FRSC  ARRAIGNS  600 TRAFFIC OFFENDERS

Further  to its renewed determination to inject order and sanity on the nation’s  highways especially during the yuletide, the Federal Road Safety Corps has arraigned 600  traffic offenders for contravening various traffic-related rules and regulations.

Making  this declaration at the Abuja International airport before embarking on a joint aerial surveillance with the Nigerian Police and the Air Force, the  FRSC Corps Marshal and Chief Executive, Osita Chidoka said that the prosecution of the offenders who were arraigned before mobile courts established at strategic patrol locations in the last 3 days (20-23 December, 2011), form part of the Corps’ numerous initiatives to ensure hitch-free movement of traffic and safer road conduct during the festive season.

According to him, the aerial surveillance provides  a pro-active  platform for the Corps to be acquainted with traffic situation across the country in order to re-strategize on its deployment plan of  personnel  and logistics along  routes with traffic challenges.

He added that certain corridors have experienced slight hitches in traffic flow such as Abuja- Lokoja, Lagos-Ibadan-Ore, Asaba-Onitsha,  Obollo –Affor- 9th Mile and  the Enugu- Okigwe- Portharcourt  highways, adding that  “patience among road users remain a major challenge and we advise the Nigerian motoring publics to plan trips before entering the highways as it is expected that about 45 minutes delay will be experienced by motorists along these critical corridors due to slow flow of traffic” he stated.

The Corps Marshal also recalled a Presidential  directive on convoy drivers  and added that the Corps has mounted video and digital still cameras along designated routes to address the excesses of convoy drivers and other recalcitrant drivers which will be published in the Corps’ roll of shame register at the end of the nationwide exercise “ We are going to take photographs of such drivers and publish the names of  owners of such convoys. We shall go a step further to prosecute the drivers involved in such acts through mobile courts” he warned.

Chidoka also commended the unprecedented support from relevant government agencies such as the Nigerian Air Force, the Police, National Emergency Management Agency, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, construction firms and some state Governors whose complementary roles have enabled the Corps to raise the bar in this year’s exercise.
During the aerial surveillance, the Corps Marshal also stopped at Lokoja, Keffi and 9th Mile to distribute safety handbills among road users.