The Dangote Articulated Truck Driving School has graduated 50 trainees who have passed through a specially designed and rigorous educational curriculum.
The Articulated Truck Driving School at Obajana in Kogi State is Nigeria’s first and only accredited truck driving academy.
The school was inaugurated last year by the former Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Dr. Boboye Olayemi Oyeyemi, who described it as a significant step towards taming the menace of auto crashes involving articulated trucks in Nigeria.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony, the Divisional Director Transport (DDT), Ajay Singh, said the new Batch C graduates have only qualified and graduated from classroom instructions, and will now be exposed to practical through attachments for an additional six months.
Singh gave the assurance that the school would not only reduce the rate of crashes by articulated vehicles but also positively impact other road users, adding that the ultimate objective is to achieve zero accidents for all subsidiaries in the Dangote Group.
Similarly, the Manager of the Driving School, Daniel Akuso, said the intensive training was carried out in collaboration with the FRSC and Fantique Driving Training Centre of South Africa, noting that the three months training programme has helped change the orientation of the trainee drivers.
“This is the only articulated truck driving school in Nigeria where the students are paid stipends, trained, tested, certified, licensed, and employed.
“Our products are not only for Dangote Cement but for all subsidiaries of the Dangote Group in Africa,” Akuso said.
Speaking, Deputy Road Commandant (OC Instructor) of the FRSC attached to the Dangote Driving School, Mukhtar Umar, said the agency plays a significant role in training and certifying old drivers and newly recruited trainees.
“We teach them defensive driving, road signs, responsibilities of the driver, driving culture, and then certify them,” Umar said.
The Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education, Prof. Idris Bugaje, said the Board is partnering with Dangote Cement Plc in the execution of the school’s programme.
We teach them defensive driving, road signs, responsibilities of the driver, driving culture, and then certify them.
