FRSC Board Chairman Makes Case for Establishment of Training Institutions for Capacity Building

Paschal Emeka, Abuja | February 3, 2023

The Chairman Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Board, Mallam Bukhari Bello has expressed the belief that the establishment of the Federal Road Safety Commission’s training institutions across the country will boost the capacity building and development of FRSC officers as well as interested members of the public.

He said this at a Public Hearing of bills seeking to establish the FRSC Command and Staff College, (HB1620), a bill for an Act to establish FRSC Inspectorate Training School (HB1621) and a bill for an Act to establish FRSC Academy (HB 1622), organised by the House of Representatives Committee on FRSC, in Abuja on Thursday.

He further said that the Institutions would assist in churning out policies that will eradicate the menace of road traffic crashes in the country and improve the leadership qualities of such members of the Corps to be vibrant road traffic administrators and safety managers.

According to him, “as part of its efforts in positioning the Federal Road Safety Corps as a world class organization as well as ensuring Nigeria meets international standard and obligations in road traffic administration and safety management, the Federal Government acceded to all the six United Nations Conventions.

“The Conventions are: 1968 Convention on Road Signs and Signals acceded to by Nigeria on 24th December, 2010. The objective of the Convention is to have harmonised road signs and signals globally.

“1957 agreement concerning the international carriage of dangerous goods by road (ADR) acceded to by Nigeria on 4th October, 2018. This treaty governs transnational transport of hazardous materials. The Agreement provides that with the exception of certain exceptionally dangerous materials, hazardous materials may in general be transported internationally in wheeled vehicles.

“1958 Agreement Concerning the adoption of uniform technical prescriptions for wheeled vehicles, equipment and parts and the conditions for reciprocal recognition of approvals granted acceded to by Nigeria on 4th October, 2018.

“This deals with harmonized requirements developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) which is intended to remove technical barriers to the trade in motor vehicles between Contracting Parties and to ensure that such vehicles offer a high level of safety and environmental protection.

“1968 Convention on Road Traffic acceded to by Nigeria on 4th October, 2018.
The Convention also addresses minimum mechanical and safety equipment needed to be on board provides Identification Marks to identify the origin of a vehicle.

“1997 agreement concerning uniform conditions for periodic technical inspections for wheeled vehicles acceded to by Nigeria on 4th October, 2018. This Agreement was made to achieve greater uniformity in the rules governing road traffic and to ensure a higher level of safety and protection of the environment. It also defines for this purpose, uniform conditions on Periodical Technical Inspections of wheeled vehicles that will suffice for these vehicles to fulfil in order to be certified in their countries.

“1998 agreement concerning establishment of global technical regulations for wheeled vehicles, equipment and parts which can be fitted and/or used on wheeled vehicles acceded to by Nigeria on 4th October, 2018. The Agreement introduces a system for listing global technical regulations of this kind in a global compendium and creates an institutional framework for cooperation between the parties.

“It is worthy to note that for Nigeria to achieve the objectives of the above mentioned United Nations Conventions, other Laws and regulations, training and retraining of members of the Corps is of utmost importance.

However, a representative of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing noted that the idea of establishing the Federal Road Safety Commission Command and Staff College, Federal Road Safety Commission Inspectorate Training School and the Federal Road Safety Commission Academy as proposed in the bill Reference No. HB. 1620, HB. 1621, HB. 1622 respectively is a laudable one, but the timing is not ripe now as the Government is presently looking for ways of reducing recurrent budget.

” As there are institutions like Nigeria Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) Kuru, Jos and many others are available to service the Federal Road Safety Corps, it is recommended that the establishment of the Schools be differed to a future date.

“However, there are some gray areas that needed to be looked into for effective running of the proposed institutions in the future.

These include: Structures: Structuring the proposed institutions strictly like the Nigerian Defence Academy is not advisable since the Federal Road Safety Commission does not have the kind of experience, institutional memory and resources available to the Nigeria Military.

“Membership of the Council Proposing the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) as the Chairman of the Council of the Schools may not be effective as the
SGF is too busy a person tending to the affairs of government to be assigned such a task. This proposal may have been informed by the idea of cutting down cost. But as Council membership in most cases are part time jobs, there are many reputable Nigerians that are eminently qualified that will accept it as such; in which case only allowances will be paid to them each time he/she conducts any business for the school.

“Post/Offices of the Academy Commandant: This office should be a tenured position and would be better served if it is reserved for Retired Corp Marshal and Retired Deputy Corp Marshal. Such personnel once appointed will not only be independent but will have the courage to discharge his/her responsibilities with less or no interference from the Corp Marshal or anybody. He will not be affected by posting within the Corps.

“Deputy Commandant. It is recommended that the post of Deputy Commandant be abolish. His roles are to be played by the Provost. Also, all the Principal Officers are to report to the Commandant through the Provost.