FRSC Sector Commander Commended Zulum For Promising To Assist With Tow Truck

FRSC Sector Commander Commended Zulum For Promising To Assist With Tow Truck

By: Bodunrin Kayode

Borno State Sector Commander Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) Boyi Utten has commended the Borno state Governor Babagana Zulum for promising to assist their work with a tow truck. 

Utten said that with the lingering insurgency in Borno, the delivery of the truck would go a long way in sorting out problems of broken down vehicles within and outside the Maiduguri metropolis.

He told this reporter during an Interview after the flag off of this year’s ember month campaign that his agency was lucky to be in Borno at these trying times because a tow truck will enable them handle broken down vehicles where ever they are within the state.

This is because a lot of commuter vehicles have been abandoned in odd places for a long time before usually private tow vehicles are brought down to drag them out of the way for repairs.

On functional vehicles, he maintained that the State govt has been magnanimous enough to refurbish three vehicles for their usage even before 2 more “an ambulance and a fire truck”  came in for their support.

On office spaces, he said that existing units are operational where there is respite but those in the central and northern Borno still have security issues because they can’t move in yet due to the insurgency problem.

” Apart from Bama which is now stable, our unit from Dikwa are yet to return but they do patrol along the Mafa, Dikwa axis  because peace is gradually returning to some of these affected council areas. 

” However, in terms of presence and the ability to do the job, there is no council area without representative. They feed us with lots of vital information within crash and road safety related matters. But apart from Bama where our unit is functioning, we have a unit Command in Kwayakusa and one in Biu council area” said commander Boyi.

Speaking on car crashes in the state generally, Boyi noted that accidents are  relatively low in Borno because many of the roads are not well plied by commuters because of the 12 year insurgency.

“We have a road side clinic however in Beneshiek which covers accidents along these section of the road betwwork. With time we hope to open up a zebra to be able to take care of crashes or any form of eventuality arising from crashes from commuters.

Speaking on security and arms coverage for operations of the Corp, Commander Boyi who assumed duty about 6 months ago went on ” it’s true that we are not yet armed but we have so many other security agencies helping us to make progress in this war theatre. We are doing our best to serve the people of Borno state and we will surely continue.”

He posited.

Speaking earlier during the launch of this year’s Ember months campaign, Boyi noted that “it is an annual event designed by the Corps, mainly for sensitization and reminding of all stakeholders in the Road transportation Sectors and other road users to be cautious while driving on the highway, because the Ember months usually precipitate higher vehicular and human movements which do lead to Road Traffic Crashes (RTC) and attendants injuries and deaths.

“The Ember months campaign flag off also gives us the opportunity to appeal to drivers to adopt defensive driving techniques while plying the roads in this period as it is another time we remind ourselves of the inherent dangers associated with driving on our highways and the need to imbibe positive attitudinal change and to be more careful in order to reduce road Traffic Crashes to the barest minimal level.

“The theme for this year’s campaign is ‘Avoid Speeding, Over Loading and Unsafe Tyres to Arrive Alive’. The choice of this year’s theme is premised on the fact that over speeding and tyre burst have been identified as some of the prevailing causes of Road Traffic Crashes with higher numbers of fatalities especially during this period as a result of a driver’s attitude.

“Statistically according to World Health Organization (WHO), 1.35 million people are kîlled on our roads around the world. Everyday almost 3,700 people are killed globally in Crashes involving cars, buses, Motor cycles, bicycles, trucks and pedestrians being knocked down.

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“In Nigeria, other factors that contribute to fatal crashes are: Overloading, over speeding, wrongful over taking and dangerous driving among others.” 

Reeling out statistics from Borno roads, the commander said that “Consequently, here in Borno State, so far, about 35 road crashes have been recorded this year, involving 42 vehicles and 302 people, while 61 people out of 302 people were killed with 196 others sustaining various degrees of injuries.

“The prevalent causes were attributed to Over Speeding, Over Loading ,Dangerous Driving, Failure to install speed limiting device, Lane indiscipline, absence of wipers during rainy seasons,Faulty lighting system, route violation, Use of phone while driving, Poor vehicle maintenance among others.”

Borno State Commissioner of Police, Abdu Umar represented by the Assistant Commissioner of police (ACP) Bello Fago called on stake holders to imbibe what has been taught to them during the enlightenment campaign which took place at the premises of the Borno Express transportation company.

He remarked that the main concerns of commuters during the period under review should be “overspeeding, purchase of inferior spare parts especially breaks and off course miss use of all manner of hard drugs.

The Commissioner of transportation Abubakar Tijani who represented Governor Babagana Zulum commended the FRSC for keeping faith with the people all these years in-spite of the lingering insurgency in the state.

” I must commend you for helping us in keeping our people alive in-spite our numerous challenges on our roads

” We are also happy with you for keeping the synergy with other security agencies alive. We are aware of the vulnerability of some of the roads in the state yet you continue savings lives and properties on a daily basis.

” I call on the FRSC and the road users to be more cautious, sensitive and vigilante in controlling these issues and more.

On overload by commuters, Zulum called on various groups in the motor park to initiate new strategies to bring the menace to the nearest minimum.

Several other security heads and partners in the road sector were present including the Nigerian Customs, immigration, civil defense, the Department of state services, National youth service Corp (NYSC) and related unions like the national association of roat transport Owners (NARTO).

FRSC Sector Commander Commended Zulum For Promising To Assist With Tow Truck