GOVERNOR BABATUNDE FASHOLA

Lagos Partners Private School Owners On School Bus Safety.

To ensure the safety of young school children in public and private schools, the Lagos State Government is working out arrangements to train and retrain school bus drivers in the state.
The Commissioner for Transportation, Kayode Opeifa, said this at a meeting with the Director General of the Lagos State Safety Commission, Mrs. Odebunmi Dominga and representatives of the State Universal Basic Education Board and the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools.
He stated that government could not continue to fold its arms and watch the lives of innocent children endangered due to carelessness of some school bus drivers, pointing out that training and retraining as well as other control measures by the school authorities would go a long way to reduce accidents involving school buses.
The Commissioner used the occasion to warn private school owners to always employ qualified and experienced drivers that will ensure the protection of lives of children entrusted in their care.
Opeifa said further that the various programmes introduced by the Government in the Transport sector would go a long way to reduce accidents and sanitise the sector.
He listed some of the programmes as the training of young children on transport and traffic education and the establishment of the Lagos State University School of Transport Studies and urged private school owners to be part of the Lagos State School Traffic Safety Advocacy Programme designed to catch the children young and expose them to transport, traffic and safety programmes.
The Director-General of the Safety Commission also said government would not relent in its efforts at ensuring the safety of children and advised private school owners to desist from carrying underage children in front of their vehicles and also overloading the school buses.
She advised parents to always check the history of schools before enrolling their children and wards and also insist that school drivers must be certified and responsible.