PHOTO CAPTION
L-R: National Secretary, Association of Professionals and Corporate Drivers of Nigeria (APCDN), Adeosun Olu Joel; Assistant Director Training, Lagos State Drivers Institute (LASDRI), Mrs. Adeola Ajayi; National Chairman, APCDN, Comrade Agbor Osim Nzie and the CEO, Appetual Enterprise Limited, Appearance Bisong
The Association of Professionals & Corporate Drivers of Nigeria (APCDN) in collaboration with Lagos State Drivers Institute (LASDRI), recently trained private school bus drivers/bus attendants on Defensive and Safe Driving Techniques/Child’s First Aid and Emergency Situations Handling Course, at a just concluded one day seminar, held in Lagos.
The seminar which was supported by the Lagos State Chapter of National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), was tagged “Educating the School Bus Drivers, Assistant and Data Basing, Panacea for School Child Safety in Smart City”.
Speaking with Cliffsimeon Akalonu, the National Chairman, APCDN, Comrade Agbor Osim Nzie; said that, the essence of the seminar was preempted by the reluctance in capacity building of drivers by their employers.
He stressed that drivers needed to be periodically trained properly because they are the engine room of every organization’s transport and logistics department; so the need for them to be trained and be certified periodically in order to be at par with the modern day driving trend, as drivers license alone is not enough qualification for someone to engage in rendering professional driving services
According to him, “’I was motivated to organize this seminar because I am a professional driver. In Nigeria, people look at drivers as unreliable and coordinated, reasons that professional drivers are not being taken to consideration in terms of trainings, not properly regulated thereby creating room for hoodlums to infiltrate the profession and perpetuate crimes, no job security for drivers, once a driver is sacked it ends there; reason is that there is no proper negotiations arrangements between employers and drivers, no insurance/pension and other welfare packages, that is why we all came together to put standards, build trust and create an enabling environment, whereby; the employers, employees and government can be of mutual understanding, benefit and cooperate”, he said.
The Chairman urged the participants to put into practice what they learnt as it will help reduce crashes, reduce cost in the management of time and child security thereby guaranteeing child safety in a smart city.
In a lecture, Mr. Ola Osimfowokan, a LASDRI facilitator, told School Bus Drivers and their assistants that when there is an emergency situation/break failure, no one should panic.
He said as a defensive driver, when there is brake failure, the fastest measures to put in place is to continue pumping of the brake or change gears from 5 – 1 or gradually apply your hand brake 2 by 2 format until the vehicle stops.
He called on school proprietors to as a matter of fact, commit more interest in attractive welfare packages for drivers as well as give educational incentives to their children and make them happy as school bus drivers are the first and last security of a school child, therefore, there is every need to build trust amongst them.
Addressing participants, the Acting General Manager, LASDRI, Mrs. Afusat Tiamiyu, who was represented by the Assistant Director, Training Department, Mrs. Adeola Ajayi, reminded the participants about their responsibilities as drivers and the need to always consider other road users while driving.
She noted that, the lives of commuters are important likewise their own lives, hence they should ensure driving in compliance with all safety tips, reiterating that Safety and Security should be their watchword at all times as it is in fulfilment of one of the cardinal programmes of the present administration as captured in T.H.E.M.E.S agenda of Lagos State.
The participants were taken through various courses such as: Defense Driving, Vehicle care, Vehicle labeling, Pavement Marking, Traffic offences as well as Vehicle Maintenance procedure, eye-tests, Road Courtesy, Road Signs, Responsibilities of Drivers, Emergency Driving, First Aid etc.
The second phase of the seminar will be coming up on Saturday, 14th September 2019. Certificates issued after the seminar includes: Lagos State Drivers Certification card for drivers, Certificate of Professional Competence for drivers/Bus Assistant and Certificate of Participation for participating Schools.
