Kenya, Ghana, others use speed limiters — FRSC

the Federal Road Safety Corps has come a long way under your stewardship, but many Nigerians think you have not paid sufficient attention to drivers in public office with some of them driving without valid driver’s licence and some having visual impairment. Are you afraid of taking on the establishment?

We have been training such drivers for the past two years. We organised convoy trainings for state government drivers and so far, we have trained 700 drivers in 22 states. We were waiting for federal political appointments; it’s just unfortunate that the crash (involving the Minister of Labour, James Ocholi) occurred.

We had received approval from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation for government drivers to be trained and we are currently working on the modalities. We are going to do it in batches immediately after the Easter holidays. It’s not that we are afraid, but it is a process. It’s my responsibility to get the convoy drivers properly trained as well as the government drivers. I agree that some of them are not properly licensed. It’s my own responsibility to inform the government; which we have done. When you stop them, because they are driving government vehicles, they only show their identity cards, but we are correcting this.

Will you push for the FRSC to recruit government drivers?

That is not our responsibility, but the ultimate, what would be our far-reaching recommendation later on, is for us to provide the pilot drivers for all political appointees that are entitled to use sirens. That would be in the long term. That means we need to engage more personnel; we are already working on this process for 2016. The data we receive, as per the number of political appointees and those who are entitled, would determine what we can do.

Some of the factors that contribute to road crashes include speeding, vehicle condition and state of the road, among others. Is it true that the FRSC is focusing on the speed aspect because it wants to market speed limiters?

That is not correct. Recently, we have engaged all the stakeholders; we have our 27 critical stakeholders and it’s a success story today. If you look at the commendation last year from the National Association of Road Transport Owners, the National Union of Road Transport Workers, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers, the Petroleum Tankers Drivers and the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, they really commended the corps for engaging them in all activities. In all the different operations we have carried out, including “Operation Scorpion, Operation Rainbow,” we have never seen any protest from any of the union leaders or their members about high-handedness because we engaged them before we commenced.

When we started “Operation Scorpion,” in September 2015 to curb  the lawlessness of tanker drivers, we arrested over 3,000 drivers and impounded  same number of vehicles over a period of five months; nobody, no driver blocked the road. Secondly, we have trained all the tanker drivers, we are in the process of commencing that of the trailer drivers. We have good rapport with all the stakeholders.

Data shows that speed accounts for 50.8 per cent as the principal cause of crashes. When you want to plan, it is the data before you that you use for planning, and if the data shows this over a period of 2013, 2014, 2015, then for goodness’ sake, I think you should address that.  Of the three factors responsible for crashes – the driver, the road and the environment; the driver accounts for 82 per cent. If a driver complies with the maximum prescribed speed limit, you would agree with me that there won’t be severe crashes; and the degree of injury, would be minimal. Secondly, there would be minimal damage to the vehicle, and even if there was a tyre blowout, he (the driver) would be able to control the vehicle. If the driver complies with the prescribed speed limit, fastens his seatbelt, does not make calls or text while driving but concentrates on the road, he would get to his destination safely. The essence of speed limiters is to address the prevailing issue. I have a commitment to making our roads much safer.

 A lawmaker, Philip Shuaibu, alleged that the speed limiter you are introducing is obsolete technology. How do you respond to that?

I don’t want to comment on the issue. The House of Representatives debated this motion and we are partnering with them. Speed limiting devices are not outdated, you can go on the Internet and find out. I have facts on 35 countries today where it (speed limiter) is a success story and because of the global concerns, other countries are keying into it. Kenya is a success story; Ghana is already preparing to introduce it, while it’s going on in other countries. The speed limiter and the spider technology they are talking about are two different issues. The spider technology is more of radar guns; you install the equipment in a vehicle to determine the speed, you install cameras on the highways to detect vehicle’s speed and you flag down the drivers who violate the speed limit. We are talking about installing a device in the vehicle to restrict the vehicle speed. These are two different things. The spider technology monitors the speed of a vehicle, the speed limiting device restrains a vehicle’s speed. These are two different things.

The contractor was asking that we should install the spider technology in our patrol cars and from the fines offenders pay to government, he would get 70 per cent and that I should approach the Central Bank of Nigeria and get a waiver to open a buffer account, I cannot do that. It is not workable and this is the major problem we are having with all these consultants. Fines generated by the corps go to the consolidated revenue fund. The FRSC does not appropriate fines; we don’t touch it. The money goes straight to the government. It is an impossible task, unless it is in the budgetary provision. But for me to do this, we are talking of five years, he would be getting 70 per cent and government 30 per cent of the entire fines. This is not realistic. I think the contractor must have misled some members of the House of Representatives. We are talking about restraining speed, somebody is talking about speed monitoring and installation of cameras for the roads. It is not the responsibility of the FRSC to provide road infrastructure. It is the responsibility of the state. Soon, someone will tell me to go and fill the portholes. My responsibility is to enforce road traffic rules and regulations.

Do you think the contractor might be using the lawmaker to oppose the speed limiter because he didn’t get your support?

I don’t know, but again, we have presented our facts. I have said it several times, we would continue to engage members of the House of Representatives; enlighten them and work with them. I must thank the House of Representatives for standing by us every time, but we shall continue to explain all our activities to them.

There are allegations that some of the firms marketing the device belong to senior staff of the corps. Does the corps have any economic interest in the device?

That is not true. That is a wild allegation. Anybody who has the evidence should present it and I detest that kind of insinuation. When agencies are bringing programmes that will save the country from destruction, we should not be reading meanings into it. No member of the corps is involved or has somebody fronting for him. If they have evidence against any of them, they should bring it out and immediate prosecution by appropriate agencies should be done. I stand by this, no member of management has any vested interest in it. 

My interest is seeing that crashes on our highways are reduced. And it would be my joy if I can succeed, if I can get this done.

Is it true that the device would be going for about N36,000?

I am not the one to determine that. This is a policy matter that the FRSC and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria have done. It is the market forces that would determine the price.

What will you do if the House refuses to endorse the speed limiting device for vehicles? Will you go ahead with the implementation?

With the argument we have, we would be able to convince them. We are talking about safety of lives and property and this implementation is for commercial vehicles, not for all vehicles. Sixty-five per cent of our crashes in the country involved commercial vehicles. Commercial vehicles carry about 12, 14, 16 passengers; the luxury buses, 55 passengers. If a crash occurs, the victims are usually at youthful, productive ages of 18-46 years. We are losing many lives. I believe at the end of the day, the public hearing and the submission of the committee will present all the facts to members of the House and they will see why we should continue with our programme.