DEFACING OF ROAD SIGNS WITH POSTERS- COURT OF APPEAL PRESIDENT ADVOCATES STIFFER PENALTIES

Disturbed by the indiscriminate pasting of posters on road signs along major highways, the President Court of Appeal, Honourable Justice Umaru Abdullahi has advocated stiffer penalties for perpetrators of this act which poses additional challenges to on-going drive to inject order and sanity on the nation’s highways.

Speaking during a courtesy visit by the Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of the FRSC, Osita Chidoka, Justice Abdullahi stated that the incessant defacing of road signs with political posters, are often linked to the occurrence of road traffic accidents due to its tendency of misleading and confusing motorists.

He however, urged the FRSC Management to institute a mechanism to identify those Nigerians whose pictures appear on such distracting posters for appropriate penalty to serve as deterrent to other prospective defaulters.

The Court of Appeal President further commended the educational strategies as introduced by the Commission which has tremendously imparted safety consciousness among the Nigerian motoring public and urged the FRSC to address the issue of Tanker and other articulated vehicle drivers who flagrantly abuse traffic rules and regulations.

In his response, the Corps Marshal commended the strong partnership which the FRSC has enjoyed with the Judiciary especially in the area of Mobile courts for prompt dispensation of traffic offences.

Osita Chidoka added that in the FRSC drive towards restoring the integrity of driver’s license across the country, about 2.4million driver’s licenses have so far been certified as genuine and disclosed that the Commission is presently developing a data base to document number of traffic offenders, road traffic accident statistics, in addition to building a One-stop-shop to ensure easy assessment and procurement of driver’s license and vehicle number plates in order to curb the activities of touts and fake production of these items.