FRSC vows to enthrone best road use culture in Nigeria

THE Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, has vowed to embark on aggressive enforcement, as well as expedite action on basic solutions that will guarantee the best road use culture in Nigeria.

Oyeyemi spoke while addressing newsmen in Abuja, stressing that with one year left to achieve its set goals as outlined in the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety: 2011-2020, all efforts would be put in place to ensure the realisation of the goals.

He said this would also require collaboration and comprehensive engagement in the operations of such associations as the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN).

He also appealed to the media to support the corps to enable the nation derive the full benefits of road transport in Nigeria.

He disclosed that as part of inter-agency collaboration, the corps, of recent, had been involved in partnership with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) not just to entrench best road use culture but to further enforce the rights of consumers in the road transport sector.

The corps marshal  noted that this collaboration, with all its strategic approaches had triggered a mass reorientation in safety consciousness among drivers and consumers alike, as well as other road users.

He said: “It was interesting going through FCCPC strategic goals which are quite comprehensive and worthwhile for any developing economy because they elevated the consumer as ‘king’; this is one of the cardinal points which the corps had always preached and practice in its products and service delivery over the years, including dedicated customer service apparatus, for which the corps processes and procedures were certified ISO 2009-2015.”

The corps marshal said the certification more or less, compels the corps to be mindful of its status in quality service delivery and the need to sustain achieved heights.

He said one of the key areas FRSC and FCCPC could cooperate and from which the nation could benefit was in the aspect of vehicle insurance regime which had become a major issue in road transport in Nigeria, particularly compensation in event of mishaps, due, significantly, to the ignorance of insurance consumers.

Oyeyemi said: “Just as vehicle operators appear ignorant of some of their responsibilities, so do many other road users, particularly passengers in vehicles engaged in mishaps leading to trauma or other forms of loss.

“Our approach will, therefore, be predicated on the tripod: products, trends and patterns.

“Furthermore, our engagements will be systematic and orchestrated to inculcate road safety consciousness and the responsibility of road users as well as motorists such that each knows and responds to their different statutory commitments.

“It will also engender the ease of doing business generally, with the corps relative to several FRSC safety enhancing programmes such as the Driving School Standardisation Programme (DSSP), Road Transport Safety Standardisation Scheme (RTSSS), procurement of the national driver’s licence, vehicle number plates, road signs, among others,” he said.