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FRSC: The Hard Road Ahead By Chigozie Chikere
On December 9th, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) bagged the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for the year 2008. A statement by the Prince said this year’s award was conferred on the FRSC in recognition of its remarkable achievements in raising political awareness and support for road safety, in addition to its leadership role in the formation of the West African Road Safety Organisation (WARSO) and in re-awakening road safety consciousness in the African sub-region as President of the African group of the International Road Safety Organisation. In the same statement, Prince Michael of Kent, who is the Patron of the Global Road Safety Commission, described the FRSC as a leading Commonwealth Agency in road safety. On the award, the Prince described this year’s edition as remarkable because the FRSC is the first government agency to receive it in Africa since it was instituted twenty one years ago in Britain.
Perhaps this moment came as much through perspiration as through dedication. The FRSC’s effort in showing the essential leadership needed to achieve the desired co-operation at many levels- from government to civil society and at local levels is monumental. From the last lap of 2007 through the first quarter of 2008, the Commission spent valuable time trying to douse the fiery missiles of opposition parties within its ranks. Evidently the bone of contention was the leadership and the aim of the dissident group was to set the house in disarray as their own way of getting even with the Presidency. To the opposition, the appointment of Mr. Osita Chidoka eighteen (18) months ago as the Corps Marshal and Chief Executive (COMACE) of the FRSC seemed completely arbitrary.
The second quarter of 2008 posed yet another serious challenge to the Commission. The seemingly endless chain of Tanker fires and its attendant death toll was a cause for serious concern for the FRSC as detractors and critics cashed in on the situation and assailed the Commission and its leadership from all sides. As usual the Tanker fires were caused by rough driving, bad roads, and the use of old and substandard tankers for haulage of hazardous goods. In response, the Commission engaged in a reprisal attack to save the situation. This took the form of seminars, consultations and other time- tested initiatives and rapid response approaches.
The third quarter of the year found the Commission tackling yet another sensitive issue of road safety- the standardization of commercial motorcycling. Although successive administrations have made in-roads in this issue but the Officers and Marshals, this time, confronted the issue with renewed vigour and vim and conducted a Nationwide Campaign in the cities where this business thrives. The Corp Marshal’s final word was that by January1 2009, all Motorcyclists in Nigeria are to procure and use FRSC approved Crash Helmets and other Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
From the beginning of the last quarter of 2008, the FRSC, having rolled out its armour once again for the usual Ember Months Campaign, are determined till date to fulfill their commission to ensure an accident-free season. Knowing too well that much depends on the Motorist than on the Marshal, the Campaign as usual assumed a nationwide dimension to sensitise Motorists on the need for caution and safety consciousness during this season. The Campaign attracted many blessings from State Governors as they made generous donations of vehicles and some other enablement to assist the Commission in its noble goal of saving the lives of road users. In the face of all these, the FRSC managed each situation with dignity, tact, professionalism, and ruthlessness where applicable.
When it comes to some operational policies of the FRSC it is hardly surprising that Transport Analysts have some reservation. The FRSC’s consultative approach to traffic offences and offenders is dangerous. So is their delay in addressing and taking a firm stand on the issue of Military Personnel and other uniformed officials who ignore traffic rules and even harass FRSC Marshals. But Analysts recognize that the FRSC’s positions have evolved as successive administrations headed by ex-servicemen try to play down the standards in order to favour their uniformed colleagues. Perhaps, Officers and Marshals, subordinate to the leadership, had no option than to replace firmness with mere consultation as their response to the bandwagon effect. And policies are by no means the whole story of FRSC’s existence: Character and Leadership matter greatly too. The FRSC is an impressive organization with the potential to be a model.
But the road to the future is still a hard one. Even though the Global Road Safety Commission recognizes the high level political awareness and support for road safety in Nigeria that FRSC has mobilized, and how it has resulted to increased safety consciousness among all categories of road users in the country, this political awareness is yet to translate into positive action on the part of the government. According to a report written in 2003 by the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), about 50 percent of the federal road network is bad in the real sense of the word, and only 5 percent could pass for roads in very good structural state. Five years after, the Transportation Minister, Mrs. Diezanni Allison Madueke, revealed recently that a lot of the federal government’s over 34,000 kilometers of roads are still in deplorable condition. So poor is the state of Federal roads that recently, the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Association had to issue a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government demanding for a quick resolution of the issue. According to this organization, this poor road situation is responsible for the loss of lives through fatal accidents. In the same vein, a report by the FRSC for 2007 confirms that about 5000 Nigerians lost their lives to road traffic accidents across the Federation in 2007 while about 7,824 persons suffered injuries of various dimensions, including disabilities resulting from a total of 3,624 road traffic accidents recorded in the year. This is discouraging especially for a country that claims to be occupying a place in the comity of nations.
At a time when serious-minded governments are subscribing to world class innovative combinations of transport technologies, ours is still dragging its feet centuries behind. Many Nigerians, including a dangerously large number of elites, still have their doubts about the government’s preparedness to give FRSC the much needed support in the area of road infrastructure development.
From the moment the award was conferred on FRSC in London, the Commission and its leadership proved to Nigerians and the world that they can allay the fears of Nigerians on road safety matters. There is not much the Commission can do about decay of road infrastructure and the resulting high casualty rate, though it can mitigate the latter somewhat with proper legislation, astuteness, commitment and sacrifice. And it is a bit late now for a principled stand against uniformed men who violate traffic rules and despise the FRSC and the Nation. The FRSC could certainly let off steam by taking the lead in a round-table discussion with stakeholders in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, Customs, Immigration, Prisons, Civil Defense and other uniformed organizations about how they can help their men realize that obduracy and crass philistinism are hallmarks of mental bereavement.
Mr. Osita Chidoka should use the first quarter of 2009 to show that he is still sensitive to the pains of many Nigerian families who have at one time or the other lost a loved one to reckless driving and motorcycling. He should ensure, as he has always done, that the legislation on drink-driving, and the January 1 deadline for Motorcyclists’ Personal Protective Equipment bear the stamp of authority.
That could help prove to skeptics and detractors who after acknowledging FRSC’s moment of international glory are still raw. If the FRSC does not get the much needed real support from the government, the road transport stakeholders, the Military and Para-military organisations, and the general public, their remarkable achievement on the international scene will not be sustained.
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