No Plans to Abolish Patrol Points in Four South-east States, Says FRSC

Kasim Sumaina in Abuja

The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) at the weekend said at no time it intended to abolish patrol points in four South-eastern states of Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Abia.

The FRSC in statement issued yesterday in Abuja by the acting Corps Public Education Officer, FRSC National Headquarters, Olusegun Ogungbemide, noted that its attention has been drawn to a statement published in some media platforms insinuating that the FRSC has abolished patrol points in four states of Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Abia.

“The misleading statement,” it said, was attributed to the address presented by the zonal commanding officer of Zone 9 Headquarters Enugu, Assistant Corps Marshal Uche Chåukwuråah, during her visit to the Abia State Sector Command in Umuahia. FRSC said: “Even though the statement by the zonal commanding officer was meant to reaffirm the stand of the National Headquarters of the FRSC on the new operational strategy that will de-emphasise static patrol which comes in the form of roadblock, it was unfortunately misconstrued to mean abolition of patrol points in the zonal command based on security threats.

“Nothing can be further from the truth as the statement was not only misleading but capable of giving wrong information to unsuspecting members of the public on the intention of the FRSC management on the ongoing operational rejigging not targeted at the South-eastern states of the country but the nation at large.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the policy of rejigging the operational strategy of the Corps as conceived by the present management under Corps Marshal Shehu is aimed at improving the capacity of the personnel to respond promptly to distress calls through provision of functional operational vehicles, ambulances and motorbikes; retraining of personnel for efficient rescue services and increasing the mileage coverage of daily patrol activities for increased presence on parts of the road network.

“Consequently, any meaning read to the original statement attributed to the zonal commanding officer of Zone 9 headquarters to create the impression that the FRSC is abolishing or intends to abolish patrol in the Southeast is distorted, misleading and should be disregarded.

“What the FRSC as the lead agency in road traffic management and safety administration in Nigeria and one of the security agencies charged with the responsibility of creating safer road environment is doing is to work harder to improve on its quality service delivery and support to other security agencies through credible processing of database on drivers and vehicles which has nothing to do with the abolition of patrol points in the Southeast as alleged.”