24th December, 2015
Boboye Oyeyemi, the Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), on Thursday charged convoys to always obey traffic rules and respect the rights of other road users.
Oyeyemi gave the order in Abuja just before he departed the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja for the Fifth Edition of the Annual Aerial Surveillance of critical corridors of the country.
The exercise is part of the commission’s end of year patrol.
According to the FRSC chief, the abuse of traffic rules by convoys constitutes a major challenge to the commission’s operation.
“The only area we are having problems has to do with the convoys, and they cause this problem; and we are taking note of them, and we will report them to the appropriate authorities.
“We want to appeal to all the convoy drivers to please respect other road users; that is the major problem; other road users are behaving well.
“The commercial drivers – we’ve been able to tame them to a certain level, but the convoy drivers are the lawless ones; they are given us headache on the highway.
“We want to appeal once again, for them to comply. Accidents, crashes have no respect for anyone.
“And if they face oncoming traffic, they complicate the problem especially where the roads are bad.
“They should please respect the traffic rules and regulations. It is in the interest of the nation for them to show good example.
“Moreover, the principals are not (always) in the vehicles, so I see that it is act of lawlessness on their part.
“They should please ensure that respect is given to other road users.”
Oyeyemi said that the aerial patrol was to enable the commission to manage the flow of traffic across the country and to communicate with the nearby commands to facilitate quick responses to gridlocks that might build up within their areas of operation.
He, therefore, urged all road users to cooperate with the commission and other traffic management agencies to ensure easy flow of traffic during the Christmas period.
The corps marshall also urged members of the public not to hesitate to call the commission’s emergency lines or to engage its social media websites with useful information on how to ease road traffic issues.
He said that the commission recently took delivery of more vehicles to enable it to carry out more robust patrol during the yuletide and beyond.
He expressed appreciation to the Nigerian Air Force for its continued support especially in the area of aerial surveillance of critical corridors nationwide.
Some of the areas scheduled to be patrolled by the corps marshall and some senior officers of the commission in the first phase of the operation, include the Yangoji-Abaji and Okene-Ibilo-Auchi corridors.
Meanwhile, Grp. Capt. Simon Peter, the Commandant of the Military Airport at the NAIA, has given an assurance that the air force would continue to collaborate with the commission to reduce the road traffic challenges faced by Nigerian road users.