The act setting up FRSC (Federal road safety commission) was very explicit on their expectations which among other mandates were the prevention or minimizing of accidents on the highway; clearing obstructions on any part of the highways; educating drivers, motorists and other members of the public generally on the proper use of the highways; the standardization of highway traffic codes; giving prompt attention and care to victims of accidents etc.

But a cursory look at some of their most recent obsessions appears to have betrayed these given statutory duties, in its stead, profit-oriented undertakings seems to have become their pastime.

In 2011, FRSC in conjunction with the joint tax board commenced issuance of new number plates which they claimed was geared towards bringing order and sanity in motor vehicle administration scheme. The corps marshal as at that time, chief Osita Chidoka made us believe that the number plates will further enhance security in the country as the plates are portable and tied to individual motorists who are expected to use them for life, but alas this was not the reality on ground as apart from the juxtapositioning of the plate number prefix and suffix, there were no observable improvements in terms of security as instances where registered vehicles were sold with the new number plates abound. And again, one wonders why there was no order and sanity in the now discarded administration of vehicle registration and number plate licensing when the same group of people (FRSC officials) have been paid to render service in an efficient and effective manner.

Need we say that billions of money were raked in from this apparent profitable venture with all the official and ‘unofficial’ parties smiling to the bank at the detriment of hapless motorists. Thanks to Emmanuel Ofoegbu who put up a spirited legal challenge that saw the relaxation of threats to impound vehicles with the old number plates from October 1 2013.

As if to assert his office and prove that what my predecessor can do, I can do better, FRSC under the current helmsman, Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi has thrown up another controversial issue; ‘Speed Limiters’ to, according to him, assist in reducing over speeding and the attendant carnage on our roads. Much as I agree that over speeding plays a major role in most of the accidents on our roads, it leaves much to be desired that FRSC seeks to be the sole provider and regulator of the cost of procurement and fixing of the device.

Now, one may wonder if these speed limiters will also make up for other factors which predispose motorists to accidents on our road, such factors like bad roads with huge craters, poorly constructed roads with high angles of elevation and depression on a supposedly smooth road, drunkenness, unauthorized road blocks at dangerous spots by security agents etc.

If the zeal and passion currently at play in canvassing the merits of the proposed speed limiters are applied in the pursuit of the statutory mandates of the Commission, methinks that the rate of road accidents and the attendant human casualties would have been reduced to the barest minimum.

FRSC should apply itself to the mandates and expectations of their enabling act and desist from embarking on projects that portray them more as revenue generation agencies, it is only by doing this that their men & officers will get more engaged on accident prevention campaigns and play less to the gallery.

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