“
You are the real answer to IBB’s insinuation that the Nigerian youths are incapable of bringing leadership change in this country. We the youths have been following your legacies at FRSC and are quite proud of what you are doing there”---Oladimeji Asiwaju, a youth Corps member serving in FCT, on the developmental strides of Osita Chidoka at the Federal Road Safety Corps.

That there are very many Nigerian young men and women in different professions and callings yet unidentified, but whose potentials and talents could be critical to the realisation of the ongoing search for national restoration if given the chance is a truism. And that there are various impediments being put on the way to identifying and offering such individuals the opportunities in those relevant sectors and areas they could have made the most impact are stark realities that stare us on the face, bearing in mind the structural and physiological flaws of our nation.

That was why when former President Olusegun Obasanjo decided to appoint Osita Chidoka as the Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), on 28 May 2007, many Nigerians including some staff of the Corps could not immediately fathom the rationale behind such an appointment. According to the line of arguments then, the young man was “not known to have served in any of the military or paramilitary services or a retired bureaucrat who could understand the workings of government”. Worse still, he was coming in as an “outsider”.

However, there were some other Nigerians who saw beyond the surface of the water and believed that government might have seen certain sterling qualities in him that were invisible to ordinary citizens; and that his appointment must have been a demonstration of the fact that “strategy has gone beyond the realm of military campaigns”. Thus, such people were ready to show patience and give him the benefits of the doubt.

When he assumed office on 11 June 2007, two full weeks after his appointment therefore, all eyes were on him to immediately prove his mettle. Consequently, the superiority of his vision, his absolute understanding of the workings of government and especially his consciousness about public expectations of him became the instant sources of his legitimacy, which further pushed his detractors and critics to the wall. Today, the young man with the force of a lion and the intelligence of a fox has after three years on the hot seat justified the confidence of those who insisted then that “age had nothing to do with it”; and that “modernisation has created a wide gap between strategy and tactic”.

But as it was that some people didn’t believe in change, the critics were busy debating about the propriety or otherwise of his appointment through media campaigns aimed at distracting him or getting late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua to rescind it, when it became clear that he has endorsed him for his administrative competence.. The first obvious manifestation of this was when in less than one hundred days of his assumption of office; the new Corps Marshal identified the policy on Road Transport Safety Standardization Scheme (RTSSS) which had been lying in the cooler at the Corps’ National Headquarters as “a low hanging fruit”.

As one well versed in the area of transport policy and logistics, which infact, he has a master’s degree in, Chidoka decided to pluck it by putting final touches to the document and launching the Scheme with fanfare at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja. The late President was represented at the occasion by the then Vice President, now His Excellency, President Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR with up to four Ministers, including the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Babagana Kingibe in attendance.

Even as that was a clear demonstration of government’s endorsement of his leadership quality, it only made the growing number of critics of his appointment and detractors more vociferous in their media attacks. But he refused to be distracted, but remained focused on what really brought him to the Corps in the first place. The critics however, refused to acknowledge the fact that he had been well exposed and was in fact, an FCT NYSC award winner who later served in several highly demanding positions such as Personal Assistant and Special Assistant to the former Minister of State for Works and Minister of Transport respectively; member of the Committee for the Restoration of Abuja Master Plan; Secretary for the Visit of Pope John Paul II to Nigeria in 1998 which earned him Papal Commendation and Assistant Secretary, Committee for the handover of Military to Civilian rule in 1999 among many other important national assignments.

While the same critics were busy hiding under different shades to inundate the media and the presidency with volume of petitions cataloguing his alleged wrong doings to pressurise the President into taking rash decisions, the President, in line with his rule of law mantra instead set up a probe panel, which after exhaustive work returned a verdict of “not guilty” on him. And ironically, before the new Corps Marshal spent the first full year of his leadership of the Corps, the Panel of Judges at Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards had become so impressed with his “qualitative leadership and enormous contributions to road safety”, that it unanimously voted FRSC as the “2008 Award Winner” of the prestigious award.
The presentation of the award to the Corps Marshal took place in London in December 2008 by Prince Michael of Kent himself who is the President of Global Road Safety Commission, while the Nigerian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Senator Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, some top British Government officials and many international road safety stakeholders witnessed the grand ceremony held at Parklane Hilton, London. Think of a Prophet not been recognised at home, you may not be too far from the truth. It was indeed, a day of glory for Nigeria.

Chidoka who has identified information communication technology (ICT) as his management tool, is also the Ike-Obosi (Strength of Obosi), where he is a member of the highest decision making body of Obosi Traditional Council in his home state of Anambra. He has pioneered the Call Centre technology in the country and taken the name of Nigeria to the nook and crannies of the globe in pursuit of road safety matters, the latest of which was in Vatican city on the invitation of Pope Benedict xvi for a presentation on road safety during the recent International Conference on the Challenges of Human Interaction Through Mobility organised by the Pontifical Council for Immigrants and Itinerant people.

As a young Nigerian of Igbo origin born after the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, he has always operated with the consciousness that “the post- civil war generation has come of age”. He identifies this generation as “Oguebie” which he says “are un encumbered by events of our violent past as a nation, unfazed by cries of marginalization and propelled by the spirit of a new age”. His pan Nigerian spirit, some analysts say is fired by his winning of the FCT/ NYSC award as a youth Corps member on merit, which opened up other federal opportunities for him. That is why he could relate smoothly with people of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds without exhibiting the traits of a religious or ethnic bigot. He is indeed, a sterling example of a new Nigerian. He has carried his road safety campaign to the National Assembly, State Governors; Traditional and Religious leaders across the country, all of who received him warmly with open arms and treated him as one of their own.

In demonstration of his international reach, he was the only non- Minister invited to make a presentation at the Plenary Session during the last Ministerial Conference on Road Safety held in Moscow, Russia last year August with the Russian President in attendance. His leadership success at the West African Road Safety Organisation (WARSO) where he is the President has been recognised by ECOWAS Commission, which sees the organisation as a veritable platform for the implementation of ECOWAS protocol on free movement of citizens and goods within the sub-region. Furthermore, the World Bank grant to the Country upon which the Country Capacity Review of Road Safety Management in the country is being carried out is no mean feat, as it evidently demonstrates his doggedness in matters of road safety, both at home and abroad.

With his establishment of the Call/Data Centre, introduction of Closed User Group (CUG) and tracking device for the monitoring, facilitation and management of operational and rescue activities of the Corps while building credible database on drivers in the country towards the restoration of the integrity of the driver’s licenses, many Nigerians have stressed that Chidoka has achieved harmony through the backward linkages in the Corps’ management system.

Several of the visitors to the Centre including the former Garrison Commander of the Nigerian Army, Major General Donatus Edi (rtd) were full of commendation for him for the initiative, describing it as “a Resource Centre”. In fact, they were unanimous in their calls on the Federal Government to consider the centre “a strategic contribution to national security and development” and one worthy of earning the Corps Marshal “National Award” from the Federal Government.

The Number One Road Marshal in the country who is fondly called by FRSC staff as “The Digital Corps Marshal”, has through dogged commitment to national ideals and rugged determination to take the Corps to the next level, can only wish for more good health from God and support from relevant stakeholders in achieving the nation’s goal of crash-free roads, security and development at this critical period of the Corps’ existence. There is no doubt that as the nation clocks 50 years this October under President Goodluck Jonathan’s leadership, seen generally by the people as “a credible bridge between the old and young Nigerians” the nation’s quest for building a new Nigeria whose youths are “unencumbered by our violent past and unfazed by the cries of marginalisation, but propelled by the challenges of the new age could be realised.”.