Last Friday(September 18th), I was opportune to witness the Ogere Unit of the Federal Road safety Commission (FRSC) on duty.
“Courtesy culture”, which the Commission was known for during Dr. Olu Agunloye’s leadership, was witnessed once again. The marshals waved down vehicles, including ours. A smiling female marshal, who attended to us, first of all, addressed the driver thus: “Hello sir. How was your journey? We are doing free vehicle check to make sure you are safe…” I had not witnessed such for decades.
She went round the vehicle, inspected tyres, confirmed fire extinguisher and C-Caution; and while she perused the vehicle documents, a young Marshal, who should be in his early 30s, clutching a tablet onto his chest, requested to see the driver’s license.
Also very polite, he said, “Can I see your driving license, please?” not “your vehicle particulars!!” as is common with many of our gun-carrying police. The young man entered the license details into his tablet and, in less than two minutes, nodded and said, “That’s fine, thank you”, handing back the license to the owner. I was so impressed that I identified myself and commended them for doing a good job.
Since then, a question likened to the one sent from the Biblical John The Baptist to Jesus Christ has continuously rung in my head: “Art thou the one to come or shall we look for another?” In other words, is the FRSC that Nigerians have yawned for since departure of the founders now hear or shall we still keep waiting? Is what I witnessed at Ogere accidental or a sign of wind of change blowing across our beloved commission?
Whatever the case may be, I like to remind the Corps Marshal, Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi that the Ogere scene described above represents the kind of FRSC that Nigerians like at all times. I’m sure he knows what I mean, because he witnessed the foundation laying ceremony of the commission decades ago. So he knows the founding culture, which got contaminated over the years. For instance, he knows it is oddly for a Marshal to collect from commercial drivers Naira notes folded and hidden inside Passenger manifest, as it has been the practice in recent months and years.
But then, I have a couple of times witnessed marshals’ helplessness, when certain lawless motorists would daringly veer off the road and simply speed on after being waved at to stop. Such motorists would rather damage their vehicles’ suspension by speeding through multiple potted roads, rather than obey the law. Such ugly scenes need to stop. Asking Marshals to chase such offenders is not an option, as it could lead to accidents and loss of lives, which the commission is out to prevent.
So what do we do? I have a recommendation. First, mounting check points at locations where roads are very bad is not sustainable, as we all hope that sometime in near future; good governance shall make sure pot holes disappear from our roads. In preparation for such good times, the commission needs to start devising other means of stopping vehicles. I suggest procurement of mobile traffic lights to stop motorists and screen traffic information board to alert them from reasonable distance before they reach Marshals’ checking points. It could read: “SLOW DOWN, FRSC CHECK POINT xyz METRES AHEAD”.
Since certain lawless motorists would still refuse to stop, acquire mobile speed cameras mounted on vehicles, purposely to capture culprits’ number plates, so that owners of offending vehicles could later be sent letters for fine or prosecution. When several vehicles are stopped, let a marshal with red flag indicate, which vehicle should keep moving and which one should pull up. And introducing these Mobile traffic lights, screen warning message device and camera mounted vans should be complemented with public enlightenment so that motorists, especially commercial transporters, would understand that over-speeding or refusing to stop at FRSC checking points would result in unavoidable fine or prosecution. Speed Limiting device is not what I subscribe to, as its disadvantages could outweigh its benefits. My recommendation, as the Corps marshal would be aware, have been successfully used in advanced nations, United Kingdom for instance.
Aside the above, fully instituting the practice I witnessed at Ogere last Friday(if it has not been) back into the FRSC operation culture, would go a long way at getting back the high regard and respect that the Commission had under the leadership of its founding Chairman, Nobel Laurel, Professor Wole Soyinka and Chief Executive, Dr. Olu Agunloye.
