The Nation Newspaper

Tag: FRSC

  • 12 hours to get a driver’s licence

    Some weeks back the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) played a fast one on Nigerians. In a perfectly simulated photo operation, former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s application for the so-called new driver’s licence was processed and he was issued one within minutes as shown on television. The Corps Marshal, Osita Chidoka, was the perfect host on that day, beaming with smiles and the pictures of the drama splashed on newspaper pages the second day.

    If, however, you believe that show, I feel for you, as my experience on Friday, August 2, at the Ojodu, Lagos office of the FRSC confirmed that it was a drama. Truly we’ve been conned and still being deceived. It took me just 12 hours, yes 12 hours, to be “captured”, pardon the bad grammar as though one was an escapee from a maximum security prison. I went through the painful and macabre show simply because of my decision to go through the normal route and refusal to use any backdoor arrangement as I have enough contacts and friends made over the years as a journalist who are high in the FRSC hierarchy. But I wanted to see what ordinary Nigerians with nobody to smoothen their ways go through in the hands of state agents.

    My horrific journey began on February 26 this year when I commenced the application process for the renewal of my driver’s licence which was about to expire. Go online and pay the required money, the numerous adverts and leaflets proclaimed with gusto. As a law abiding citizen, I followed the steps meticulously, paid the stipulated charges, and went through the tests. Thereafter, I took all the documents to the FRSC unit at Ojodu and that was where I knew it was not going to be an easy application. In the wisdom of the officials, they gave me a date that was six good months away, August 2, stamped “Valid & Physical Capture Date, Ojodu Processing Station”.

    It was comical and all my pleas for a new date fell on deaf ears, but since I had a paper which shows that my application was being processed I was not bothered and as long as I can drive without being waylaid or molested by FRSC officials or policemen, all is well. Surprisingly, no law enforcement agent stopped me to ask for my driver’s licence during the period. An officer was kind enough to give me his number and I kept on calling just to be in touch with the process, he continually reassured me that nothing will shift my “capture” date.

    I returned to Lagos on the evening of Thursday, August 1, so as to be able to partake in the exercise the next day. Friends and family members who have been “captured” told me that the 7am time for the exercise is sacrosanct and so I should not miss it for anything. One actually told me that I stand the risk of being asked to come back in three months’ time if I did not get to Ojodu by 7am. And so I joined the bankers and Lagos Island workers’ train of early commuters and fortunately got to Ojodu at 7:05 am. Morning shows the day, the English say. My first shock was the sheer number of people I met at the office at that early period so much that someone was already arguing with a FRSC man at the gate in order to be allowed to park inside the compound and not outside.

    Sensibly, I drove ahead and turned back to pack at the bus stop directly in front of the office but I was not comfortable with the place I parked. As I kept thinking about this, another car parked behind me. Perhaps the driver saw my discomfort at where I parked and as he locked his car after his wife and a child disembarked, he said to me, “Nobody will tow your car away from this place, just relax.” We went in together and there we were met by a crowd that reminds one of the January 2012 fuel subsidy protests. Confusion and bedlam were the hallmarks of the gathering with no signs or direction to point those of us who were there for the exercise to where we should go.

    Questions, questions, and more questions led us to a hall where a woman FRSC officer was addressing applicants. Unsurprisingly, there was no electric supply, meaning no amplifier and so we all strained our ears to hear her properly. Time was 7:30am and the odour emanating from the hall reminds one of putrefying bacteria feasting on a decomposing corpse. As I stood at the entrance, I surveyed the crowd, I saw women with their kids, husbands and wives, young and old all waiting to be “captured.” We all clutched our application documents tightly like refugees waiting to hear if their application for asylum will be granted by the host countries.

    “Move back, move back, you are suffocating us,” the woman whose name tag reads Babasanya intoned. Pleading with the applicants, she threatened to stop the process if we kept pressing against her and the three other FRSC officers sitting down. Trust Nigerians, “Why don’t you move back too,” they asked as if they did not know why people had to press closer. Babasanya done, a gentleman started reading out the names of those of us scheduled for that day. Nothing suggested that he was a FRSC personnel as he was in mufti, he called people asking us to answer “present” just the same way teachers taught us in elementary schools.

    Things got rowdy at this point as many could not hear their names, but somehow the process continued. I thought it was not going to be my turn until I heard my name, “you’re 228″, the class teacher told me. I memorised it as Officer Babasanya wrote the number and signed on my application. I stepped outside to catch my breath; time was 8:45 am. An hour after, we were summoned into the hall again where those of us from number 120 upwards were asked to come back by 1pm. Meanwhile, all pregnant women and parents with children were given preference of being attended to first and everyone agreed.

    That was when I discovered that my case could be classified as neither good nor bad. Not good because some started the process in May and some in June. Bad because some were there for the second or third time having missed earlier appointments due to lateness or inability to respond when their names were called on those days. There were people from Sango Ota, a border town in Ogun State, Agbara, Badagry, Ijanikin, and other far-flung places. Some have been victims of the system having patronised touts who gave them fake licence culminating in their arrest. Further, we saw some waltzing in and being attended to before those of us whose names were called in the morning.

    On my return in the afternoon, the process was moving slowly that less than 60 people have been attended to. Another officer with name tag Aduloju, was the courier walking the distance from the data room to the hall. “Number 60 to 70,” he summoned as I arrived. By 3pm, tempers have risen that there was apprehension if the 300 people whose names were called will be “captured”. By the way, those who came late or missed their names were given March 2014 as the next appointment. Optometrists were around to conduct eye tests and some applicants were turned back due to bad eyesight. It was shocking that some were teaching them how to beat the system next time. “But they cannot see, how will they drive?” I asked. My opinion was an unpopular one and I wisely walked away.

    Fortunately, the generator started working and with the population reducing, the hall became more habitable. Forces of demand and supply took over with sellers providing drinks for people to quench their thirst. At 5:30 pm, I was called to be “captured” and led to a canopy in front of the data centre where we waited again. Thirty minutes later, four of us entered the powerful room where only two computers were working and the two officers, a man and woman, thoroughly overworked, were slaving away. Officers Babasanya and Aduloju, however, deserve accolades for doing a great job under the kind of suffocating conditions they work.

    Two machines for 300 people! My fingerprints were taken and photo too, “Go to room 28 to pick it up,” we were told. Room 28 was in darkness as there was no bulb, it was 6:30pm and our names were entered into another log book. Time now 7pm, a temporary driver’s licence was given to me after parting with N100 for lamination without a receipt. I stepped out of the premises at 7:12 pm.

    Mr. Osita Chidoka, this system is not working, please dismantle it.

     

     

    Mr. Fatade is a Lagos-based journalist

  • ExxonMobil, FRSC take safety campaign to Akwa Ibom

    The Pan-Nigeria road safety campaign, a partnership between ExxonMobil and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has been launched in Akwa Ibom State. The campaign is part of a series of road safety programmes to tackle accidents.

    The year-long campaign, which was launched in Abuja by the Corps Marshall and Chief Executive of FRSC, Osita Chidoka, focuses on three critical areas: seat belt usage, speed reduction and use of phone while driving.

    At the flag-off in Eket, the Manager, Logistics, Mobil Producing Nigeria, Capt. Femi Olaiya, said ExxonMobil is partnering with FRSC on the campaign to promote attitudinal change among road users in Nigeria.

    Olaiya said the national road safety initiative reflects the level of priority which ExxonMobil accords safety in all its locations of operation.

    “This campaign demonstrates our commitment to safety and support for Nigeria’s aspiration for accident-free roads,” he said.

    He enjoined drivers to ensure usage of seat belts, avoid over speeding and use of mobile phones while driving.

    FRSC Deputy Corps Marshall Mr Yomi Olukoju, said road crashes have been a source of concern not only in Nigeria but most developing countries and in the next few years, road crashes may be the third highest killer of mankind.

    Olukoju while narrating various chilling stories of how road accidents affected his loved ones, said road crashes do not just happen but are caused and therefore preventable.

    “This campaign is a national reawakening to address the challenge of poor attitude to road usage which has resulted in several avoidable accidents,” he said.

    Unit Coordinator of FRSC, Eket, Mr Effiok Udouwem, attributed 85 per cent of causes of road accidents to human factor while environmental and mechanical factors contributed five per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

  • FRSC Ogere; Al Capone & Al Mustapha: Court Marshal? Electricity Power play

    A  response by Dapo A on lane mile costs in America came. Please note that a kilometre is 0.62miles. So the 132km former Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is just 78miles. In the USA, in urban areas, widening costs $2.4 –$6.9 million per lane-mile. In rural areas, $1.6 – $3.1 million per lane-mile. So draw your own conclusions about JuliusBerger/RCC costs and the 48 month contract for 78 miles.

    The now permanent FRSC Ogere roadblock actually breaks the law by narrowing the two lane federal highway to one lane. It is manned by officers standing in the expressway stopping vehicles. The FRSC man actually smashed the mirror of a vehicle dodging arrest, making the FRSC at Ogere a nuisance, a laughing stock and a cause of traffic jams. The FRSC team, as an obstruction at Ogere, has replaced the trailers moved to parks. Is there no one in FRSC with love of country and authority to dismantle this menace? Deliberate, unnecessary and malicious narrowing of the expressway which takes 60-100 cars a minute to one lane is a punishable and towable offence. Who will tow the FRSC? The possession of a uniform must not promote illegality.

    Let the FRSC re-learn the ‘Soyinka’ civilised ways of road safety and not ‘go slow’. FRSC should promote ‘Right lane driving’ and fight over-speeding. Most commercial vehicles take off from motor parks. FRSC/ NURTW joint motor park inspection, ‘particulars’ checks, load assessments, monitoring, registration and passenger manifests will improve the rights of citizens to a safe journey. Install an ‘FRSC Desk’ in every motor park. Who at FRSC is listening? As for the illegal vehicles, the ‘Stop’ method must be applied in a more ‘Keep Traffic Moving’ friendly manner. FRSC needs to get more success with ‘Preventive FRSC Road Safety Strategies’. Prevention is better than cure.

    Al Mustapha is still in the Nigerian Army. Is he a military role model? As Abacha’s Chief Security Officer, CSO, Al Mustapha’s tenure ‘witnessed’ many targeted, attacked and murdered citizens by ‘someone’ using the Army as ‘cover’. There are several explanations. Perhaps the CSO was innocent but incredibly irresponsible and stupid amounting to gross incompetence, negligence of duty and malicious military malfeasance. Perhaps Al Mustapha was the hands-on military leader of a devil team. Perhaps the victims did kill themselves as suggested by that government.

    Sometimes you do not catch criminals for what they do, but for what they do not do. Al Capone was not jailed for murder but for tax evasion. Is there a parallel between Al Mustapha and Al Capone? They both begin with ‘Al’. They ‘are’ both ‘smooth customers’, considered nasty pieces of work. Fifteen years on, the army must exonerate itself and tell of the Al Mustapha Days. Did he acquit himself as an officer and a gentleman? Should the army sit in judgement on the irrefutable, activities of Major Al Mustapha? The army could consider a Court Marshal for ‘Actions Unbecoming of a Nigerian Officer, let alone a gentleman’.

    There will be a flurry of intimidation, ‘let time heal all wounds’ and let ‘bygones be bygones’ as ‘the blood is dry’. Someone will play the ethnic card of North Vs South or even Kano vs. Katsina and the Yar’Adua connection or the Abubakar financial issues. Then there is the Abacha loot still in safe houses? Al Mustapha will have money, Governor of Kano State, Kakwanso has promised, as he seeks a successor. Even Hitler was never tried, but guilty as sin and won by democratic elections and then unleashed evil. Germany lost that war but has gained the same superpower status through peace. A strong lesson for war mongers seeking to write stupid memoirs to themselves. Thank God for Brig Gen Alabi-Isama for putting the records of Obasanjo’s forgetful ‘My Command’ straight! We must counter with money for prosecution. We must donate to a fund, ‘Abacha Victims Justice Fund’, to get justice – civil, military or moral- before the next generation of Al Mustaphas appear.

    The risk of silence in this matter will accelerate the choreographed ‘Rehabilitation of Al Mustapha’ and the dancing on the graves of ‘The Abacha Dead’. In addition Al Mustapha could be rehabilitated in the army and ‘God Forbid’, be given 15 years back-pay, honourable discharge or promotion. There are enough SANs, resting between political tribunal trials, to suggest that he may sue for ‘wrongful incarceration’ even though he was responsible for most of the court ‘adjournments’. If we are not attentive we may soon be facing Senator, Governor Al Mustapha of Kano State, Minster of Defence, Vice President and President Al Mustapha. After all, many did no less ‘Honourable and Distinguished’ things than Al Mustapha to get into nasty National Assembly, NASS.

    The Abacha Dead have families’ ruined financially and emotionally. What compensation does victims of government violence get when politicians crazily and serially award ‘Life Salaries and Allowances- SAP’- to already fat-cat principal NASS officers? NASS, is there a ‘Victims of Government Violence Compensation Act’ or even an artistic masterpiece monument to the ‘The Abacha Dead’ taller than evil, wider than devilry. For Nigeria’s children to live in peace, we adults, must face our suspected killers and their mentors or lose our children in our lifetime.

    Meanwhile, where is Nigeria’s needed 100,000Mw of electric power? Stolen or lost in Nigeria’ power play?

    Power supply is not nuclear physics; the countries with power have good governance, not criminal politicians with two heads.

  • JB/ RCC: ‘4 year Contracts of Urgent National Impotence Vs Emergency works; Ogere FRSC 

    Julius Berger (JB) and RCC have the ball squarely in their court over the former Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The Jonathan Go-slow causing opening in Friday revealed that the contract will cost N167billion or $1,113,333,333 or $1.1billion for 127km ie N1,314,960,629 or N1.3b/ kilometre. In foreign exchange that is an amazing $8,766,404, $8.7million/kilometre. Wow!!! Talk about the streets of Nigeria being paved with gold for some people. At current crude oil prices at a guestimate of $100/barrel, the figures are also interesting. The total cost of the contract is 11,133,333 barrels of crude. That does not sound much to oil rich Nigeria -just 5+days of oil deliveries at two million barrels per day or, according to media bunkering outcry reports, just a month of bunkered oil.

    Someone with internet savvy should please compare and publish the price of a kilometre of road worldwide to see if we are getting a competitive price. We may respect JB as builders of fine roads and bridges and are forced by authorities to tolerate RCC. Can we blame RCC for the Ibadan-Ife Road? We have thousands of Nigerian engineers doing a lot of nothing due to lack of patronage and payment for past contractual projects by governments –the so-called internal debt calculated in trillions of naira. What is the terrain that will cost this amount of money? Widening the long bridge to six lanes?

    But even more importantly, why on earth should the job take four long years or 1460 days or 1252 working day excluding weekends? The Chinese are building the tallest building in the world in just six months. This contract has long since been a deadly laughing stock among Nigerians like the East West Road, the Second Niger Bridge and the ‘Power Failure Projects’ which have all rightly been called ‘Contracts of Urgent National Impotence’!

    With millions of lives affected by the Expressway daily, surely it should be an 18 months or even under a year ‘Contract of Urgent National Importance’. Why no urgency, day and night work, 24/7 work with 10 different teams doing 10km each on each side? There are millions unemployed ready to be recruited and trained. Even the army of NYSC professionals can be deployed to participate in the work.

    Enough is enough. Four years or not, the first assignment for the contractors should be ‘Emergency’, to quickly inspect the road and fill all potholes, of which there are about 1000 serious life-threatening ones  and fill in jagged road edges in over 500 spots. This palliative strategy is not a joke but life-saving and time saving and should be implemented now, this week and completed in seven days. Let the contract begin! There should be no more road deaths due to potholes and jagged road edges which cause vehicles to swerve and crash. Let no Nigerian die on the expressway from today. This burden we place on Julius Berger and RCC management, chief executives and shareholders. They have not get a contract with Nigeria but with Nigerian travellers –men, women and children who simply want to get from A to B, Lagos to Ibadan safely.  ‘JB/RCC, come over to Macedonia and save us.’

    Will the Federal Ministry of Works again be rightly or wrongly accused of devilish delays, diversions, placing greed over service to the nation, corruption and all manner of machinations to cause obstruction? We must remember that there was already an approved design and work on the third lane had successfully gone from Lagos to beyond the Redemption Camp before Obasanjo revoked the World Bank contract in order to concession it. And what a disaster that decision was for Nigerian travellers. Do Nigerians not deserve an apology for having been forced to suffer for so long and being so shoddily treated by those supposed to act in their greater interest-politicians and civil servants? How much was the World Bank contractor paid by Nigeria as compensation for that unnecessary termination of very good work-in-progress? Left alone the entire Expressway would have had three lanes on reach side more than four years ago, now we must wait for four more years. Note that General Gowon says the original plan was for three lanes. Who chopped the third lane- financially or politically thus condemning us to 30+ years of misery?  We should all pray that the Federal Ministry of Works behaves with the above-board moral rectitude and dispatch required in this urgent matter. Just recently on July 6, I witnessed a 9.00am four lane deep, 15km long, about 10,000 vehicles with maybe 100,000 citizens, at a standstill on the Lagos Ibadan side. And on July 21, there was a disastrous 25km four lane wide line of static traffic from Ibafo to well beyond ‘Redeem’. Simple maths tells us that 25km of four lane traffic, with a lane on either side of the two lane road should actually be a 50km two lane traffic jam. Is that not a disaster in evolution? While this disaster was unfolding all the FRSC could do was to stop me at the permanent Ogere FRSC check point for driving licence and fire extinguisher check for the sixth time in my short life.

    Coming back to Ibadan on July 7, there were two accidents and the unrepentant extortion of one FRSC vehicle with its officers endangering their lives and reducing the road lanes from two to one in order to randomly select victim vehicles.

    • To be continued

     

  • 18 die in Edo auto crash

    18 passengers were on Monday roasted to death in an accident that occurred at Okada town along the Benin-Lagos-Ore road.

    Those dead included two children, 15 adults and a motor-boy of a heavy duty truck.

    The accident caused heavy gridlock along the express road as it happened on a one- way lane while construction work was ongoing on the other lane.

    The accident involved a heavy Mark truck loaded with gravel and a commercial Toyota bus belonging to Peace Mass Transit Company Limited.

    Edo State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, (FRSC), Mr. Kenneth Nwaegbe, confirmed the accident in a chat but said many children who survived the accident have been taken to the hospital for treatment.

    Nwaegbe said, “It was not really a head- on- collision like that. What happened was that the Mark truck was carrying gravel and was coming from Ore to Benin when it lost one of its tyres and control. And the Toyota bus was coming from Benin to Lagos when the two collided.”

    Rescue operations were carried out by FRSC operatives from the Tollgate unit command, policemen from Okada town police station and some sympathizers.

    Coordinator of Save Accident Victims of Nigeria, Dr. Eddy Ehikhamenor, said all the victims were burnt beyond recognition.

     

     

  • FRSC prosecutes 21 transport companies in Edo

    FRSC prosecutes 21 transport companies in Edo

    A total of 21 transport companies in Edo State have been prosecuted by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Zone RS5 for violating Regulations 115 of National Road Traffic Regulations 2004.

    Zonal Commanding Officer of FRSC, Mr Wole Olaniran, who made this known in a press statement, said more non-complying transport fleet operators would be taken to court in order to ensure safe fleet operations.

    Mr. Olaniran explained that the prosecution of the offenders was part of the corps’ resolve to reduce factors causing road traffic crashes.

    He said the offenders were fined N50,000 each.

    According to him, “So far, 21 fleet operators have been arraigned in Edo State while nine defaulting operators in Delta State have been served with requisite Pre-Acton Notice. Federal Road Safety Corps, Zone 5 Benin, continues to prosecute defaulting fleet operators,’’ he said.

    “They were found guilty of non-registration with FRSC and not subjecting their operations to safety audit to ascertain their compliance with the safety standards as specified under Road Transports Safety Standardization Scheme (RTSSS).

    “The registration would have led to their certification and classification based on their compliance status.’’

  • FRSC sues 10 transporters

    The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) yesterday sued 10 transport companies at an Oredo Magistrate’s Court in Benin City for failing to comply with requirements of the Road Transport Safety Standardisation Scheme(RTSSS).

    The companies are Muyi line, Agbonifo line, Crystal line, Oghogho Express, Afemai line, Rod motors, Genesis motors, Comfort line, Osa’s motors and Unity motors.

    The transport companies allegedly failed to comply with the seven-day notice given before commencement of legal action served on them by FRSC on March 12.

    Afemai Motors, Benin branch manager Saliu Umoru and General Manager of Genesis Motors Henry Isibor pleaded not liable to the offence.

    They said they were not served any notice until Wednesday.

    The Magistrate, Nosa Igbenosa, directed that the court processes be served on the defendants and adjourned hearing till July 3.

  • FRSC trains children on safety

    he sector 2.19, Oshodi Command of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), has begun ‘Catch Them Young’ campaign to curb road accidents in the state as a way of ensuring that children are enlightened on safe road use.

    The Sector Commander, Mr Samuel Ogundayo, who stated this during an awareness campaign on road safety for school children, said the sector embarked on the campaign so as to enlighten the children on safe road use.

    Ogundayo, who noted that children are the worst victims of road crashes either directly or indirectly said children, when properly educated would be inclined to easily draw the attention of elders to observe acts of negligence or misbehaviour on the road.

    He said the command used the occasion of the children’s day not only to celebrate children but to draw awareness to road safety issues, adding that his command held training on zebra crossing and the use of seat belt because findings have shown that many fatal crashes have occurred by neglecting the rules.

    His words: “Even when they are not involved in crashes, the untimely death of their parents or guardians in  road crashes will definitely affect their future. It has, therefore, become imperative to reach out to children and acquaint them with traffic rules and safety measures.

    “This will make them safety conscious and imbibe the culture of learning traffic rules before they advance in age.”

    He also warned children against the use of ear-phones while on the roads, to avoid being knocked down by careless drivers, stressing that such practices would distract and prevent them from hearing the  sound of oncoming vehicles.

    In her contribution at the occasion, one of the Road Safety Ambassadors, Miss Folakemi Adekunle, appealed to parents to always abide by traffic regulations for the sake of their children.

    Miss Adekunle called on motorists to always take the issue of pedestrians’ safety serious and refrain from acts that could endanger the lives of commuters.

    Not less than 500 school children were present at the TY Danjuma hall of the Armed Forces Resettlement Centre (AFRC), venue of the event, where they entertained themselves before officers of the command educated the children on various measures on road safety.

    Among other dignitaries at the event were Mrs Victoria Bamidele, who represented the Lagos State Sector Commander, Major Comfort Edet who represented the AFRC, Commander Vehicle Inspection Service, Oshodi unit Mr Kasali Suara and top management of the safety commission.

     

  • Cheapness of student life! ‘Wetin you carry’ by FRSC and Police again!

    The death of five students of NANS and the numerous deaths of students across Nigeria and particularly in the last month are truthfully mostly preventable tragedies and demonstrate the cheapness of life in Nigeria. They are not what parents expect when they borrow save up money to pay for students to go to university or for National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). No parent expects a coffin, an unbelievable burden. Such tragedies remind me of the discussions I often have with enthusiastic students of higher institutions about their reason for them visiting off campus businesses and professionals. These visits are all in efforts to raise sometimes ridiculously outrageously high sums of money, from N300,000 to N3,000,000 recently, as ‘donations’ for student activities like Annual Faculty Weeks etc. The female students often unintentionally expose themselves to moral impropriety all to raise money while their parents have paid good money and offered many prayers for their studies and think they are at lectures or revision. Instead, they are out begging for ‘stupid’ money.

    Nigeria is dangerous enough for us all but students endanger their lives unnecessarily out of bravado, carelessness, needless travel, speeding and an ‘I will live forever’ attitude. Just last week a group of students overtook my car at high speed on the murderous and mislabelled Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

    Why cannot higher institution students be taught to keep students activities ‘within realistic student budgets’ and not mimic adult budgets and quality and expect money to fall from heaven without any of their own money being involved. In our days in University of Ibadan in the late 60s and early 70s, we as students, funded our own activities with our money. Institutions must actively support student activities more in kind if not in cash and provide venues and infrastructure free as a strategic ‘anti-cultism’ measure to assist good or moral student activities. The patrons of these student bodies fail to advise them to make student budgets realistic and more affordable for the targeted long-suffering donors harassed by numerous unrealistic financial demands. And this happens year in, year out.

    Students should learn, and be taught during induction month, to plan and execute their plans as students, at student level, with student funds. That is why they are students. Instead of using printers, as students, they should write out their placards and posters. We participated and recruited 50 students to write 500 posters in one or two hours, cheaper than using professional printing. Students are students. They should act like students. Students should not act beyond their station and mimic National Assembly members who have millions to spend on trivia like congratulatory and obituary adverts and brochures and buntings.

    Buntings are an adult extravagance that students can design themselves if they have to instead of paying high end costs. Talking of buntings, most venues are fine as they are and do not need buntings. The buntingmania in Nigeria must be curbed. What country’s citizens will be so irresponsible as to cover designer chairs, polished wood panelling, Italian marble, imported artwork and high imposing ceilings with yards of cheap ribbon material crisscrossing the ceiling and obstructing the view of even churches. We cover N1-5000 chairs in N300 rags called chair-covers and cover millions naira walls with N100/yard ribbons of reused material.

    The Lagos-Ibadan road, mislabelled expressway, appears demonised or at least jinxed, as it seems to be getting worse. Will it ever get better? The initially ‘heroic’ efforts of Berger and RCC have petered out as presumable government has failed its own end of the bargain which was not a ‘bargain’ but a lucrative contract. No money, no performance! But it is only in Nigeria that a serving government with billions of naira earned daily would be so callous as to expose millions of its citizens to the easily patchable hazards of the road – deep and wide potholes, narrowing to one lane and lethal road edges. Add to that left hand driving by slow vehicles and uncontrolled speeding particularly by commercial vehicles and you have the deadly mix of road deaths that characterise that road and defy solutions, making contractors and FRSC look like incompetents.

    The police are back on the streets with a vengeance. It seems that police checkpoints are creeping back into several states ‘through the back door’ including Oyo State as Zonal and state commissioners relax the order from the IGP. The police onslaught against tinted windows has been surreptitiously extended to reintroduce ‘wetin you carry ‘. The IGP needs to keep the police service on the straight and narrow. We said ‘No’ to checkpoints and it remains ‘No’. The need for widespread and comforting ‘Police Presence’ is necessary as a deterrent. That need can be fulfilled by static and mobile teams without resorting to checkpoints except in specific crime fighting incidents. The IGP introduced the police to modern police tactics. He should weed out those who are there for retrogression and checkpoint corruption. The harassment of the public, families with small children even on their way to and from church on Sundays and of danfos full of tired passengers by overzealous and unsupervised Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the police should be curbed. Nigerian citizens have rights and FRSC and police harassment is wrong. Of course police and FRSC do some good work but that work is spoilt by these strong-arm, heavy handed roadside roughing up tactics.

  • FRSC increases operation in FCT

    The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has increased its operational locations in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it was learnt.

    Speaking with reporters at the road safety regulatory risk management workshop scheme organized by  Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) at Abuja, FRSC, Assistant Corps Marshal Denis Terrang  said that following the World Bank intervention, the corps has procured 12 ambulances with which it can respond to accident situations  to rescue victims 20 minutes of getting the information.

    He said: “Even last month, the World Bank donated 12 ambulances to the FRSC. And these ambulances are equipped for the best rescue operations.”

    According to him, the FRSC now has roadside clinics which are equipped with paramedics.

    Meanwhile, SPDC Managing Director, Mr. Mutiu Summonu explained that following the growing death and injury rates from road accidents, the oil giant  moved to prune down the occurrences of road accidents with the sensitisation workshop.

    He said: “Statistics from the World Health Organization show that globally, road traffic accidents remain the leading cause of death by injury, the tenth leading cause of all deaths and the ninth leading contributor to the burden of disease.”

    He however vowed that: “With the highest mortality statistics being recorded from in Africa, it is time for all of us to do things differently.”

    Represented by the Manager, Health Safety &Environment, Amadi Amadi, he explained that globally, on yearly basis, about 1.2 million people die from road crashes  while 50 million are injured.

    While expressing worry that the crashes are capable of wiping away some small countries like Netherland that is only about that population, he added that the situation is unacceptable.

    He said “If you look at the statistics world-wide, about 1.2million people die on road accidents.  The total number of injured is in the range of 50million every year.”

    Summonu however said that “ that  is why we are putting this together to build the capacity of those who are saddled with the responsibility to enforce our road safety.”

    The participants at the workshop were representatives of the Nigeria Police Force, Federal Road Service Corps (FRSC),  Nigeria Security Civil Defence Corps (NSDC) and the Vehicle Inspectorate Officers, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).