inDrive, Stakeholders Seek Stronger Collaboration To Improve Road Safety

inDrive and key stakeholders in Nigeria’s transportation sector have called for stronger collaboration to improve road safety, strengthen security and protect drivers and passengers across the country.

The call was made on Tuesday at the third edition of the inDrive Safety Summit, held in Abuja under the theme, “Transparency.”

Speaking at the event, Country Manager of inDrive Nigeria, Timothy Oladimeji, said the platform was established to provide affordable and safe transportation services, noting that achieving safer mobility required the collective efforts of drivers, passengers, government agencies and other stakeholders.

He explained that the summit was designed to educate and engage relevant stakeholders on safety and mobility, with a view to developing practical solutions and achieving measurable improvements in the transportation sector.

Oladimeji said drivers remained critical to ensuring safe and responsible journeys, adding that inDrive had partnered with relevant government agencies to strengthen driver verification, improve emergency response times in collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force and enhance driver onboarding in partnership with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).

Also speaking, inDrive’s Driver Marketing Lead for Africa, the Middle East and Europe, Adimaldo Silva, highlighted several safety features available on the platform to protect both drivers and passengers.

According to him, the features include liveness checks, order-feed moderation, dangerous-area alerts and in-app chat moderation.

Silva explained that dangerous-area alerts help identify locations associated with heightened safety risks, enabling drivers to exercise greater caution while operating in such areas.

Representing the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, Director Jane Ojinta said road connectivity and safety were shared responsibilities that required the active participation of government institutions, private-sector operators, drivers, passengers and other stakeholders.

She urged inDrive and other mobility service providers to sustain investments in driver verification, vehicle safety, passenger protection, emergency response systems and public awareness campaigns.

Ojinta reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to creating an enabling environment for innovation and investment in the transportation sector, while supporting initiatives that promote safer, more efficient, accessible and sustainable mobility solutions.

She called on stakeholders to strengthen collaboration, adopt appropriate technology and maintain high standards of safety and service delivery to build public confidence, support economic growth and protect road users.

Similarly, Assistant Corps Commander and Unit Commander of the FRSC Life Camp Unit, Laraba J. Shanwa, stressed the importance of collaboration in effective road safety management.

Shanwa urged mobility operators to invest in driver training and retraining, organise public awareness campaigns to address identified safety concerns, adopt data-driven interventions to reduce road traffic crashes and improve safety standards across their fleets.

In his goodwill message, Festus Achu, who represented the Director of the Federal Capital Territory Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS), commended inDrive for organising the summit to promote safety, security and accountability in the e-hailing industry.

Achu emphasised the need for stronger cooperation among government agencies, technology platforms, drivers, security agencies and members of the public to address road safety and security challenges.

He said the DRTS was willing to collaborate with inDrive to ensure its drivers complied with applicable regulatory requirements, including driver training, profiling, vehicle certification and the possession of valid vehicle documents.

The summit also featured panel discussions involving stakeholders from different segments of Nigeria’s transportation ecosystem, providing a platform to examine safety challenges and explore practical measures for improving accountability and service delivery.

inDrive is a global mobility and urban services platform whose application has been downloaded more than 400 million times. The company said it had ranked as the world’s second-most-downloaded mobility application for four consecutive years.

Beyond ride-hailing, its services include intercity transportation, delivery and financial services. In 2023, the company launched New Ventures, its venture capital and mergers and acquisitions arm.

Operating in 1,065 cities across 47 countries, inDrive said it aimed to positively impact the lives of one billion people by 2030 through its core business and social impact programmes.