The House of Representatives on Monday, insisted that adequate protection must be ensured for personnel of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on operations.
This is coming on the heels of heavy criticisms by citizens that the House was considering the possibilities of the Corps bearing arms.
The House Committee on FRSC, during the 2021 budget defence session with the Corps last week, had cited section 19 of the FRSC Establishment Act 2007, which provided for the protection of operatives of the Corps.
The committee’s considerations were predicated on the concerns raised by the Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of the FRSC (COMACE), Boboye Odeyemi, that he was losing his men on operation to hoodlums and criminals.
However, the position of the House was heavily criticised by citizens, who held that even without arms, some personnel of the Corps were allegedly uncivil in their conducts, and would do worse things if armed, adding that their jobs did not require use of arms.
Worried by the trending criticisms, the House Committee on FRSC told newsmen in Abuja, that they never canvassed for the Corps to be armed.
Hon Mayowa Akinfolarin, Chairman of the Committee, told journalists at a press briefing that the position of the committee was heavily misrepresented and misunderstood.
He pointed out that the said law was an Act of Parliament, which was invocable, but also opened to amendment.
The Chairman said where there was a law that seemed offensive, the people were free to propose amendment to it or even repeal it, stressing that where none of the foregoings were considered, then the law was still valid and could be invoked.
The committee held that it was in the powers of the House to ensure that lives and property of all citizens are protected, adding that like every other citizens, operatives of the FRSC also deserved to be adequately protected.
“We Want to start by debunking some insinuations made across social media. We were with the Federal Road Safety Commission for budget defense, and in that meeting it was clearly stated that as responsive representative that we owe it a duty to protect lives and property on our roads.
“The Corps Marshal made some reports concerning the harassment, molestations, killings of his officers and we responded, as a committee that’s very responsive and sensitive to the plights of Nigerians.
“We made it clear that we owe it a duty to ensure safety on our roads. The Road Safety people and road users are all Nigerians and it’s our responsibility.
“It’s an issue of two sides to a coin and the personnel of the Road Safety must be protected and we made it clear in that meeting that safety on our roads, is a collective responsibility, Including all of you here seated.
“We made reference to an existing law, the Road Safety Establishment Act of 2007, and section 19 made it very clear that those on essential duties, those exposed risks tone protected by way of giving arms to them where possible.
“We said a committee should be set up. We’re not saying Road Safety should carry arms or not, what we’re saying is, if you have a law that is offensive , what should be done is to call for amendment, once you have that amendment there will be public hearing. At the hearing the people will be able to make their contributions where necessary. We said as a committee we need to form a body that will liaise with this commission, Secretay to Government of the Federation, which is the supervisory body, so that we can come together, brainstorm and see what can be done, so that unnecessarily we don’t loose our men to hoodlums.
“In 2007, we had about 162 cases where men of road safety were attacked, kidnapped and sometimes killed. Recently on 13th of September, some personnel of Rooad Safety were kidnapped in Kebbi state”, the Committee Chairman stated.
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