The Coordinator, Special Marshal Unit of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) Prof. Samuel Opeyemi Iroye, has called for the urgent construction of a pedestrian bridge at the junction of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), across the Airport Road, Abuja.
Iroye stated this during the unit’s monthly road show to create safety awareness among motorists and pedestrians that are plying the road.
He said this has become imperative considering the danger pedestrians face on the road while trying to cross the busy road.
Iroye explained that the Special Marshal Unit of NOUN has taken it upon itself to continuously create awareness and to decongest traffic on the road leading to the EFCC and National Open University of Nigeria headquarters.
"This area is our jurisdiction; we are always here once every month to ensure that the traffic flows and we also come out to help when there's emergencies.
"Because of how busy the road is and the human traffic on it, most especially those who are sick going to the Federal Medical Centre for treatment there's a need for the Minister of Works to consider constructing a pedestrian bridge on this junction to ease the suffering of those who try to cross the busy road,'' he added.
The idea of an overhead bridge on the junction, he said, will also go a long way to ease traffic, stressing that the traffic coming from Dantata Bridge can move across the airport road directly without causing any obstruction at the junction.
He further advised that motorists that ply the road should know that the road is always busy and they should apply caution and think of the welfare of other road users.
''Have it at the back of your mind that as you are hurrying to wherever you are going, other people must be considered and their safety is equally important,” Prof. Iroye said.
The Unit Coordinator sympathetically narrated how NOUN lost a staff member on the same road. " We had an unfortunate incident that happened early this year when one of our staff of the Social Science Department was killed at the entrance gate by a reckless driver because he was not conscious of another road user.".
Speaking further on the importance of the road show, the Deputy Unit Coordinator, NOUN Special Marshal, Wilson Akassa, said the road show affords the unit to interact with motorists and other road users on the importance of road safety, which is everyone's business.
He said as long as you are on the road, you are a road user and must be conscious of your environment, as, according to him, it's not only those who drive that are road users, pedestrians are also road users.
"If you observe on this Airport Road, FMC junction, there are about four federal institutions and it attracts lots of traffic. So, anyone using that junction must be careful and safety conscious."
Some of the motorists in a brief chat with NOUN News correspondent welcome the presence of the Special Marshal, saying that they will serve as a check on reckless drivers.
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