ENUGU STATE HOSTS 2026 NATIONAL WORKSHOP FOR DRIVING SCHOOL PROPRIETORS AND INSTRUCTORS, REAFFIRMS PARTNERSHIP WITH FRSC TO REVOLUTIONISE ROAD SAFETY ACROSS NIGERIA

Nigeria loses thousands of lives to road traffic crashes every year, and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has identified driver education as one of the most critical and most neglected frontiers in the country’s road safety architecture.

It is against this backdrop that the 2026 National Workshop for Driving School Proprietors and Instructors took on heightened significance when it was declared open on Monday, May 4, 2026, in Ibadan, Oyo State, with the theme “Professional Driver Education Using Innovative Training Models to Improve Road Safety and Reduce Fatalities in Nigeria.” The event, organised by the FRSC under its Driving School Standardisation Programme (DSSP), brought together driving school owners and instructors from across Nigeria, including participants representing Enugu State, where road safety concerns have remained prominent in public discourse.

The FRSC Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed, who was represented at the event by Assistant Corps Marshal (ACM) Felix Theman, opened the workshop by underscoring the gravity of the road safety crisis confronting Nigeria. He stated that road traffic crashes remain one of the most serious public safety challenges in the world and that unsafe driver behaviour, inadequate training, poor understanding of traffic regulations and weak driving culture contribute significantly to the crash burden recorded across Nigerian roads annually.

He placed particular responsibility on driving schools as the primary institutions charged with preparing drivers before they enter the nation’s road transport system, arguing that the quality of a nation’s drivers is only as good as the quality of the institutions that train them. ACM Theman described the DSSP as a regulatory framework introduced by the FRSC to ensure all driving schools in Nigeria operate in conformity with approved standards and global best practices. Under the programme, driving schools must meet strict minimum technical requirements before receiving a certificate of operation from the Corps.

These requirements include the employment of FRSC-certified instructors, who must hold a minimum of five years of clean driving experience, possess a valid FRSC instructor certificate earned through formal training and examination, and undergo periodic refresher courses to keep their qualifications current. Schools that employ unqualified instructors risk suspension, withdrawal of operating certificates and outright closure. Proprietors who fail to register their schools under the programme face prosecution under the FRSC Act, 2007 and the National Road Traffic Regulations of 2004. The DSSP curriculum covers 21 modules designed to produce drivers who are technically competent, legally informed and safety-conscious.

These modules include the full Highway Code, defensive driving techniques, vehicle mechanics, first aid, road safety laws, and practical teaching methodologies. The curriculum is compulsory for all FRSCaccredited driving schools, ensuring a uniform standard of training for all categories of drivers across the country regardless of which state they are trained in. The Enugu State connection to the workshop reflects the state government’s longstanding commitment to transportation safety, a commitment that Governor Peter Mbah’s administration has frequently articulated in the context of its broader infrastructure agenda.

With the ongoing dualisation of several major roads across the state, including the 40km Owo-Ubahu-Amankanu-Umualor-Neke-Ikem dual carriageway and the 44.1km Enugu-Ugwogo Nike-Opi-Nsukka road project, Enugu’s road network is expanding rapidly. Safety advocates have stressed that new roads without better-trained drivers create new dangers, making the FRSC’s driver education intervention directly relevant to Enugu’s infrastructure story. Nigeria’s road safety statistics remain alarming.

The country records tens of thousands of road traffic injuries and thousands of deaths annually, with a significant proportion attributed to driver error, including speeding, dangerous overtaking, poor lane discipline and failure to observe traffic regulations. By investing in driver education at the institutional level, the FRSC’s 2026 national workshop represents a strategic intervention aimed at producing a generation of drivers who understand that road safety is not a suggestion but a shared civic responsibility. For Enugu State, whose roads are being transformed, the lessons from that workshop could not arrive at a more necessary time. Obinwannem News | May 19, 2026

Written by Chidimma Vivian Ejikeme (Obinwannem News correspondent, Enugwu State)
Date: May 19, 2026
Ubochi Nkwo Ikuku.
Published by Mazi Ugwu Okechukwu (Director, Obinwannem Media)