The need for corporate entities to foster peace/ coexistence through the extension of kind gestures to host communities has been highlighted by the director-general, National Metallurgical Development Centre (NMDC), Jos, Prof. Linus Asuquo.
Asuquo made the call in Jos during the collaborative unveiling of road safety signposts sponsored by the NMDC at strategic places within and outside the centre with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Plateau State Command.
He said that NMDC was poised to collaborate with FRSC to ensure safety signs are constructed and placed at strategic positions to ensure safety and decongestion of traffic within the centre.
The NMDC helmsman frowned at situations where corporate entities are accommodated – and in some cases, protected – by host communities but have no reciprocal gesture to appreciate the goodwill of these communities.
He stressed that, from inception, NMDC has enjoyed a harmonious relationship with its host community, hence the need to ensure smooth traffic of humans, goods and services within and outside the centre.
The NMDC boss said that the placement of the safety signposts was one of the other gestures extended to the host community.
Other gestures, he said, included the consideration of natives for sanitation and security services.
Free educational visits and lectures were granted to all categories of learning institutions within the community and state, as well as subsidised research analysis for students of tertiary institutions etc.
Asuquo thanked the sector commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Plateau State Command, Corps Commander Alphonsus Godwin for his vision to partner with public and private organisations in the state to ensure that road users are enlightened/educated through campaigns and use of inscriptional signposts to minimise road accidents.
Asuquo assured Godwin of the centre’s focus on its core mandate of adding value to all minerals and metals in Nigeria for economic benefits and that the centre will always forge a partnership with any private or public establishment that shares the same vision of turning around the economic fortunes of Nigeria through collaborative efforts in research and development.
In his remarks, Godwin appreciated Asuquo for his astuteness and commended the “immeasurable transformation” taking place at the Jos-based centre.
He said only passionate and humanitarian-minded leaders can extend their goodwill to their host communities.
Godwin, who said he was only replicating the dream his boss and acting Corps Marshall Dauda Biu, has for the state, assured Asuquo that the corps will continue to collaborate with the NMDC and other government agencies in the state to ensure that the FRSC’s core mandate of creating a safe motoring environment for the general public is achieved.
