Category: Transportation

At a seminar in Lagos, Special Marshals of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) left none in doubt of their readiness for the challenges of road safety in modern times, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

Former Minister of Defence and pioneer Corps Marshal of the Federal Roads Safety Corps Dr. Olu Agunloye set the tone, last Thursday, for the needed retooling of the Special Marshal – the volunteer arm of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).

Though he called himself a “jobless old man,” Agunloye was on hand to chart the way forward, for the continued relevance of the Marshals in the age of technology, at a one day seminar held at the The Fountain of Life Church, Ilupeju Industrial Estate, Lagos.

Though his public life spanned being a Corps Marshal, A Special Assistant to the then Minister for Power and later Attorney General and Minister for Justice for the Federation, the late Chief Bola Ige, (to whom, he said, he acted as the hard drive while in office).

Agunloye, who later became the Minister for Power and Steel, and for Defence, left no one in doubt he was resolutely and irrevocably committed to road safety.

So concerned was he that, according to him, he always called the Sector Commanders of Oyo and Lagos daily to find out why nothing seems to be working and why strategies aimed at ensuring smooth traffic flow in the Southwest’s biggest urban centres seemed to have collapsed.

“I do not know why the FRSC, especially the men in blue (Special Marshals) will not let a jobless and retired man like me rest; he told a hall filled with Special Marshals, who invited him to dissect the volunteer corps at a seminar.

Speaking on the theme: “Special Marshal: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”, Agunloye said the corps’ assignment could be simpler if the messages of road safety were driven through the primary and secondary school curricula. When road safety is taught to children of school age and the awareness grows through their formative ages, they grow to know what to do on the road long before they begin to hold a car key or attempt to be on the road.

He opined that if the right strategies were implemented, it would trigger a new crop of matured drivers who would not only be responsible, but respect the right of others on the road.

He said: ”Researches have shown that people who tend to know about road safety long before they had the opportunity of acquiring driver’s licences, or sitting behind the wheel of a vehicle, drive better and are more conscious of the rights of other road users.”

According to him, children are great influencers and many are known to have influenced the right attitude by their parents in the use of seat belts, putting a stop to the use of phones while driving, eating on the wheel, drunk driving and other dangerous habits that cause accidents.

”Some children have had to complain about such things as use of seat belts, eating on the wheel and use of telephones picked from road safety clubs in their schools. As a result, they save their families from avoidable disaster,” he said.

Agunloye, said the path to the establishment of road safety began with the Nigerian Army, who in the 70s started a monthly awareness on road safety to train soldiers whose recklessness on the roads had become legendary.

By 1978, the situation was so bad that upon ceaseless agitations from academics from the then University of Ife, the old Oyo State Government, under the late Chief Bola Ige, established the Oyo State Road Safety Corps, headed by Prof. Wole Soyinka, and from where the Federal Government took a cue to establish the FRSC.

Agunloye opined that the FRSC started as a team of volunteers, made up at the formative years of academia from the University of Ife and later Ibadan, in response to the need to protect the lives of their students who are usually killed by reckless drivers. The Special Marshal, he said, is as old as the regular marshal and was the driver of the process that has given the Corps the laudable image it now enjoys as the leading and most responsive and responsible agency of the government.

“The special marshals have emerged as a very important segment of the road safety chain and their activities have gone a long way in giving the regular corps the kind of image it presently enjoys not only locally, where it has been adjudged as the best performing agency, but even globally, where the United Nations had recommended all nations of the earth to have a dedicated agency for road safety in a global effort to reduce road carnage.”

For the Special Marshal to continue to be relevant into the future, Agunloye said, it must continue to evolve and embrace new paradigms such as an inclusive Public Private Partnership (PPP), where it opens up to the participation of more members of the public, i.e. the masses or grassroots (as against government), and the organised private sector in taking road safety messages to the nooks and crannies.

Such leveraging according to him “would assure more efficiency of the special marshals, and the effectiveness of the road safety messages, ensure larger reach and coverage of the marshals who are largely volunteers, increase access to private funding to augment lean allocations, improve increased buy-in of members of the community, and ensure the preservation of the corps’ integrity.”

Read Also: FRSC urges road users to obey traffic rules

Agunloye urged all special marshals to continue to deploy their time and talents to the common good adding that their contributions have all contributed to making the roads safer for all users.

Flagging off the seminar, the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde. urged the FRSC and the Special Marshal cadre, to embrace and deploy technology in  keeping the roads safe for all users.

Oladeinde said the state government was grateful to the special marshals who have continued to make the roads free and safe. He said the work could be made less cumbersome if they deployed technology.

He said the FRSC would continue to be a major partner of the state government in ensuring the safety of roads in line with the THEMES agenda which rests primarily on transportation and traffic management.

The FRSC Sector Commander, Hyginus Chukwu Omeje, lauded the special marshals for ”making the job of policing the roads easier for the “regular ones.”

He said the theme of the seminar, held to rejig the corps, was apt, adding that the choice of the Agunloye who, alongside the Soyinka, midwifed the corps was not misplaced. He said Agunloye laid the template for the three layers structure of the corps – the regular, the volunteer corps, and the road ambassadors who form part of the Road Safety Clubs in schools, all of which have continued to work perfectly for the corps to ensure safety.

The FRSC Zonal Coordinator in charge of Zone 2, ACM Samuel Obayemi, said the corps would always partner with the special marshals who he described as critical to its successes in keeping the roads safe of accidents and impediments.

The National Coordinator, Dr Sink Tutsi Kwabe, thanked the Lagos zone for always leading the pack.

Kwabe, who is the fifth National Coordinator, said from its humble beginning, the Special Marshal is 15,000 men strong adding that the seminar calls for a sober reflection with a view to charting the way forward for its continued relevance in the road and transportation sector.

‘Research have shown that people who tend to know about road safety long before they had the opportunity of acquiring driver’s licenses, or sitting behind the wheel of a vehicle, drive better and are more conscious of the rights of other road users’

Kwabe said the goals of the special marshal will continue to be the promotion of road safety awareness, even as he acknowledged the enormous challenges besetting road safety.

Earlier, the state coordinator Mr Olusola Olojede, said the theme of the workshop is to arm all special marshals with what need to be done to make them more relevant in road safety management in the future.

He said the state which presently has 1,500 volunteer special marshals is looking forward to recruiting more hands in its attempt to take the message of road safety to all crannies of the state.

The highlight of the event were the presentation of awards of excellence to past state coordinators — Chief Joju Fadairo, Chief Austine Nchuchukwe,  Aare Bisi Lawal, Prince FAB Adenekan, Alhaji Toyin Kadiku and Pastor George B. Benson.

Also presented with awards were Kwabe and Omeje.

The Lagos Sector 2.1 special marshal also unveiled two projects – stickers – which, according to Olojede, were to address the psychology of the typical driver to respect road users.

He said the stickers to be distributed at bus garages by the special marshal unit and zonal coordinators would help to change the mindset of drivers.

”By affixing the I pledge to respect other road users’ stickers on the bumpers of your car, you are making a commitment to join hands with others to make the road safer for all, thereby reducing carnage on our roads,” Olojede said.

By Adeyinka Aderibigbe

The General Manager, Lagos Traffic Radio (LTR), Mr. Tayo Akanle has emphasised that technology has an important role to play in boosting the broadcast station’s programmes, assuring that the organisation will enhance its online presence to attract followers to its various social media platforms.

Akanle spoke during the state Traffic Radio’s Programme Planning Conference aimed at x-raying programmes and activities of the station.

He commended members of staff for their diligence, urged them to rededicate themselves to work and called for greater commitment and innovation, saying: “The reward for hard work is more work.”

Praising the Programmes Department for its efforts in organising the forum, Akanle maintained that the event was of immense benefit to the station and its esteemed listeners.

“Good listenership and online followers had been a major success. I appreciate you all, continue to listen to Traffic Radio 96.1FM, and we promise to give you the best. Remember to follow us on our social media platforms so as to be updated about our programmes,” Akanle said.

Assistant Director of Programmes, Mr. Victor Oteri commended the GM for his support to staff members  towards the fulfilment of the mandate of Traffic Radio.

Read Also: Traffic law enforcement model for state govts, FCT

‘’I want to appreciate the General Manager for granting approval for the improvement of staff welfare. If you have a leader that gingers, encourages staff and gives you the satisfaction to press further and to do more, Tayo Akanle is a diligent one to pick,”, Oteri said.

He explained that the conference was convened to evaluate the station’s activities and determine the progress made in fulfilling its mandate.

Oteri maintained that content to radio or broadcasting can be compared to oxygen in human beings, emphasising that it is, therefore, essential for the radio station to evaluate its progress and fashion out strategies to push and promote its brand.

One month after Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu declared a state of emergency on roads, and gave a marching order to eight construction firms to help fix the roads and relieve residents of traffic nightmare, it is still the same old story, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

The question Lagosians may soon ask Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is: just how much longer does he need to fix the roads?

The question, which is being asked with all sense of responsibility, is because they are seeing no sign of respite that anything may change soon, despite the imminence of the dry season, the much-expected period where much speed is expected on ongoing projects.

Their worry was triggered by none other than the lackadaisical attitude of the contractors saddled with repairing the roads and bringing the much-needed relief to road users.

On October 13, the governor declared an emergency on the roads and saddled eight construction companies with constructing some selected roads.

The contractors were Messrs Julius Berger Construction Company Plc, Hi-tech Construction Company, Arab Contractors, Metropolitan Construction, Slabaugh Construction, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), Rajaf Foundation Construction, and RCF Nigeria Limited.

Some of the critical highways and even inner roads listed among the roads for urgent remedial attention include the Ojota stretch of the Ikorodu Road, Motorways -Kudirat Abiola Way, Apogbon Highway, Babs Animashaun Road, Agric/Ishawo Road and Ijede Road in Ikorodu, as well as Lekki-Epe Expressway from Abraham Adesanya to Eleko Junction.

Also to be touched in what may be the first phase of the massive reconstruction are the roads in Ikoyi, Ikeja GRA and Victoria Island.

“We expect the rains will begin to subside and this is why we are mobilising our contractors to immediately start the major construction work on the identified highways and bring permanent relief to residents. I am giving all Lagosians the assurance that the contractors will start the construction in earnest and will deliver on the terms of agreements reached with them,” Sanwo-Olu assured.

He also directed the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) officials to work round the clock to control traffic in areas where the construction would take place.

Sanwo-Olu, who empathised with pain of road users, gave the contractors a marching order to start the reconstruction the following day.

Their efforts, according to the governor, are to be complemented by the rehabilitation by men of the Lagos State Public Works Corporation (LSPWC), which during the August break, claimed it palliated 200 roads.

Some road users have raised concern that virtually all those roads have since been washed off in the ensuing rainfalls of the last two months.

A section of road users are even querying what qualifies Victoria Island, Ikoyi, and Ikeja GRA, while many more densely populated roads abound at Oshodi, Mushin, Agege, Okokomaiko, Ojokoro, Ifako-Ijaiye and even Ikeja, all in the mainland, all of which could have given more relief to road users, had they been attended.

The Nation’s checks, however, showed that one month after Sanwo-Olu’s approval, none of the contractors have mobilised their workforce to site, despite the respite from the rains.

The situation on most of the roads listed as priority by the government and for which contractors have been selected has remained same.

The Nation could not immediately confirm whether the government has mobilised all the contractors.

However, Sanwo-Olu kept assuring road users that he has their listening ears, and feels their pain. He sought Lagosians’ understanding as he sorts the state’s myriad challenges.

The governor disclosed that his administration had audacious programmes lined up to address the current challenges facing the State.

He however hinted that his strides might be hampered by “a number of irrevocable financial liabilities tied to which the State’s resources had been tied,” by his immediate predecessor.

He said: “I know I cannot give excuses to Lagosians that I met the state in financial mess. It would amount to meaningless stories. And nobody will never know the real status of finances of any state until they get there. It is until I got there that I realised how bad we are in terms of outstanding liabilities, financial commitments to local banks and Federal Government’s bonds.”

To finance the capital projects envisaged for the state, the governor disclosed that he might have to seek fresh funds. “We may have to widen the tax net and improve the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state, to fund some of the pending capital projects,” he said.

At a public forum recently, Sanwo-Olu also took umbrage at critics, carpeting his administration, saying having concluded planning, implementation becomes easy.

Read Also: About these Nigerian roads…

Sanwo-Olu’s critics are unrelenting. They said seven months is too long for the governor who knew he was inheriting assets and liabilities of a state to make an impression.

Sanwo-Olu, who brandishes a two-governor-in-one ticket, they claimed is too solid to be wasting time at the door of indecision.

His dithering, they claimed, depicts a mind not cued to the assignment of his office.

Adeola Samson was one of such critics, who believes Sanwo-Olu should stop wallowing in self-pity and face his assignment.

“The governor knows the roads were bad, long before he was sworn-in in May. The roads have been deplorable and road reconstruction was one of his cardinal campaign promises, so why is he delaying after the victory?”

Some users believe bad roads are a major cause of traffic nightmare on Lagos roads. They reasoned that if 50 percent of the roads are fixed, much of the choke being experienced across the state’s road network would have been addressed and traffic will move more freely, leading to a reduction in the cumulative man-hour loss in the state, which is put conservatively at over two billion man-hours per year.

But the governor reasoned that other factors outside bad roads are responsible for traffic gridlock.

According to him, population and vehicle count are exerting immeasurable pressure on the roads.

According to Sanwo-Olu, more than 10 per cent of the nation’s 180 million population, reside in the state.This is beside a vehicular movement average of 240 vehicles per kilometre, as against the national average, which ranges between 11 and 15 vehicles per kilometre.

The governor said being the nation’s economic capital, Lagos roads will always experience traffic congestion but pointed out that his administration is coming with a robust transportation system to relief the roads and lessen the pain of road users.

He said: “In the short to medium term, we have decided to come up with intermodal transport scheme, which will see us simultaneously developing capacities in waterways, rail and road mode mass transit. Our intervention is largely focused on the road, because it is the most used method of transportation.

“The BRT programme is on course and we have taken delivery of 800 buses, which we are currently trying to clear from the Nigerian Port. Once this is done, we will be able to remove a lot of yellow commercial buses off the road in line with our transportation plan. “

On the road infrastructure, he promised some speed once the rainy season is over.

Dayo Ayeyemi said with one, out of the six months of dry season gone, the governor need to breathe hard on the contractors if appreciable work is to be done on the roads by the advent of next year’s rainy season.

A Deputy Director of Public Affairs in the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure Mr Adesegun Ogundeji said the complaints had been high this year because the rain has a debilitating effect on the roads.

“Once it rains, the surfaces of the roads are usually washed away, leaving the roads distressed, depressed and deplorable,” he said.

He said the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure and the LSPWC have been mandated and are working on the roads to ensure they are repaired and the pains of road users are attenuated.

The tour last week of 34 kilometres of the Lagos corridor of the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge rail project was an eye opener that the section was fraught with impediments requiring patience and tact, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

Since he learnt of the imminence of the take off of commercial activities on the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge, Abiodun Thomas (not real name) was one Nigerian with very high hopes.

He resolved to celebrate his birthday (which came up on October 23), on the conference coach of the speed train. Thomas indeed had a birthday bash last Wednesday, but not on the coach. He was disappointed, but not deterred. Thomas is one of those Nigerians who hold tenaciously to the dream that the speed train holds.

Asked last Thursday whether Nigerians would be able to utilise the speed train this year, one of the local engineers with the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) at the Agege Train Station said yes. He however put the most realistic date at between December and first quarter of next year.

The engineer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Lagos corridor, spanning 45 kilometres in all (Section one – from Ebute Meta – Iju – Toyin area) remains the only challenging phase of the project.

According to him, but for the absence of train stations, passenger traffic could begin on the remaining 97 kilometres from Toyin, in Iju, which is the border with the Ogun corridor, to Kilometre 157 in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The engineer’s suggestion is not novel. Minister of Transportation Mr Rotimi Amaechi, and the Nigerian Railway Corporation’s Chairman Alhaji Alhassan Musa as well as the Managing Director, Mr Fidet Okhiria, have at various times, proffered that as the only option available, if then tracks are to be put to use before the contractor completes the project.

The $1.7 billion (being initial cost outside of the various variations confronting the project), Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge is the nation’s third speed train system, coming after Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri and Abuja-Kaduna speed trains.

Amaechi had directed that the Corporation devise an arrangement that would make it possible for passengers to purchase tickets and board easily while CCECC put in place  more befitting train stations. Instructively, all the 10 train stations have already taken off and are in various stages, with CCECC disclosing it may deliver some of the smaller stations by December.

Of the four sections that make the entire project span, the Lagos corridor appears most challenging. That explains why the Federal Government agreed with the contractor to fix it last to mitigate the hardship it might inflict on the people.

Being a built up environment, Lagosians, especially those living around the speed train corridor, have had to bear the brunt of the development on the rail corridor. The route from Ebute Meta to Iju are strewn with impediments, such as water and gas pipeline obstruction, level crossings obstruction, bridges, buildings, and high voltage power lines, among others, all of which are being relocated to make way for the new project.

As at last Thursday, the task still seemed herculean. But despite these, the contractor is optimistic that the firm will hand over to Nigerians a world class rail system.

Fielding questions after the field trip that took reporters from Ebute Meta to Agege, the CCECC’s Public Relations Consultant Alhaji Abdulrouf Akinwoye said the contractor was convinced it would deliver on schedule because it had moved all its workers from the remaining three stations to the Lagos corridor to help speed up work.

He said: “We have moved men, equipment and materials from all other sections to Lagos and we have sub-divided even the Lagos section into smaller units to ensure that we cope with and deliver on time this project to Nigerian government.”

He said the CCECC being a world- class firm is guided by the best practices and have carried out environmental impact assessment (EIA) as well as social impact assessment (SIA) of the project on the host communities and are going out of its way to ensure that the project has the least impact on travel patterns and the people living in the communities.

Akinwoye, therefore, appealed to communities that might have been at the receiving end of the project either by being cut off or being denied access or basic amenities and infrastructure that the contractor would ensure all gray areas are addressed before signing off the project.

He listed Ebute Meta, Yaba, Mushin, Oshodi, Ikeja and Agege as among communities in which CCECC have constructed drainages for which has helped in reducing the huge impact of the flood that attended the heavy rainfall in recent time in those communities, as well as villages in Ogun State where a model primary school had been built to replace the ramshackle one demolished by the contractor.

He applauded Lagosians for their patience with CCECC and the Federal Government on the speed train project, adding that when the rail system finally comes on stream, it would be a catalyst for the rapid development of the nation’s economy.

According to him, with the proposed connection with the Apapa Wharf Port, movements of cargoes would be easier, and it would be easier to move more tankers and wagons away from the road to service last mile cargo deliveries and other smaller shuttles.

Akinwoye believes the rail is the engine room of the economy as the speed train, according to him, would  unlock the various centres that had been inaccessible, which otherwise had the potential of being the economic, agricultural baskets of the nation.

At Section I, the CCECC, according to the spokesman, is providing 21st century engineering solutions to challenges, such as replacement and relocation of public facilities, by ensuring that the gas and water pipelines are properly encased to prolong their lifespan and prevent their willful damage.

“Recall that these gas and water pipelines had been buried underground for over 50 to 70 years, while the narrow gauge itself had been a 118-year-old asset. What we are doing is very vital because all these are our national assets and irrespective of how developments had come to meet these assets where they were buried, it is our responsibility to ensure they are further secured for eternity or until such a time there would be future development.”

Akinwoye said about 1,000 direct workers were working on the Lagos end of the project, adding that with the level of work, put at about 60 percent, CCECC is keeping to the workplan and keeps its focus on the deadline approved for it by the government.

“We are not unmindful of the fact that the Minister of Transportation has been critical of the CCECC in recent time and like he himself rightly agreed, for factors that were largely beyond our control as contractor, but we are assuring Nigerians that we are capable and would be able to use the remaining days of this year to transform the Lagos end of the project, which is lacking, and finish it, because we are working round the clock, to ensure this.