FRSC @27: So far, so… (l)

Drum beats also sounded  although in very low tones. But wait a minute, why are we even celebrating? Do we really have any reason to? Have we really fared better? What score would you give us? Please do send your response to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>; or [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>;. Midwifed in February 18, 1988 the Commission means […]

Drum beats also sounded  although in very low tones. But wait a minute, why are we even celebrating? Do we really have any reason to? Have we really fared better? What score would you give us? Please do send your response to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>; or [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>;.
Midwifed in February 18, 1988 the Commission means different things to different people especially critics who believe the Corps has underperformed or has missed its calling. To such critics, FRSC should be disbanded, scrapped or even merged, but to the World Bank, the   FRSC is the best lead agency in Africa, resulting in  a World Bank-funded Safe Corridor project  that has delivered a country capacity review, acquisition of state-of-the-art  patrol vehicles,  bikes,  single carriage ambulances and capacity building programme. This has taken road safety from a rule of the thumb road traffic control organization to a modern road safety administration that encompasses safety engineering, road safety audit, data driven road safety education, scientific accident investigation which report are on the FRSC website; to a structured vehicle data base arising from the new number plate and a biometric-based driver’s licence,  which the Italian Police, in a letter to FRSC, acknowledged as being of a higher standard than most European countries’ driver’s licence. The FRSC is today the first enforcement agency in Africa to be ISO 9001-2008 certified, while the number of deaths arising from crashes in Nigeria has consistently gone down from 25,792 crashes, with 9,077 deaths in 1988 to 10,257 crashes, with 5,808 deaths in 2014.  
 To President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the FRSC is an example of a transformed agency whose feats had won accolades not just within Africa but also across the globe. This perhaps explains why the FRSC today has at the driver’s seat, Boboye Oyeyemi, as the first Corps Marshal to be appointed from within the system by the President who while announcing his appointment, thumbed up the Commission for coming of age. To our law makers, the Commission is a model of an agency that is a leader in technology driven innovations and a pride in its commitment to transparency as the FRSC ranks top among agencies that are diligent in paying all revenue into the federation account without any promptings.
Within 27 years,  the FRSC has grown in all segment of the organization, namely: staff strength  made of mostly of youth Corps members at inception, rose to 12,000 in 2007 and is   about 20,000 today; absence of internet facilities which has changed to 369 V-Sat installed in all Commands, turning it into one of the largest Wide Area Network (WAN) in the public sector. Data collection that used to be an annual ritual has turned into a daily activity using the technology platform developed; the number of ambulances available to FRSC for rescue activities has grown from about  to about 64 , out of which a carefully orchestrated plan to deploy them at about 28 kilometers on critical highways, code-named Zebra, has commenced.
As at today, road safety studies have been incorporated by the National Council for Education and approved by Federal Executive Council (FEC), with primary and secondary school pupils and students respectively availed of an educational strategy that would lead to a culture change in the future.  The absence of regulatory framework for many facets of the road safety sector has been addressed by the introduction of standard school bus adopted by the National Council for Education; introduction of a driving school certification that has led to the certification of over 394 schools, creating employment for instructors and currently has about 48,000 students in driving schools around the country; a national call center, with a toll-free number 122, has been instrumental in our rescue efforts
Patrol vehicles, the main tools of operation in FRSC, has grown to over 454.  In conjunction with the FERMA, FRSC has set up about 18 road side clinics, which has received and treated over 5,725 crash victims, in addition to over 8 589 medical cases involving concerned road users and neighboring communities.
The Road Transport Safety Standardization Scheme, which is designed to regulate the activities of fleet owners and leading to certification and grading of fleet owners in Nigeria has remained a reference point in Africa. Meanwhile, Nigeria is President of West African Road Safety Organization, which has adopted Nigeria Driver’s Licence and Vehicle registration standards. And by June 1, 2015, enforcement on speed limiting device will commence with the hope of cutting down crashes and fatalities by 30percent in line with the corporate strategic goals of 2015.
All these and more has earned the FRSC the Prince Michael of Kent award, the 2012 Best Government Agency Award by ‘Leadership’ and ‘The Sun’ newspapers in addition to ‘This Day’ Newspaper, which in their Editorial of 25th February, 2013, on the FRSC 25th anniversary, with the headline “The Federal Road Safety Commission’s Bold Initiative Is Paying Off”. The FRSC model is being courted by Sierra Leone, which is seeking technical support from the FRSC to set up its own lead agency in traffic management.   
There are, however, critics who tongue lash us on revenue generation. These critics often go wide off mark as the FRSC has no incentive to collect fines that end in the Federation Accounts.