Lawmakers Hold Public Hearing on Bills To Establish Road Safety Corps Institutions

The House of Representatives Committee on Road Safety has held a public hearing on Bills to reposition the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC in Nigeria.

The Chairman of the Committee on Road Safety, Honourable Akinfolarin Samuel, said that the bills were important to the overall good of the Road Safety.

The Bills

The Bills are ‘A bill for an act to establish Federal Road Safety Commission Command and staff college Ibadan to serve as a high level centre for training of FRSC personnel, personnel of strategic sister agencies, relevant MDAs as a centre of research in road traffic administration and safety management and for related matters.

A bill for an act to establish FRSC inspectorate training school as a higher national diploma awarding institution to provide academic and professional training and for related matters

A bill for an act to establish FRSC academy as a degree awarding academy institution to provide academic and professional training and for related matters

A bill for an act to establish FRSC road marshal assistant training school and for related matters.

Motion on recurring blockade of highways by articulated trucks in Nigeria.

According to Honourable Samuel, the essence of the public hearing was to get the views of the public on how to move forward and make the dream of the founding fathers of road safety come to pass.

“The purpose is to commend the road safety for taking the lead in road traffic management administration and safety management in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. Two to see legal backing or recognition for institutions that’s are fully in operation at different levels,” Honourable Samuel said.

He also enjoined major stakeholders at the hearing to put up constructive suggestions.

He commended the FRSC for having the foresight to propose the establishment of the institutions for the building of personnel capacity.

“I just want to emphasize the importance of collaboration and synergy in office and among agencies of government. As you all know and the chairman of the Corps can attest to it, if not for the fact that we are up and doing, if we rely on budgetary allocation alone what we are doing here will not be possible and I am making this special appeal to other agencies to borrow what we are doing here, that it is important to form synergy, to collaborate with other institutions,” he said.

The Chairman explained that “The last leg of this public hearing is to let the outline know that the committee is working on a motion to curb recurring of obstruction caused by articulated vehicles on our highways. Let me reiterate that public hearings are crucial avenues for us to distil public opinions and set the course of the nation over policies and activities with the sole aim of providing our people with the needed space to participate in our lawmaking processes”.

Need for Training

In his presentation,  the Corps Marshall Mr. Dauda Ali Biu, pointed out that there was the need for training and retraining of road safety personnel in the interest of safety on Nigerian roads.

He also said that “After critical review of the bills, we came to the conclusion that the bills should be harmonized to avoid ambiguity”. 

He said that the essene of the institutions was to give staff the needed trainings.

Similarly, the Chairman Road Safety Board, Mr. Bukhari Bello, said that for Nigeria to achieve the objectives of the United Nations Conventions, other Laws and regulations, training and retraining of members of the Corps was of utmost importance.

“It is my firm belief that the establishment of the Institutions would avail Officers and Marshals of the Corps and interested members of the public opportunity for capacity building and development of positive policies that will eradicate the menace of road traffic crashes in the country. It will also enhance leadership qualities of such member of the Corps to be vibrant road traffic administrators and safety managers,”he  said.

A representative of the National Universities Commission, NUC, Paschal Iwuaga, said that the NUC did not get the bill for the establishment of the FRSC Staff College.

He also said that the NUC does not oppose the Road Safety Academy but that the Chairman of Council must be appointed by the Nigerian president.

Other stakeholders commended the FRSC for its foresight and the committee for ensuring that everyone was carried along.

They also appealed that other members of the public be allowed to attend the institutions when established.

Confidence Okwuchi