The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation, Dr Magdalene Ajani, has urged the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to enlighten the public and make its roles more visible to Nigerians.
Ajani, while leading a facility visit to the FRSC headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, said that Nigerians were unaware of the services rendered by the corps.
“I am impressed with the good job the FRSC is doing in Nigeria, but we need to do more education and sensitisation.
“We need to rake up the educational platform even on the social media, so that people will know where to find information concerning road transportation and safety,” she said.
The permanent secretary noted that the FRSC and the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT) had synonymous functions, hence should collaborate on simulation driving school for articulated vehicles and cars.
She said that both organisations should bridge the gap because they had a data centre for road mishaps and other road-related activities.
“There’s a lot more we can do together. It is one government. There’s need for us to stop duplicating things. We need to tell ourselves the truth when it comes to the economy, we are not there yet.
”We are struggling as a nation, so where an agency already has something, we don’t have to go duplicate it.
”Why don’t we look at how to collaborate and probably expand to take more people come on board?” she added.
On other means of transportation, Ajani commended the corps for its input to the intermodal transportation system following calls for the ministry to develop the system.
” That is the core mandate of the Federal Ministry of Transportation. We are trying to link the ports and the Inland Container Depots with rail system or the roads will continue to suffer.
”No matter the repairs and the maintenance that the Federal Ministry of Works does, the fact remains that the trucks that get on these roads are beyond the tonnage.
” But we can’t talk about enforcing the right tonnage on the road when you do not have alternatives.
”What we have been trying to explore since 2021 is also to open up the inland waterways so that barges will convey those containers from Lagos and Port Harcourt to places such as Onitsha up to Lokoja where we have Baro Port.
”So, that will take more loads off the roads and preserve our roads better for those who must use road transportation.”
Earlier, the FRSC Corps Marshal, Mr Oyeyemi Boboye, called on the ministry to proffer solution and develop other intermodal means of transportation.
According to him, the current sole dependence on road transport as the means of conveying goods and persons is overburdened.
On its activities, he said that the use of body cameras on Field Officers was launched in September 2021 and it had stemmed reports of corrupt allegations.
He noted that the presence of the cameras had helped in quick dispensation of court processes against traffic offenders.
”Technology driven system will address many challenges currently faced by the FRSC, hence the Call Centre, Operational Monitoring and Control Room as well as installation of cameras on patrol vehicles.’’
Meanwhile, the NITT Director, Transport School, Dr Baba Ibrahim, said that the institute recently embarked on a study tour to Rabat, Morocco and the technology was already being deployed and in use by the corps.
He therefore reiterated the call for bridge building in government institutions.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the permanent secretary and her team were taken on a tour of the various facilities at the FRSC headquarters. (NAN)
