By Chidi Ugwu
The House of Representatives Committee on the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has commended the Corps Marshal on the aggressive enforcement of traffic laws in 2024 leading to improved fines generation and called for sustained aggression in the new year.
In a statement, Olusegun Ogungbemide, the Assistant Corps Marshal, Corps Public Education Officer, the commendation was part of the observations made by members of the Committee when the Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed appeared before them to appraise the 2024 budget performance by the Corps and to defend the projection for 2025.
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In response to the presentation made to the Committee by the Corps Marshal, members observed with delight the high level of performance by the FRSC in 2024 as indicated in the performance report presented by the Corps Marshal. According to them, while the total sum of N2.9 billion was originally projected for last year’s revenue generation by the FRSC, it superseded the target by generating N5.9 billion, making it 100 percent increase above the projection.
While members of the Committee commended the Corps Marshal for the increased tempo of activities that led to the feat in the last year’s report, they further charged him to sustain the aggression, especially in the area of enforcement of traffic lights offences which they said have become more prevalent in the FCT. To this end, they called for collaboration between the FCT Administration and the FRSC to make all the traffic lights within the capital territory to be functional and bring all violators to book. “That alone will increase the amount of fines generated from traffic violations in the new year,” they stated.
The Chairman of the Committee, Honourable Abiodun Derin Adesida specifically asked the Corps to clarify on the issue of N1.9 billion which came up at the Senate committte defence as reported in some media platforms. In response to the inquiry, the Corps Marshal explained that the N1.9 billion was the fines generated from traffic violations alone, which were duly remitted directly to the Federation Account. He further explained that the FRSC has no access to the federation account to which every kobo of the fines generated was paid.
“Outside the N1.9 billion generated from fines, other operational surpluses paid as revenues from the FRSC for last year were from the Number plates, Driver’s License, signage, training and towing which came up to N3.2 billion, bringing the total amount of revenue generated by the Corps in 2024 to N5.9 billion.
“All of these were duly remitted to the federation account as indicated in our 2024 report,” the Corps Marshal further stated.
Upon the clarification and expression of satisfaction with the Corps’ performance in 2024, the Committee members unanimously adopted the report as presented by the Corps Marshal and proceeded to consider the 2025 budget proposals.
