Commanding Officer, Zone five, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Andrew Kumapayi, yesterday, disclosed that the corps will commence road audit ahead of the opening of the second Niger Bridge, Onitsha in October, this year.
Kumapayi stated this during his first quarter monitoring and inspection visit to Anambra Sector Command, Awka, saying that discussions are ongoing with the sector commanders in the zone.
He said the command was working on how to cope with expected increase in traffic when the second Niger Bridge and International Passenger and Cargo Airport commence operations.
He explained that the road audit was aimed at ascertaining how to deploy personnel, patrol vehicles and work out partnerships with other security agencies on the bridge.
While lamenting the rate at which FRSC officials were extorting money from motorists on highways in the zone, which he said, is giving the Commission a bad image.
Kumapayi stressed that such act was against the Corps operational guidelines, and urged the media and the public to report such officers to the command so they could be punished accordingly.
“This time around, we will not allow breakdown of vehicles on the new bridge to ensure free flow of traffic and the same applies to the old bridge,” he said.
He pointed out that the essence of his visit to the command was to assess its performance in 2021 and suggest ways of improving on their operations in 2022.
He also said it was discovered that over-speeding constituted a major cause of road crashes in the zone, adding: “And we plan to deploy technologies to detect speeding vehicles with a view to ensuring that we reduce accidents in the zone as directed by the Corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi.”
Sector Commander of FRSC in Anambra, Adeoye Irelewuyi, said the command stepped up enforcement by commencing operation ‘Jiliya Nwayoo’ with focus on speed limit device.
“The state is in dire need of high capacity towing truck for prompt clearing of obstructions especially heavy duty vehicles and more personnel to cover the state,” he said, urging motorists to obey traffic regulations and cooperate with FRSC officials in the discharge of their duties.
