Kaduna’s ban on FRSC

THE Kaduna State government has ordered a restriction in the activities of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in the state to the highways. By that decision, the agency’s operations in the Kaduna metropolis and within the town have been banned. The ban, which was reportedly sequel to the decision of the state’s Security Council, was instituted to put paid to the avoidable traffic congestion and accidents allegedly caused by the operations of the FRSC in the Kaduna metropolis. The allegation that the FRSC was causing gridlocks and road accidents is a serious indictment on the agency because its raison d’etre is diametrically antithetical to this accusation.

The FRSC was set up to reduce road accidents and remove obstacles on the road that may impede free flow of traffic or cause accidents. Now that the same organisation is being alleged to have constituted a nuisance to motorists and other road users, the exact opposite of its mandate, it is time the agency carried out self-introspection to identify, repair and strengthen the weak links in its chain. The fact that its operations in the city are also being linked to corrupt activities makes the self-examination quite imperative. Extortion of money from motorists by uniformed men, as undesirable as it is, is not a new thing in Nigeria. But the worry is that the FRSC would appear to have lived above board and earned the respect and confidence of Nigerians at some point.

The FRSC national headquarters should not take the allegations against its command in Kaduna lying low. It should not construe the current situation in Kaduna as an isolated case. Other states are most probably replete with similar circumstances, but their governors may not have treated people’s complaints with dispatch, as Governor Nasir el-Rufai did. It must, therefore, investigate the matter so as to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the real motivation for a sub-national government to take such a drastic action against it.

To be sure, the Kaduna State government is not being criticised for its ban on FRSC operations in Kaduna metropolis. Indeed, we commend Governor el-Rufai, not only for listening to the complaints of the people but also for his courage in taking a decisive action on an agency of the Federal Government with which he has a close relationship. And that is the way to go: to always act in the very best interest of the citizenry irrespective of whose ox is gored. Governors in other states of the federation whose citizens are groaning under the excesses of federal agencies in their states are urged to take a cue from el-Rufai, who has demonstrated that they are not helpless after all.

The Kaduna State government was right in its postulation that the FRSC had no business concentrating its operations on street roads when the highways where they were needed most were grossly undermanned. A state like Kaduna, in particular, with one of the most dangerous federal highways in the country linking it from Abuja could not have overlooked the overbearing activities of the FRSC in the city while the highways kept recording frequent fatal accidents. It is rather unsettling that the FRSC whose operations were supposed to be restricted to the highways is now found in many corners of the cities stopping motorists indiscriminately and extorting money from them. The reverence which the organisation enjoyed from motorists and the fear it hitherto inspired in errant drivers on account of its transparency and incorruptibility have since been lost on the altar of its operatives’ quest for inappropriate pecuniary gains and filthy lucre.

It is not clear why the FRSC chose to erect checkpoints ubiquitously in the Kaduna metropolis when it knew that its power was limited to federal roads. Even though the two roads, Nnamdi Azikiwe Expressway (the Western bye-pass) and Ahmadu Bello Road where the agency allegedly created the most serious traffic bottlenecks were federal roads until 2016 when the state’s request for their re-designation as state roads was approved, the FRSC cannot claim or be excused on account of ignorance of the law. And in any case, why should the FRSC constitute itself into a nuisance on any road, whether federal or state? Why should it allow accidents to happen repeatedly at its checkpoints? These are some of the issues the FRSC authorities must look into and resolve promptly if the agency must regain its lost glory.