Ghanaian Authorities Stormed Abuja to understudy Nigeria’s FRSC

CLEMENT IDOKO writes on the recent visit of Ghana delegation to understudy Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), concluding that in spite of the recorded high number of road traffic crashes in the country, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has developed itself into an export brand.

THE President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, recently sent a powerful delegation to Abuja to understudy the operations of Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on road safety management and traffic administration, with a view to replicating the best practices in Ghana. It came at a time the country was struggling hard to reduce the high level of carnages on its highways.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) report indicated that road traffic crashes had become a major cause of death worldwide, claiming more than 300,000 lives and injuring between 10 and 15 million annually. 

Significantly, Nigeria is said to be one of the countries with the highest road-traffic crash figures in the world, though the trend is going down as a result of the concerted efforts of the FRSC and the contributions of other stakeholders.

Going by the WHO report, road traffic accidents have remained a global concern. To that effect, Nigeria, with its defined preventive structure, has now become an exporter of the services to enable other countries acquire the techniques of reducing, if not totally eliminating the crashes.

In fact, apart from Ghana that recently sent a delegation to understudy the corps, FRSC had helped the government of Sierra Leone to set up her Road Safety Organisation. Besides, the Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of FRSC, Mr Osita Chidoka, who is currently the President of West African Road Safety Organisation (WARSO), has been playing a leading role in the coordination of efforts towards drastic reduction of road carnages in the sub-region.

The Ghana delegation, which comprises the Driver’s Vehicle Licensing Authority, the Ghana Police Service and other three road agencies, was led by the Executive Director of National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) of Ghana, Mary Obiri-Yeboah. The delegates were enthralled by what they saw on ground at the FRSC Headquarters, Abuja, in terms of ICT infrastructure. 

The three-day working visit afforded the delegation the opportunity to visit FRSC number plate manufacturing plants as well as its call centre in Abuja. The team was mostly fascinated by the efficient data-collecting system and analysis that was in place. 

The leader of the delegation disclosed that they were in the country to study some of the good practices adopted by Nigeria’s FRSC. Obiri-Yeboah explained that the Vice President of Ghana, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, who was in Nigeria early this year to deliver an annual FRSC lecture, had, on the order of the President, asked them to come to Nigeria to understudy the operations of FRSC.

As part of the learning process, she stated that the things learnt by the team would be replicated in Ghana after a stakeholders’ meeting had been convened.

The Executive Director of NRSC commended the FRSC for the synergy that existed between the Corps and other agencies of government which had helped tremendously in traffic control and safety management in the country.

It was gathered that the President of Ghana, who was nominated and accepted to deliver the FRSC 6th annual lecture, but could not make it sent his Vice President to represent him. The Vice President used to be the Governor of Central Bank of Ghana, but when he was taken on tour of the FRSC facilities, he was awe-struck with what he saw and confessed that he had not seen any such data collection and analysis platform in Africa, and that even as the Governor of Central Bank, he did not collect such amount of data.

Accordingly, when he went back, he said that to President Mahama, who promptly contacted the FRSC. It was further gathered that Mahama had vowed that based on what his deputy told him, he was going to send a delegation comprising the Police, Driver’s Licence Authority and the Road Safety to come and look at what FRSC had with the view of replicating same in Ghana.

Meanwhile, the Corps Marshal of FRSC, Osita Chidoka, expressed the willingness of his organisation to share experiences and data in order to improve road traffic management between Nigeria and Ghana. 

Chidoka, represented by the Deputy Corps Marshal, Motor Vehicle Administration, Boboye Oyeyemi, underscored the need for collaboration with Ghanaian NRSC to further reduce spate of road crashes in both countries.

Commenting on the measures put in place to reduce incidences of road crashes in Nigeria, the FRSC boss said there had been a drop in road crashes as a result of intervention measures introduced by the corps. He commended the Federal Government for the massive construction and rehabilitation of road networks across the country which had greatly assisted in reducing crashes on some of the major highways.

Explaining how Nigeria came to be the exporter of road safety in Africa, Chidoka noted that the Corps had focused on a few key things aimed at changing behavioural patterns of drivers in the country. This, he said, led to collection and study of data which resulted in a fundamental transformation in road safety issues in the country. 

“We have focused on a few key things and some of them are that you cannot change behaviour without information; so first of all, you need to know who the drivers are; you need to know who own the vehicles; if they are properly registered. That is what led us to the new drivers’ licence and the new number plates. When you know that, then you need to see traffic offenders: who are they? What offences do they commit and how are your teams booking them? And when you know that, then you begin to mark those who are risky drivers. And you can begin to award points to them, which will then determine how much insurance they pay, that will then determine how you react to them on the road. So, for me, it was a fundamental transformation,” he said.

Chidoka identified drunkenness, drug addiction, recklessness, disregard of road traffic signs, over-speeding, overloading and other traffic rules violations as responsible for high number of road crashes in Nigeria. He also advised motorists against distractions such as phoning or texting while driving, poor maintenance of vehicles and taking of unnecessary risks on the road.

According to Chidoka, what FRSC has done was to look at some of these global best practices and domesticate them and then share the experience with other African countries.

FRSC in Nigeria is one out of a few outstanding road safety lead agencies in Sub-Saharan Africa. It has considerable human and logistical resources and is well organised, has a professional management, uses modern technology in its operationsand is able to deliver results. Its history dates 26 years back and it has a vast amount of experience and corporate memory to draw on. 

The FRSC performance is particularly remarkable in the field of enforcement, emergency rescue services, involvement of volunteers and promotion of road safety at the highest level. This has been an inspiration to other countries in several ways. 

The Corps was consequently used as a case study for road safety lead agencies at the conference, “Steps to the 5 pillars” which held at Addis Ababa in November 2012.