In furtherance of the global best practices in traffic signs and signals and in the spirit of the recent capacity building workshop organized for relevant stakeholders in traffic management under the auspices of the United Nations, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) is set to harmonize the offence codes of the State Traffic Management Agencies.
This was one of the outcomes of the interactive session held between the FRSC Management and heads of the State Traffic Management Agencies held at the FRSC National Headquarters, Abuja.
In his presentation at the meeting, the Corps Marshal of the FRSC, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi reviewed the operations of the FRSC in the last three quarters of the year with the conclusion that though very challenging, the outgoing year presented another opportunity for harmonized efforts with relevant stakeholders to tackle the menace of road traffic crashes in the country. He called for sustained collaboration in the campaign against road carnage in the country, saying no single organization can tackle the challenges of effective traffic management in the country alone.
The Corps Marshal expressed satisfaction with the enthusiasm shown by some state governments in setting up their state traffic management agencies through passage of relevant laws at the State Houses of Assembly. He noted that so far, 18 states in the federation have fully established their state traffic management agencies and urged those that were yet to set up theirs or in the process of doing it to hasten up in the spirit of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety: 2011-2020 which made road safety management the first pillar.
Towards presenting a unified traffic status for the country, the Corps Marshal canvassed the idea of the States aligning their offence codes with that of the FRSC. This he said would give an indication of the actual offenders and offences being committed in the states and allow for maximum utilisation of the national database on offenders and offences being committed in the country. The Corps Marshal further disclosed that FRSC is willing to share ideas and knowledge on traffic management with the states, saying its Academy and training school are prepared to provide relevant training to states that indicate interest.
He enjoined the heads of the state traffic management agencies to continue to develop the capacity of their personnel towards meeting the traffic challenges of their states. Oyeyemi further reiterated that FRSC is not in competition with the state traffic management agencies but a partner and facilitator to the realisation of Nigeria’s national road safety objectives as the lead agency for road safety management and traffic administration of the country.
According to him, it’s in furtherance of the shared nature of road safety campaign that FRSC initiated the process of working with relevant stakeholders in traffic management including the states towards ensuring effective traffic management for the country. The efforts, he said led to the Nigeria Road Safety Strategy Document which was approved by the Federal Government with specified roles for all tiers of government
He assured that in his commitment to achieving greater collaboration with the state agencies, more interactive sessions on how to tackle the traffic challenges of the country would be organised next year.
The heads of the state traffic management agencies, who in their separate remarks commended the Corps Marshal for his leadership role in supporting the establishment of the state agencies and harmonising their relationship through interactive sessions, workshops and conferences assured that they would continue to do their best in tacking the issues of traffic management in their states by working harmoniously with the FRSC sector commanders to ensure smooth operations devoid of friction.
