The Nation Newspaper

Tag: FRSC

  • Detectives in Lagos to trace bomb car owner

    Detectives in Lagos to trace bomb car owner

    WHO owns the Golf car used by the Nyanya suicide bombers? Security agents seem to have got a clue.

    The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has seen the documents, a source told The Nation yesterday.

    Some detectives were said to have been sent to Lagos to track down the owner, who did not provide enough data, according to sources.

    The identification of the number plate came from the old registration data system which the FRSC is trying to replace because of some deficiencies.

    While the search for the number plate owner continues, President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered Service Chiefs to fish out the perpetrators of the dastardly act in which scores of people most of them artisans and junior government workers, died.

    He set the target after receiving a preliminary report on the bomb explosion.

    The military has been directed to strengthen security within the perimeter of the Federal Capital Territory to prevent a reoccurrence of the explosion.

    The FRSC is believed to have revealed the identity of the owner of XQ 229LSD number plate to the investigative team.

    A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “We have got the first clue through the FRSC, which has given us the name of the owner of the number plate purportedly found on the Golf car which was used for the blast.

    “The plate is the old number which the FRSC was trying to phase out. But some vital data (like the telephone number of the person) were not in the old system. It is left to investigators to work more on the lead to unravel the whereabouts of the owner.

    “Some investigators are going to Lagos to dig into this aspect of the blast.”

    A source in the FRSC said: “We have made the identity of the owner of the number-plate known to the appropriate authorities.

    “I think the challenge at hand is that since more than 35 vehicles were involved, many number plates were also retrieved at the scene of the blast in Nyanya. So, there is need to establish through forensic analysis that XQ 229LSD plate was from the ill-fated Golf car.

    “If Nigerians embrace the new registration system, we will have a comprehensive database for all vehicle owners.”

    A security source spoke of how the President told the Service Chiefs to fish out the blood syndicate behind the dastardly act “to prove a point to Nigerians that we can fight terrorism”.

    Said the source: “The Service Chiefs are determined to get to the roots of the blast. Already, a position has been harmonized to allow the police and the State Security Service (SSS) to investigate the incident.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “Security agencies had been proactive in the last two months, with the arrest of a sizeable number of suspects in the FCT. And what these agencies have been doing is to frisk these suspects and release them when nothing is found on them.

    “We did the profiling of these arrested suspects before releasing them.”

    The military has been directed to “strengthen security within the perimeter of the Federal Capital Territory. Troops will continue frisking at checkpoints.

    Besides, plain-cloth security men have been deployed in vulnerable points (including motor-parks, boarding points, school premises, hospitals, recreational centres) in the FCT.

    More Nigerians yesterday trooped out to the National Blood Transfusion Centre in Abuja to donate blood.

    Leading the pack was Speaker of House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal, who shelved overseas trip, to donate blood for the recuperating victims.

  • FRSC, NIA partner on safer roads

    FRSC, NIA partner on safer roads

    The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) have assured motorists of their commitment to making the roads safe and secure through effective enforcement of compulsory motor vehicle insurance.

    The two bodies said the compulsory insurance will ensure that crash victims have adequate and prompt medical attention, while owners of damaged properties resulting from insured motor crashes are also adequately compensated.

    FRSC Corps Marshal, Osita Chidoka, gave the assurance during the official presentation of some units of HP Elite Pad 900 by Nigerian Insurers Association(NIA) to assist the FRSC in its verification of genuine insurance documents of motorist on Nigerian roads.

    Chidoka said the Commission was working out collaboration with relevant agencies and stakeholders including the insurance industry through a technology platform that would promote the right attitude of motorists and ensure safety and protection of road users.

    He said: “We have one solution that has multiple facets that would assist in guaranteeing safety of road users and motorist, and one of it is the new vehicle plate number which when concluded will help several agencies key in to make the roads safer and secure for the Nigerian people.

    “Insurance industry in Nigeria has come of age because they have become more responsive to their obligations, so medical bills of crash victims should no longer be an issue, while crash vehicles also will no longer be abandoned on the roads, because insurance companies will pick the bill once the insurance is established. Also, a situation where hospitals or doctors reject crash victims or deny them treatment is over because the insurance companies will pay”

    He however warned that the commission will not condone any insurance company that refused to pay their claims when there is accident saying they will raise alarm and make such company face the law.

    NIA Director General, Sunday Thomas, who led the delegation, said the insurance industry appreciates the efforts being made by the FRSC at ensuring safety of roads users.

    He said the donation of units of HP Elite Pad 900 to the FRSC was to assist its fieldsmen ensure that vehicles on the road carry genuine insurance documents so that there would be compensation to victims who sustain injuries or die as result of crash.

    He noted that insurers see the collaboration as one that should enhance value creation for the people and also enhance insurance sector contribution to the social and economic development of the nation.

  • Death; NLC Housing; UK harmattan; Delegates local travel; State vs federal party

    Death; NLC Housing; UK harmattan; Delegates local travel; State vs federal party

    Too many deaths and kidnapping, more than 80 this week: ethnic, mindless violence, road and boat accidents, robbery, Fulani cattle related, for body parts!

    In response to ‘Nigeria needs 17million homes’, the NLC/TUC building project in Abuja is fantastic and should be replicated. Lagos is also working in this direction if the federal government will hands-off interfering. Too many associations waste money on expensive AGMs, dinners and five star hotels mimicking wasteful National Assembly (NASS) politicians. All states and associations should build as well, because the federal government may never build enough housing quickly enough!

    We have had zero allocation of power for one month+ but Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and states joyfully tax and levy citizens and business while banks charge 25% for loans. But no rebate for patrol purchases during no power! Maximum suffering and no smiling on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway under construction companies not interested in adequate two lane alternative routing for impatient drivers too willing to ‘face me-I face you’ at a moment’s inconvenience. Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) is too busy gathering N10-16billion in number plate money, particulars check and TV appearances for simple traffic control. And now there is hamattan in London caused by local smog and dust from the Sahara. Wow!

    As part of ‘The National Learning And Healing Process’, National Conference Nigerians can learn to bridge ethnic and religious differences by travelling locally. Young delegates from the North should visit the South including gas flares at night and oil spill dead farms and fishing villages of the Niger Delta, erosion in the East and the Lagos-Ibadan and East-West roads. All South delegates should visit the North including the huge farms, a night on the caked dry shore of Lake Chad, the borders of the Sahel to witness the desertification and decay in family life. Mingle with both herdsmen and farmers! Such a trip meeting locals, not Emirs and chiefs, will improve inter-ethnic, religious and mutual respect.

    The Non Sovereign National Conference (NSNC) must counter negative development strategies of federal ministry officials and ministers occurring because the central federal party is not the state party. Federal employees are sometimes teleguided against the state’s progress instead of creating symbiosis for development creating abandoned federal projects and neglect. The federal government is not supposed to be a party government for the benefit of only ruling party states. Federal punishment for states having a different party has been around forever. President Shagari promised the Third Mainland Bridge to Lagos living Nigerians, only if he was re-elected. PDP Obasanjo depriving AC Lagos of N10b. A presidential legacy president should develop all citizens. Look at the East-West Road, Second Niger Bridge and the Lagos-Ibadan and Ore-Benin roads problems.  Indigenes of states sit at ministerial meetings where their state is brought up for ‘dirty tactics’. Did someone actually say ‘Hey guys, how can we destabilise Lagos State? Any ideas, you Lagosians?’or maybe ‘I have an idea to destabilise my State Lagos’. And did someone “phone a friend” in Lagos and reply ‘Let us seize some land and tie them up in court so they cannot build those 1000+ flats. Let’s stop that Lekki bridge, Ha ha!’ Would a united northerner do that? Using Federal soldiers in your own state in a civilian era speaks of desperation, poor democratic credentials and zero respect for the rule of law. Are federal Lagosians no longer Lagosians when even the NSNC is wrestling to decentralise power, no matter what party is federal -North, South, Muslim, Christian? Look at the Rivers State imbroglio. Federal ministers should not be at war with the ‘other party’ state party officials. Admit good done by opponents and suggest you will do better. Do not rubbish progress. The people will not take bribes instead of services for ever.

    Nigeria and its states, even Lagos State with all its Fashola progress and struggle to be glamorous, are far behind their expected position in 2014. Lagos State is larger than 50 countries in population and income and should be allowed to act like a country. So why should a Lagosian in politics get to the NASS or Federal Executive Council (FEC), using his birth certificate as a Lagosian, and conspire to retard Lagos? Is it just for cheap federal political points in the political game? That is how the some SDP states foolishly forced good NRC Shagari federal housing schemes to be built in the inaccessible bush. The political game is killing and depriving people of housing, food, power, water, education, health, jobs, railways and roads. Do those in the United North countenance such self-destruction? No. Only the South destroys its home states. Yet it is that state wherein their own relations suffer power failures. It is not just Lagos. Ekiti and Osun are hotting up, murderously. How many lives will be lost for political power, this 2014-15?

    No one should single out his state for devilish destruction. We Lagos State citizens call on all Lagosians in federal power not to execute- with or without soldiers- negative plans. This ‘State Pledge’ is common to other states. No official in the federal government, originating from Kano, Plateau etc would ever do anything against their state. Of course they could refuse to educate or provide health and infrastructure for citizens but they would not block funds or progress getting to the state. State development must not be sacrificed by federally based state citizens because of party affiliations.

  • FRSC to auction abandoned motorcycles

    The Federal Road Safety Corps, Sokoto State Command has said that the 75 impounded and unclaimed motorcycles may soon be auctioned .This indication was given by the Sector Commander Dr Gummi in a statement he issued last week.

    According to the statement, all motorcycles impounded in Sokoto and Isa and have stayed beyond six months in police custody will be auctioned after obtaining a forfeiture order from the court.

    “The corps will apply to court for the order of forfeiture and auctioning of the said motorcycles. Only motorcycles impounded in it’s custody for a continuous period of more than six months will be auctioned”, the statement read in part.

    Gummi, however, advised owners of such abandoned items to hasten up and claim them before the date.

  • FRSC chief cautions women on wheels

    FRSC chief cautions women on wheels

    The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Sector Commander, Lagos State, Mr Chidiebere Nkwonta, has implored women drivers in the state to be careful.

    Speaking at the kick-off of the maiden edition of Women on Wheels (WOW), in Lagos, Nkwonta, urged women drivers to pay attention to safety on the roads, considering their roles as mothers.

    Nkwonta, who kicked off the event with Publisher of On Wheels magazine, Mr Jabez Aina-Scott, noted that this role confers on them the important duty of being the eyes and ears of the family at home and outside, a role that engenders the need to impact in the members their family the knowledge of safety on the roads.

    Congratulating the drivers, Aina-Scott, said: “This is the first ever edition of road safety initiative specifically targeted at the family as a unit through mothers, sisters, aunts … in collaboration with an officially approved safety centred institution.”

    According to the publisher, the event is a campaign designed to inform, educate and sensitise female road users to the rules and regulations that guide the art of driving for safety.

    “This event is a corporate social responsibility(CSR) initiative designed by the magazine to raise awareness among women on the subject of ‘Defensive Driving’ (DD) as it produces a near perfect outcome of safety on the road and it is in the light of this that we took the initiative of partnering the (FRSC) in propagating the ideals”.

    Mrs Julie Chi-Nwaoha said: “The WOW Auto Rally was an experience that created an immense opportunity of safety awareness among this female target group of road users and also opened windows of marketing opportunities for the automotive brand owners through product association.”

     

  • FRSC can’t impose new number plates on Motorists – Court

    A Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday held that it was unconstitutional for the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to impose new number plates on motorists in the country.

    The judge, Justice James Tsoho, delivered the judgment following a suit by a lawyer, Emmanuel Ofoegbu, challenging the powers of FRSC to issue the new number plates.

    Ofoegbu had challenged the power of the commission to impound vehicles of motorists who failed to acquire the new numbers.

    Tsho held that it was unlawful for the respondent to impose the new number plates on motorists, where there was no existing law permitting same.

    “The issue of redesigning new number plates by the respondent is not covered under the provisions of any law in Nigeria.

    “The respondent cannot force Nigerians to acquire new number plates by impounding cars, without the backing of any legislation to that effect.

    “I hold that the act of the respondent amounts to an arbitrary use of power, and is therefore illegal and unconstitutional.

    “Judgment is, therefore, entered in favour of the plaintiff, and all the reliefs sought are hereby granted, I so hold,’’ he said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the plaintiff had filed the suit on Sept. 30, 2013 through a Human Rights Activists, Mr. Ogedi Ogu.

    The plaintiff had sought a declaration that the threat by the respondents to impound vehicles of motorists, who failed to acquire the new number plates, was invalid and unconstitutional.

    In his statement of facts, the plaintiff averred that the old plate numbers were issued under the provisions of the National Road Traffic Regulations (NRTR) 2004.

    He averred that the NRTR 2004 is a subsidiary legislation made under the FRSC Act, Laws of the Federation as revised in 2004.

    According to the plaintiff, the NRTR 2012, in Regulations 230 (2), provides that the revocation of the 2004 Regulations, shall not affect anything done, or purported to be done pursuant to that Regulation.

    Ofoegbu averred that there is no law made in accordance with the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), which prohibits the use of the old plate numbers, or declares its use as an offence.

    He also averred that the threat by the respondent to impound vehicles and arrest motorists who failed to comply with the Oct. 1 deadline, was a gross violation of the provisions of 36 (12) of the constitution  which guarantees the rights of individuals.

    He had, therefore, urged the court to declare as unlawful, the threat by the respondent, to arrest motorists using the old number plates because there is no law validly made in accordance with the constitution prohibiting its user.

    The applicant had also sought an order of injunction restraining the defendants from impounding vehicles or otherwise arresting or harassing motorists who failed to acquire the new number plate.

     

  • Man ‘assaults’ FRSC official

    Man ‘assaults’ FRSC official

    “This embarrassment would not have happened if government had allowed the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to carry arms like other security agencies in the country.” That was the lamentation of the Ota Unit Commander of the commission, Mr Sunday Ngbede Omafu, on March 21, while narrating his experience to The Nation. A man, Muritala Oyetola, he alleged, had slapped him while on his duty post.

    Oyetola was remanded in the Federal Prisons, Ota, Ogun State, for the offence after pleading guilty.

    The offence, it was learnt, contravenes Section 10, paragraph (4)(aa), and punishable under Section 27 of the FRSC (Establishment) Act 2007. The case, which was adjourned, will be further heard tomorrow.

    The FRSC boss said Oyetola committed the offence on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, Tollgate Ota, where the commission was having its joint monthly mobile court exercise, which was organised by the RS2.22, Ota, RS2.26, Idiroko and RS2.27, Agbado Unit Commands.

    Oyetola, he said, was a passerby who had no link with any of the arrested offenders. “He just came from nowhere to harass the marshals and slapped me in the process,” the FRSC boss, said.

    Omafu urged government to allow FRSC to be armed as other security agencies to curb incessant harassments by motorists.

     

  • Osun: FRSC convicts 65 road traffic offenders

    The Osun Sector Command, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), said on Thursday that it prosecuted and convicted 65 road traffic offenders between January and February.

    The Sector Commander, Mr. Muhammed Husaini, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo.

    He said that the mobile courts ordered the offenders to pay between two thousand naira and N10, 000 fine depending on their offence.

    According to him, the offences included failure to use seat belt, and driving without valid vehicle particulars.

    Husaini said that six other offenders were cautioned and discharged by the court, adding that the Commission was saddled with the responsibility to keep sanity on the highways.

    He warned motorists against violating traffic rules, noting that the FRSC would not relent in enforcing its statutory responsibilities to ensure safety on highways.

  • Activist slams FRSC for new number plates

    Activist slams FRSC for new number plates

    A human rights activist, Mr. Morakinyo Ogele, has slammed the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) for the new number plates.

    He said yesterday a statement credited to a top FRSC official that the commission would impound vehicles without new number plates was an affront to the rule of law.

    Ogele chided the commission’s decision to impound vehicles with old plates, despite his pending suit at a Federal High Court in Akure.

    He described as embarrassing, a statement by an Assistant Corps Marshall of Administration and Strategy Operation, in Bayelsa State.

    Ogele said: “It is embarrassing that as a senior officer of FRSC, he commented on this matter again. He said he would impound vehicles without new plates from July 1.”

    The statement reads: “Be put on notice that since your commission has joined issues with me, it is an indication that you have submitted your commission to the court jurisdiction and your commission must put on hold all actions until determination of the suit. Anything contrary negates the rule of law.”

  • 10 burnt to death in Lagos- Ibadan road crash

    10 burnt to death in Lagos- Ibadan road crash

    Ten people were burnt to death yesterday in a road accident on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

    Four people were injured.

    Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Commander, Oluyole Unit, Sanya Adeoye said the accident involved three vehicles – two trucks and one 18-seater Toyota Hiace commercial bus numbered BDG 767 XB.

    He said a truck, marked SW 175 EPE, which was coming out of the NSCE Quarry ran into another truck.

    Adeoye said another truck coming from Lagos ran into the commercial bus and smashed it into the two trucks.

    He said the bus went up in flames and the fire spread to the trucks.

    Those injured were occupants of one of the trucks. They were taken to the University College Hospital (UCH).

    The bodies were deposited at the mortuary of the Adeoyo State Hospital.

    Efforts were made by the FRSC Unit Commander to reach the victims’ families through the bus’ manifest, which was not burnt.