Wrongful use of siren is madness –FRSC boss

Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi

A pioneer member and the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi, tells BAYO AKINLOYE in this interview that the indiscriminate use of siren by some important personalities is a display of madness and that the agency is prepared to reduce road crashes, especially during the Yuletide 

Tell us about your being the last man standing out of the original seven persons who started the Federal Road Safety Corps. Who are the original seven?

We have Prof. Wole Soyinka, Dr. Olu Agunloye, late Major Alenuwa (retd.), Ade Coker, he’s late now, and my colleague –Adeyemi Omidiji –who retired from the corps on November 13, Efodie and myself. As it is right now, I am the last man standing among the original seven. After the inauguration of the team, the activities of the corps started in Ibadan under a tree; that was where we would park our vehicles –after we retrieved the vehicles from the Ministry of Works. We had no office back then. Dr. Agunloye at that time was using his private office to carry out technical works while the others were working from under a tree –where we wrote all the reports at the federal and state secretariat in Ibadan then. Thereafter, in 1989, the annexe headquarters was moved to Lagos State. I was the first zonal commanding officer for zonal RS 4 at Moniya. Zonal RS 1 was in Kaduna then. Subsequently, we had zonal offices like RS 1 in Abuja, RS 2 in Benin, RS 3 in Kaduna, RS 4 in Moniya (Ibadan), Lagos, RS 5 in Aba; and a year later, we had RS 6 in Bauchi. That was the start of the Federal Road Safety Corps metamorphosis.

Today, we have about 12 zonal structures but again when you see a structure like that, it is like an Iroko tree that you planted and today, we are talking about the workforce of about 20,000. We have 250 command formations as well as 132 driver’s licence workstations, three production plants, national headquarters, 26 ambulance points and 24 roadside clinics all over the country. The system has really grown in size over the years and the government’s support too has also been encouraging. This is a lead agency; even when the government set up FRSC, it was not known then that there would be the UN decade of action for road safety and that United Nations would ask member states to set up a lead agency. So that shows the foresight of the Nigerian government in setting up an agency that meets the demands of the international community; the corps was voluntarily set up.

To what extent has the mandate been achieved?

I will say we have been able to create some awareness; even though we need to still do more in terms of advocacy, enforcement and education. But the focus now is more on enforcement –because education minus enforcement is entertainment. We need to impose penalties to serve as deterrent to other road users; when we impose penalties, people take more precautions. A question was asked about the fines, whether the fines are adequate. I think these fines should be increased so that people will be more careful while on the road in order not to use their salary or pension to pay fines all the time. And we have been able to get commitment from critical stakeholders like Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners, Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, National Union of Road Transport Workers and Association of Local Governments of Nigeria of their cooperation for end-of-the-year patrol operations. Therefore, we believe we are on course –we just need more support from the government and other stakeholders so that we can drive the crusade properly.

What are the FRSC’s basic challenges?

In Nigeria, there are 200, 004 kilometres of road networks. It is difficult to cover this large size of road networks with the logistics on ground now. And the FRSC is not the only organisation of the government –there are other contending issues. We still need improvement in funding but we are aware of the prevailing situation with the government. Besides, the government has given the commitment to give us more support next year, which is commendable. Even at the state and international levels, a certain measure of support has been forthcoming. For instance, through the ministry of works, we have been able to draw from the World Bank facility and that has enhanced our operations. Now we have heavy duty trucks that can tow and remove vehicles and these are strategically positioned all over the country. We also have patrol bikes from the World Bank, advanced life-support ambulances, alcolizers, radar guns; and again, the World Bank has invested in capacity building –we just had a six-month training sponsored by the bank. Our academy has just trained 100 personnel on the first responder certification course at the National Trauma Centre. The World Bank has designated FRSC as the best lead example of a lead agency in Africa. Therefore, I think we have put in so much to get that international support and with that we believe we can still get more support as time goes on. However, we need to sustain and improve on the present level; we want to reduce the crashes and ensure that all our programmes are fully implemented.

Where do you think the FRSC is lagging behind?

It is in the implementation of some of the key international policies. For example, in Africa, only Kenya –for the world remembrance day for road crashes victims –was mentioned in the global report that has taken appropriate action but other countries have not done that which means Nigeria has not got to that level. Nigeria could not have been mentioned because we have not been seen to be doing anything on controlling the speed which is critical to the reduction of road traffic crashes. But now that the government has endorsed the policy on speed-limiting devices and the approval by the governing council of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, I think we are on course. And from what we have seen, the stakeholders have endorsed June 1, 2015 for the enforcement of the certification. Therefore we believe if we can get all the commercial vehicles categories, to have the speed-limiting devices fitted or calibrated or programmed in the vehicles, you can imagine what will happen –that means we will be able to checkmate over-speeding. And mind you, the speed limit on the expressway is different from what we have on a dual carriageway and it is different from what we have on single lanes. It is all stated in the Highway Code. Even though today most of our expressways have failed the minimum test standard to be called expressways, I can see the efforts being made by the federal ministry of works to correct the anomalies.

What’s your take on the use of siren?

I think the wrongful use of siren is madness. To me, using siren when there is no traffic is an abuse of privileges that an individual enjoys. Siren is not to be used to disturb the peace of the environment. It can be used in the case of an emergency to call attention for the right of way. But when people turn it into a status symbol, I think it is an abuse of privilege. It is not correct. You wonder why people –at 10pm and 11pm when the road is free –still use the siren at those awkward times. However, when you have VIP movement, a siren is needed to clear the road –and we know those who are entitled to this. But here, I am talking about those who are not entitled to this privilege. Many people today using siren are not entitled to use it. It is wrong to abuse that privilege. We are working hard to address the issue; we are talking to the appropriate government representatives and we hope to get support on this. It is the principals who will advise their personnel on the use of siren.

How are you dealing with the issue of corruption in the corps?

We are trying our best; improved welfare scheme has been introduced. But be that as it may, anyone caught in any act of corruption will be properly dealt with. The FRSC does not have time for corrupt practices. One thing the corps has always been reiterating is that no personnel –no senior management staff –has ever directed any patrol team to bring returns to the office. It is not a norm in the FRSC. Anybody caught will be disciplined; we have our rules. We also do surveillance activities and anyone caught in any corrupt practice will be adequately dealt with.

How does the corps intend to tackle the perennial road crashes at this time of the year?

Last year, I was the one in charge. This year again I’ve found myself at the higher level. We have discussed this with the field commanding officers –the zonal commanding officers and we have put our house in order. I want to assure Nigerians that we are putting in our best this year so that we can improve on the level of last year’s performance. We will ensure all road obstructions are properly removed and the issue of overloading will be adequately dealt with –enforcement will be strict. We will also ensure that there is strict compliance on the use of seat-belt. We are prepared to save more lives this year than last year. And we have more logistics this year than last year which we are going to deploy. We also have personnel for critical locations. We will put in our best –we are ready to save more lives this year than last year and then, at the end of the day all Nigerians will appreciate all we have put down on ground to ensure a hitch-free Yuletide celebration.

What about those driving under the influence of alcohol and other illegal substances?

The corps is taking delivery of what we call evidence-based alcolizers (radar guns, cones – the Federal Government has just given us 5,000 cones). We have adequate logistics than last year. Right now we are laying emphasis on getting those caught drunk driving prosecuted not just being fined.

What will you say are the three major causes of road crashes in Nigeria?

As the corps has identified, first is speeding, then you have wrongful overtaking and the use of phone while driving. When people use the phone while driving and they see any corps personnel they stop, but they continue using the phone once they are out of view of the FRSC officer. We will continue with the advocacy because we have seen this practice of using phone while driving has caused a number of crashes –because loss of control too, sometimes can be as a result of use of phones while driving. It is a big problem.

Apart from the Federal Government and international agencies, is the FRSC seeking any intervention from the private sector?

We have been getting support from the multinationals like Shell, Mobil and the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas from Bonny. They have assisted us with extricating machines for rescue operations. Then Shell and their partners, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, have given us radar guns. Also last year, Shell set up a community rescue training programme –where they trained communities on the major highways. These communities are usually the first responders to handle the victims before the arrival of the FRSC or Nigeria Police. If the victims are badly handled by the first responder, they can be confined to wheelchairs for the rest of their lives. In this area, we have seen a lot of improvement. Shell is taking the training to the next phase and we commend them for their support. LNG too is providing us with some metro-counters and radar guns. All these are additions to what the World Bank has provided. Then, Mobil too is giving us some support. We also have a joint campaign with Nigerian Breweries which is strictly focused on drunk driving for the next 12 months and this is the seventh edition. Nevertheless, we still need more support from private corporate organisations. PUNCH is also giving support in terms of advocacy, letting people see our efforts – helping us to checkmate overloading.

What effort is your organisation making to ensure there is quick response to any emergency situation on the highway?

All our patrol vans have a closed user telephone line that is toll-free. The line is 122; if you see a crash, just dial 122 –the nearest patrol team will be at the scene of the crash –and, that’s a critical thing. The second one is that Nigerians also need to give us a helping hand; when they see a broken down vehicle or a crash; they should be able to call us. We also need the support of the media to publicise this toll-free line, 122. We want to sustain the World Health Organisation standard of responding to any incident on the highway within 15 minutes.

How is the FRSC dealing with the notoriety at motor parks where drivers abuse substances before embarking on trips?

Motor parks are under local governments –they control the parks. Several times, we have had official discussions with local governments. There was a time we used the platform of ALGON to reach drivers at parks and we were able to get commitment. Sometimes we achieve this commitment but once there is a change of guard, it becomes a big battle. As at today, there are 216 illegal trailers, tankers, motor parks. The official ones, efforts to sanitise them are not usually sustained by the local governments. We cannot be there. We can only continue with the advocacy. It is not surprising when needless crashes happen because some of these drivers drive under the influence of hard drugs, alcohol and other dangerous substances. These are some of the things we are striving to contain in our end of the year patrol. As the drivers are loading passengers, we test them before they leave the motor parks. The NURTW has given us the needed support this year.

Is there any special attention the corps is giving to the Lokoja-Abuja road, notorious for frequent ghastly accidents?

The road is almost completed; what we are battling with on that road now is the issue of speed violation because it is a well constructed road. We need to calm drivers down. We are not talking of bad roads again. The road is one of the corridors that is presently giving us headache in terms of road crashes –drivers want to fly with their vehicles and you know what that can result into. But we are working on this (that is where we are using the radar guns). We do not need to pursue these drivers. They will definitely slow down at various checkpoints and that is where we will apprehend them.

What other measures are you putting in place to penalise errant drivers?

We are activating the penalty point system soon. With the biometric data of a driver’s licence one cannot get two licences. If one’s licence is confiscated after accumulating some certain level of points, one cannot get another licence. On speed-limiting devices, which will come into enforcement by June 1 next year, we have already got all stakeholders to sign a Memorandum of Understanding. We will commence the enforcement and certification of these devices next year. People need to install speed governors. It is noteworthy that this year, up to the end of the fourth quarter, 50.8 per cent of road crashes are speed-related. Phase one of the speed-limiting devices will focus on commercial vehicles including trailers, tankers and similar vehicles. We will continue to do advocacy – enlighten and educate the public on road safety.

What message do you have for drivers and the public in general?

I am appealing to Nigerians to drive to save a life and a life saved today may be yours tomorrow and they should support us in a worthy course like this. They should remember life has no replacement. With the Yuletide period around the corner, they should check the tyres of their vehicles properly; we’re moving toward the dry season; the temperature is increasing. They should check the lifespan (expiry date) of the tyres. We are entering a period when tyres are likely to experience blow-out because of heat. Drivers should ensure tyres are not over-inflated or under-inflated. They should also ensure the vehicles are in good condition. They should not use their phones while driving; they should always fasten their seat-belt at all times while driving and ensure that their vehicles are not overloaded. They should not attempt to make wrongful overtaking. They should not use phone while driving.