Drivers Institute to help learner drivers.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Lagos State Drivers’ Institute, Ayodeji Oyedokun says though the school is for now retraining professional drivers, it is concerned about first line drivers.

Oyedokun said the institute was collaborating with driving schools to ensure that their graduates would be well equipped to face the challenges of Nigeria roads.

According to him, part of the mandate of the State Government for setting up the Drivers’ Institute is to rectify, assist and upgrade private driving schools in the state.

He said the institute was already helping driving schools with audio visual materials and would send its drivers’ curriculum to them very soon as it was still being printed.

According to him, the curriculum includes chapters on what it takes to be a good driver, responsibilities of a driver to himself, to the vehicle, to the environment and to his passengers or cargo.

He said the institute also has courses for drivers of articulated vehicles as well as bullion vans.

Oyedokun said the heavy human and material losses from accidents involving these category of vehicles-- trailers and tankers—could be drastically reduced through the retraining of their drivers.

According to Oyedokun, the Drivers’ Institute, with centres in Epe, Ikorodu, Lagos Island, Ikeja and Badagry, has retrained 7,500 professional drivers in its first year of operation.

He said however, that private vehicle owners who drive themselves could approach any of the institute’s centres for a one-day refresher course as no knowledge is lost.