World Bank project, which is up to about $10 million, has gone into purchasing of physical infrastructure. It is also to the training of our workers. We have a lot of training programmes.”

“In January, a huge training programme will start in earnest, to train our staff on key elements of our work in enlightenment, in education, in enforcement, and in ICT.

“Those trainings will span most of next year and are being funded by the World Bank.”

The Corps Marshal hailed the World Bank for assisting the commission.

He said its initiative was a testimony to its noble intentions for Nigeria.

NAN reports that the World Bank’s Safe Corridor Project will see the bank going beyond funding of roads construction or re-construction to ensuring the safety of the lives of road users.

The global bank has donated to the FRSC 37 patrol vehicles, 12 ambulances, four heavy duty tow trucks and 24 motorbikes as well as other specialised apparatuses for road and speed monitoring.