FRSC, revenue generation and new number plate (I) Category: - TopicsExpress



          

FRSC, revenue generation and new number plate (I) Category: RightMotoring Published on Saturday, 07 September 2013 05:00 Written by JONAS AGWU Hits: 0 0 inShare In the past few weeks, there have been a number of newspaper publications on the activities of the Federal Road Safety Corps, bordering on the Corps’ perceived deviation from its statutory mandate. Notable amongst the publications include Saturday Punch of August 3rd, The Nation Editorial of August 13th, the Punch Editorial of August 14th and the Nigerian Tribune Editorial of August 14th, 2013. There have equally been commentaries, analysis and opinion write-ups on same issues. Initially, there was a consensus by the FRSC to ignore this and rather focus on the Corp’s strategic goals of reducing crashes by 20% and fatalities by 30% in line with the United Nations Decade of Action on Road Safety projections. However, I am compelled to use the opportunity offered by my column to address the issues raised for the benefit of the teeming public whose minds might be filled with questions arising from the publications. The recurring decimal in all the publications seems to be the issue of setting of targets and revenue generation, as well as the new number plate and drivers’ licence scheme. In concentrating on the issues of revenue generation, it is pertinent to point out that in line with its statutory responsibilities; FRSC is not a revenue generating agency. The Corps does not spend fines generated from the road and has absolutely no incentive to collect fines that end in the Federation Accounts. No national target for fines generation is set for Commanding Officers. If any Commanding Officer gives targets, it is clearly without the authorization or directive of the National Headquarters. However, it would be absurd for any FRSC patrol team to go out for eight hours and come back claiming not to have seen traffic offences committed, and that rather, they were doing public enlightenment. Booking of traffic offenders is an indication of our enforcement activities. Indeed, global practices on traffic safety attest to this fact. Fines collection is tangential to the core issues of road safety education, engineering, and enforcement. And any attempt to educate without enforcement would only lead to entertainment. The related issue of whether the enforcement is carried out inside or outside the cities seems quite irrelevant, as traffic offences have no boundaries. The FRSC is empowered by its enabling act to enforce traffic laws on all Nigerian roads. And unarguably, failure to control behaviours in urban centres would lead to a transfer of these behaviours on the highways. We therefore have no apology on where and when we decide to enforce traffic sanctions. As for the dishonest officers who view enforcement as opportunity to line their pockets, our surveillance activities and public feed-back has led to continued weeding of those staff. In line with global best practices, the FRSC sets its corporate strategic goals. A cursory search on the FRSC website will reveal that we have targets across all indicators, which are closely monitored and measured and the result published on the FRSC website, frsc.gov.ng//frsc-performance-score-card. A lot of questions have been raised by the publications on whether the FRSC is still on course or has lost focus. It is therefore pertinent to bring some salient issues to the fore. Let us examine the issue of road traffic crashes since 1988. The number of deaths arising from crashes in Nigeria has consistently gone down from 25,792 crashes, with 9,077 deaths in 1988 to 6,269 crashes, with 4,260 deaths in 2012. Due to the numerous initiatives designed by FRSC at combating road crashes, as at end of the second quarter of 2013, Road Traffic Crashes which stood at 1,707 nationwide had witnessed a 14.6% reduction, in comparison to the first quarter of 2013 when RTC nationwide was 2,000. Fatality has also declined by 4.04% in the second quarter of 2013 from 1,186 deaths, when compared to the 1,236 people that died in the first quarter of 2013. This decline has been made possible through the Corps’ numerous intervention strategies such as Operations Rainbow, Shield 1, 2 and the recently concluded Shield 3 along five critical corridors, during which 27crashes were recorded, with 6 persons dead and 82 persons injured; increase in staff strength which has grown from 12,000 in 2007 to about 18,000 today; a change in absence of internet facilities to installation of 371 V-Sat in all Commands, turning it into one of the largest Wide Area Network (WAN) in the public sector; data collection that used to be an annual ritual which has turned into a daily activity using the technology platform developed; the number of ambulances available to FRSC for rescue activities has grown from about 17 in 2007 to about 64 in 2013, out of which a carefully orchestrated plan to deploy them at about 28 kilometers on critical highways, code-named Zebra, has commenced, in keeping with the Pillar 5 of the United Nations Decade of Action, which emphasizes on post care. The new number plate and drivers’ licence scheme was introduced to harmonise, standardise and unify all existing modes of licensing of drivers and vehicles so as to evolve a better road culture and efficient data management. It was borne out of extensive engagement with relevant stakeholders, particularly endorsed by Joint Tax Board on whose shoulder rests the responsibility of fixing the prices and handling the processes for vehicle registration and drivers’ licence acquisition. With the new drivers licence designed by the FRSC, there is now ‘’One Driver One Record”, which enables FRSC to track and match records of a driver with his driver’s licence, vehicle number plate, insurance and traffic offences in a single view, which can be shared with other security agencies for crime prevention and the promotion of national security.
Posted on: Sat, 07 Sep 2013 05:44:58 +0000

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