FRSC and the Yorkshire Ripper (1)
Between 1975 and 1980, Yorkshire in northern England was the scene of
sensational crimes involving the serial murder of 13 women most of whom
were sex workers. The murders made headlines around the world because
for five years the police failed to detect the criminal or criminals
behind these atrocities. Finally, the mysterious monster dubbed “the
Yorkshire Ripper” was arrested on January 2, 1981. His name was Peter
Sutcliffe, a truck driver who lived in a quiet sub-urban home in
Bradford with his wife. The unmasking of the Yorkshire ripper was
achieved by routine traffic surveillance: a police patrol keeping watch
in the red light district of Sheffield spotted a man sitting in a car
with a known prostitute; a routine check through the national vehicle
registration databank showed that the licence number plates of the car
did not match the registration details of the vehicle. The rest, as they
say, is history.
Since Osita Chidoka, was appointed corps marshal and chief executive of
the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) last year in the twilight of
the Obasanjo administration, there has been great optimism that at least
the FRSC would complete the digital revolution which it began but failed
to accomplish. The dust raised by forces opposed to his appointment had
hardly settled when the young man unfolded his blueprint top of which
was a plan to restore the integrity of Unified Licensing Scheme (ULS)
and National Vehicles Identification Scheme (NVIS). Other goals which he
thrust forward that boosted hope in his ability to restore the
Commission to its founding vision included plans to maintain a credible
database of all drivers in Nigeria and to develop a robust Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) network.
Indeed, the FRSC was one of the earliest federal agencies to embrace
ICT. The idea behind ULS was to unify vehicle and driver licensing in
Nigeria in order to create a national databank so that authorized
personnel would have instant access to a vehicle or motorists’ records:
vehicle registration particulars, national driver’s license including
endorsements, basic medical records (age, sex, height, blood group,
disabilities, etc). Similar schemes have long operated in developed and
even developing countries with positive implications for road safety
management and crime control. Today, the greatest failure of the FRSC is
it’s inability to realize this target with the result that it is still
possible for any person living or dead to obtain multiple driver’s
licenses, to register a vehicle in as many states or local governments
as he pleases or to operate a motor vehicle with a fake registration
plate without detection! The issuance of drivers’ licenses remains a
huge racket for road safety officers, revenue officials and the touts that
litter licensing offices.
While the nation waited for FRSC to end this national embarrassment,
last February the commision rolled out the drums, blew trumpets and
recycled old ideas to herald the 20th year of it’s of existence.
Throughout that month, the commission went into a self- adulating stunt
to promote it’s achievements. Without a functional ULS, with the spate
of ghastly road traffic accidents and motorized crimes occurring in
every corner of the federation taking the lives of citizens of every
social stratum, many wondered what it was exactly the FRSC was
celebrating. Now that the party is over and the officers and men have
recovered from the natural hangover that follows such a shindig, the
nation still waits for the FRSC to wipe off the shame of a ULS gone
awry.
The FRSC was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria vide
Decree 45 of 1988 amended by Decree 35 of 1992 otherwise known as FRSC
Act cap 146, Laws of the Federation (1990). The functions of the FRSC is
to make the highways safe for motorists and other roads users: to
recommend to the Federal Ministry of Works & Housing (FMWH) works and
devises designed to minimize accident on the highways; to educate
motorists and the general public on road discipline; to design the
driver’s license to be used by all vehicle operators; to determine from
time to time, the requirement to be satisfied by an applicant for a
driver’s license; to design vehicle plate identification numbers and to
control the use of speed limiting devises; and to standardize the
highway traffic code.
Other statutory functions of the FRSC include clearing of obstructions
on any part of the highways; provision of prompt attention and care to
victims of accidents; conducting researches into motor accidents –
causes and preventive methods - and putting the results of such
researches to use; co-operating with bodies engaged in road safety
activities; performing such other functions as may, from time to time,
be assigned to the corps by the commission.
Thus, though road safety and traffic control are regarded as being on
the concurrent list, the FRSC remains the principal organ vested with
road safety planning, administration and enforcement in Nigeria. How has
FRSC fared in these duties in the 20 years? That is the question!
Inadequate funding and other logistic difficulties have been the bane of
the commission but these problems have been receiving attention since
the advent of the present regime.
At 20, therefore, new ideas and “new” strategies may be brought up to
facilitate the fast-tracking of the FRSC for greater efficiency in the
performance of its core duties. But it must be remembered that the FRSC
has never been short of ideas. Nor has Nigeria ever taken the backseat
at brainstorming sessions on road safety. As the current head of the
African sub group of International Road Safety Organizations (GPA-PRI),
Nigeria plays a leadership role in road safety matters. But can the FRSC
in all honesty play leadership roles and expect to be taken seriously
when it is unable to restore the integrity of something as simple as a
drivers’ license which has become so bastardized that it is now
difficult to distinguish between the real one and the fake? Today,
private and commercial vehicle drivers defy FRSC officers with impunity:
who worries about road marshals when it is easy to abandon a driver’s
license impounded at an FRSC checkpoint and to obtain a new one without
fuss?
By Uche Ohia
uchebush@yahoo.com; 0805 1090 050