By Magnus Chukwudi, Port Harcourt
The Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC), Rivers State command, has vouched the command does not operate what he described as the ‘return system.’
Sector Commander Iyang Edet Umoh, made the declaration in Port Harcourt, at the weekend, during an interview session with our correspondent, in reaction to public allegation of extortion by members of command.
“As the head of FRSC in Rivers State, from the time of my recruitment till now, the issue of extortion in the commission remains a ‘taboo’ . We don’t support it, and we don’t encourage it in any form, technically, physically or spiritually, we don’t support it. We are totally against it.
“We don’t operate ‘return system’ in the FRSC. I for one have not sent anybody to the road, to go and bring me money, and will never do it. I fuel the the vehicles, maintain the patrol vehicles”, he noted.
However, he observed thus: “The major challenge or problem we have is, people come here to complain of extortion, but when asked to identify the suspect, who extorted money from them, they chicken out, on the excuse that, they don’t want to sack anybody from his job. So why do you report then? If however you don’t know the person, just describe, the location, date and time, yet they can’t provide such a cheap evidence.
“We don’t tolerate route diversion. If an officer is assigned to a route, he must go there. Should there be any reason for diversion, the officer must call the office first, to give reason for the change, and to effect the change in the roaster/notice board.
“It’s not every of our staff who goes out there that extorts money from motorists, we still have some of them that are upright in discharge of their duties,” he submitted.
Corp Commander Umoh stated, his command has duty patrol as well as mobile patrol teams, but defended that much as he can’t vouch for all his staff, yet he could say for sure, there are some of them, who do not comprise, and vowed he could produce, the statistics of the number of times, his officers had resisted bribery.
“When you refused it, we would book the staff, it’s an offence against the officer. We have had more than 400 of such cases of ‘Attempt to Corrupt Marshals (ACM)”.
He also revealed that FRSC works in synergy with other collaborative agencies like the Police, Department of State Service (DSS), Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) etc, who write them very often, to ask for information concerning vehicles.
Advising on safety on the roads, he sued for attitudinal change, war against drunk driving, saying when one drinks , he should not drive, and when one drives, he shouldn’t drink, especially alcohol.
“Ensure your tyres are not worn out, proper inflation of tyres, and mostly ensure you are well-trained to drive, and have your drivers’ license”, he warned.
