By Lawrence Olaoye
Corps Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Boboye Oyeyemi, has said that no fewer than 21,000 of his men, 1000 patrol vehicles will deployed across the country to ensure hitch-free movement ahead of the Christmas and new year celebrations.
This is also as the Managing Director of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), also disclosed that intensive rehabilitation of I6 federal routes, critical arteries and failed roads have commenced ahead of the Yuletide.
The two officials made these disclosures at a joint briefing of the State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa yesterday.
The FRSC boss said the operations would commence in earnest from December 15th 2018 and terminate on January 15th 2019.
According to him, the country has been partitioned into 52 corridors with 201 mobile courts as well as 40 road camps to be erected nationwide.
He said vehicles found to be overloaded will be impounded, while drivers who fail the acute vision test and those found to be under the influence of alcohol would not be allowed to continue their journey since they may pose threats to other road users.
The Corps Marshall however advised travellers to plan their journey early enough as experience has shown that the roads are usually congested because of high vehicular traffic during this period.
“For the end of the year patrols, we have divided the operations into three segments, that is pre-Christmas, post-Christmas and post New Year. So this will stretch from December 15th to January 15th and we are deploying over 21,000 personnel to all critical corridors with over 1,000 patrol vehicles, including recovery vehicles, ambulances and bikes.
“The country has been partitioned into 52 critical corridors across the country. The focus for the end of the year is that in conjunction with FERMA, FERMA is carrying out palliative measures on all the critical areas on the highways to ensure free flow of traffic.
“Our principal responsibility during this period is to ensure free flow of traffic, that could mean that as you are traveling you may likely experience some gridlock in one or two areas in the cause of the construction work is going on,” Oyeyemi noted.
The Corp Marshall also explained that the agency would lobby the Nigerian Air force to make available two helicopters for air patrol, including towing trucks to clear the road of any obstruction during the yuletide.
His words, “We are not talking about only enforcement; we are talking about the issue of getting the travelers getting home safely.
“Also, the recovery vehicles have been deployed to critical locations and we are also working with private tow trucks operators so that peradventure if there is any breakdown of any vehicle or truck, immediately we will be able to remove all these obstructions which normally lead to gridlock.
“We are not saying there will be no crash but the focus is that let there be zero death. If there is any crash, we will have our advanced life support ambulances deployed.
“We also want to ensure members of the public to make use of our toll free number, 122 peradventure they get to a crash scene before our personnel gets there, they should be able to call 122 and inform us so that we can deploy appropriate personnel and the required vehicle or whatever is required. I want to assure the public that we will be able to reduce the stress for the travelers”.
The FERMA boss, Engnr. Nurudeen Rafindadi, told newsmen that rehabilitation works have been intensified around 16 major road corridors across the country.
Some of the roads earmarked for repairs for which personnel and resources have been deployed include: Oyo-Ibadan road in Ogun State, Minna-Tegina road in Niger State, Sheda -Abaji road on the FCT/Kogi State, Abaji-Kotonkarfe road in Kogi State, Itakpe -Federal College of Education Road around Okene in Kogi State.
Others are Agbo-Asaba road in Delta State, sections along Benin -Warri road in Delta State, Lokoja-Ajaokuta road in Kogi State, Itobe-Ayangba-Ankpa -Otukpa road in Kogi State, Uyo-James town road in Akwa Ibom State, Ogoja -Katsina Ala road in Cross River State, Biu road in Gombe state, Damaturu-Mauduguri road in Yobe and Borno State, Bauchi-Jos -Akwanga roads in Plateau and Nasarawa States, Bauch-Potiskum road in Bauchi and Yobe State; Katsina – Jibia road in Katsina State.
