The Federal Government has pledged to facilitate the upgrade of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Academy in Enugu State to a degree awarding institution.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha made the pledge on Thursday in Enugu while inaugurating a 456-seat auditorium at the academy located in Neke, Udi Local Government Area of the state.
The SGF also inaugurated an ICT complex and a medical centre in the academy.
The projects will support the take-off of the academy as a degree awarding institution.
Mustapha said that the Federal Government would pay special attention to the institution being the only military and paramilitary academy in the South East.
He urged the state government to donate more piece of land for the expansion of the institution.
The SGF appealed to the state governments in the zone to take ownership of the institution and develop it.
He said that the institution was in dire need of hostels and other facilities and called on private investors to collaborate with the government to provide the facilities.
Mustapha, who described the event as a `watershed’ in the task of reducing road crashes in the country, said that the institution would be a Centre of Excellence on Road Safety Training in Africa.
He said that the safety on Nigerian roads must be the priority of the government and that the institution would be saddled with the responsibility of producing road safety managers.
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The SGF said that he was enthused at the level of infrastructural development in the academy.
Earlier, the Corps Marshal of the FRSC, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, said that the institution established in 2006 was the first of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Oyeyemi said that the academy had six specialised schools and was centred on the manpower needs of both public and private organisations in the road transport and traffic administration.
He said that no fewer than 5000 drivers and numerous fleet managers had been trained by the institution.
The corps marshal said that they were expecting the outcome of a recent inspection of the facility by the Nigeria Universities Commission (NUC) aimed at turning to a degree awarding institution.
He said that the FRSC in collaboration with the African Development Bank was at the verge of turning the academy to a regional centre of excellence.
He said that the institution in affiliation with the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) had concluded arrangements to start graduate and postgraduate courses in the academy.
Oyeyemi commended the state government for its assistance in providing some of the infrastructural needs of the institution.
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