Delta trains 875 drivers

The Delta State Commissioner for Transport, Ben Igbakpa, said on Sunday that the State Government trained no fewer than 875 drivers on various driving techniques and adherence to traffic regulations between 2007 and 2013.
Igbakpa told the News Agency of Nigeria in Asaba, the state capital, that 84 drivers benefited from the training in 2007 while 84 benefited in 2008.
He said that 707 drivers were trained between 2009 and 2013, explaining that the training took six months.
Igbakpa said that the essence of the training was to enable the drivers to improve their driving service delivery skills.
The commissioner also said that to key into the New Enhanced National Drivers Licence Scheme, the State Government was planning to establish a standard driving school in the state.
He said that the school would be equipped with modern facilities for the training of all categories of drivers, adding that it would serve as part of the human capital development agenda of the State Government.
The commissioner said that in the last six years, the State Government had been involved in regular road patrol activities, through a special unit in the ministry, for the purpose of enforcing traffic laws.
He said: “My ministry is also involved in road accident rescue operation all over the state and between 2009 and 2010, we procured four motorised extracting equipment for quick response to accident victims rescue operations.
“The four vehicles were distributed to the three senatorial districts of the state.”
Igbakpa said that the ministry undertook several road safety awareness campaigns during the period to ensure that roads in the state were safe for passengers and cargo.
According to him, the campaigns included sensitisation of motorists, pedestrians and the general public on good road safety practices.
“And in line with the present administration’s approach to vigorous pursuit of improvement in the collection of internally generated revenue, the ministry, between 2007 and June 2013, generated a total of N150 million as internal revenue.”