EMIR OF BIDA ADVOCATES ARMS TRAINING FOR FRSC PERSONNEL

Worried by inherent hazards associated with highway patrols, the Emir of Bida, Alhaji Yahaya Abubarkar has advocated the need for Officers and men of the Federal Road Safety Corps to undergo routine training on the use of arms in order to ensure their safety in the course of discharging statutory functions.

The Emir was speaking while receiving a delegation of FRSC Officers and Consultants from the World Bank who are presently conducting a capacity review of road traffic administration and safety management in Nigeria.

According to the Royal father, it has become imperative to adequately equip the FRSC personnel to cope with emerging challenges associated with their duties especially with the World bank intervention in road safety management which will no doubt, extend the scope of their functions aimed at ensuring safer roads in the country.

He further commended the World Bank for selecting the Mokwa-Bida-Lapai-Lambata road for the first phase of its safe corridor projects on the nation’s highways.

The Emir also urged the World Bank Consultants to incorporate in the capacity review, a robust plan for effective maintenance of the roads after rehabilitation because poor maintenance culture has been the bane of most Nigerian roads adding that the present status of our highways requires outright reconstruction to conform with global best standards.

Speaking further, he frowned at the low level of literacy in some parts of the country which negates the goals for public enlightenment campaigns by the Corps and urged the FRSC Management to re-double efforts towards educating Nigerians on appropriate safety norms.

Earlier in his remarks, the FRSC Deputy Corps Marshal Operations, Boboye Oyeyemi stated that the World Bank intervention arose from the need to create and implement a sustainable model of road safety measures and enforcement to address the spate of road crashes in the country.

According to him, the World bank has identified 5 corridors of the nation’s highways: Mokwa- Bida- Lambata- Suleja, Abuja-Kaduna- Zaria- Kano, Enugu-Abakiliki- Ogaja-Ikom, Benin-Ifon-Akure-Ilesha and the Samiya-Bauchi-Gombe-Biu roads for rehabilitation and provision of safety components along these corridors adding that aside from the establishment of a new Unit Command, Kutigi along the Mokwa axis, an extensive programme to procure 2 state –of – the art ambulances, 4 patrol vehicles, one heavy and medium duty tow truck, 4 motorbikes, alcolyzers, radar guns and communication gadgets for each of the 5 corridors in line with the World Bank project.

Also speaking, the leader of the Consultant team, Integrated Transport Planning from the United Kingdom, Mr.Darren Divall, the capacity review is been undertaken to identify the present status of road safety management in Nigeria through physical assessment of the 5 selected corridors, interactive sessions with relevant stakeholders in road safety and other extensive studies in order to draw a baseline for short and long term investment on road safety in Nigeria by the World Bank.

The team was also in Abuja, Lagos and Zaria to meet with public and private agencies in order to draw realistic deductions for the capacity review.