IN blatant disregard of public disapproval, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has been forging ahead with the introduction of new number plates and driver’s licence. To make matters worse, the cost of the new number plates is prohibitive while the procurement process is circuitous and time-wasting. The FRSC in recent years has conveyed the impression that it no longer gives a hoot about how it is being perceived by the people it exists to serve. The organisation has become a far cry from what it used to be. There is a glaring evidence of a complete loss of focus. An official of the Corps, Dr Kayode Olagunju, was reported to have said on Thursday August 15 this year that vehicles without the new number plates would be impounded at the expiration of the October 1, 2013 deadline. The only saving grace will be the intervention of the Federal Government which, Olagunju said, could give the instruction for an extension of the deadline. Should the Federal Government choose to look the other way, the FRSC will begin to hound vehicles off the roads from the first day of October. So far, there has been no tenable justification for introducing new number plates and driver’s licence. Olagunju said the use of the old number plates and driver’s licence was partly responsible for the high rate of road traffic offences. He, however, did not say how. Is it the number plate or driver’s licence that has been responsible for indiscipline on the highway or the compromised road safety officials? Olagunju also said the old number plates and driver’s licence had made it difficult to track down traffic offenders. Is it the inability to track down offenders that is responsible for the high rate of fatalities on the highway or the failure of the road safety officials to enforce speed limits and perform other vital functions effectively? The argument that the new number plate is attached to the vehicle owner is equally unconvincing, as this will serve more in crime detection than in accident prevention. Has the FRSC been having difficulties tracking down traffic offenders who, most of the time, have ended up as accident victims on hospital beds? When the project was first brought to the public domain, the management of the FRSC, in what has turned out to be a Freudian slip, placed particular emphasis on the billions of naira the project would yield. The response of the Nigerian public to it was negative and the condemnation was countrywide. In its opposition to it, the National Assembly sounded like a dependable institution that was determined to defend the people’s interest. But the same National Assembly has become a passive onlooker as the FRSC metamorphoses from an accident prevention to a revenue-generating agency. It is regrettable that an organisation that was established to make the highway safe for motorists and other road users, enforce speed limits, ensure discipline on the roads, educate road users, minimise accidents, design and produce number plates and driver’s licence, among others, has transformed itself into a money spinner. In its efforts to generate income, the FRSC now sets revenue targets for its field officers. Personnel that should be on the highways are, at times, found lying in wait at obscure street corners for motorists who may not use their seat belts. It is no longer a hidden fact that corruption has crept into and become an integral part of the organisation’s modus operandi. The FRSC now sees its assigned function to design and produce number plates and driver’’s licence as an opportunity to shift focus from the primary and sacred duty of saving lives to the self-serving pursuit of filthy lucre. It is a matter for deep regret that those in position to call it to order have been looking on as if nothing is amiss. The objective of the government in establishing the FRSC was to drastically reduce the bloodbath on Nigerian roads. Now, FRSC officials are more active in the evacuation of accident victims than they are in the prevention of accidents. When Professor Wole Soyinka was chairman and Dr Olu Agunloye was the Corps Marshall, the organisation gave a good account of itself as a quintessence of discipline and effectiveness. Today, the story is totally different. The commonest road safety slogan is “speed kills”. Most of the accidents on Nigerian roads are caused by speeding which the FRSC has failed to tackle. Its present leadership has altered its raison d’etre. Everything about its existence is now about money and this is to the detriment of the people it was created to serve. Nigeria has a road safety organisation, yet accident rate in the country is the second highest in the world. A new number plate and driver’s licence cannot bring about a noticeable reduction in the carnage on the highway. It is a disciplined FRSC under a well-focused leadership than can achieve this objective.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Sep 2013 02:21:17 +0000
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