Over 70 officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, have been arrested over alleged corrupt practices.
This is apart from some others arrested through the instrumentalities of internal regulatory mechanism of the Corps.
The disclosure was made by the spokesman of the corps, Mr. Bisi Kazeem, in a statement he issued on Friday.
He made the disclosure just as he declared that the Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, stressed that the anti-corruption campaign currently going on under his watch in FRSC was already yielding fruit.
Boboye who addressed a press conference in Abuja, according to Kazeem, said the statement became necessary in order re-emphasise the commitment of the FRSC to eradicating road traffic crashes and creating a safer motoring environment in Nigeria.
According to Oyeyemi, the corps had demonstrated that through the recent swift reaction to public outcry on corrupt tendencies by some personnel of the Corps detailed on patrol operations on certain locations across the country.
He said to nip that in the bud, the Corps Marshal launched a deliberate counter move by approaching the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, and Department of State Service, DSS, for collaboration on Joint Surveillance Special Operation.
The operation, he said, was targeted at arresting the bad eggs who by their actions, greed and highhandedness had made mockery of the hard earned reputation of the Corps before the general public.
Said he: “The Surveillance Operation yielded positive results as over 70 staff were arrested in two tactical swoop, apart from other pockets of arrest made through the instrumentalities of internal regulatory mechanism of the Corps by which 71 arrests were made, with the cases currently undergoing investigation.”
Meanwhile, 31 staff of the corps who were arrested by other security agencies are being tried for different infractions, leading to apprehension and desperation by some of those affected.
According to Kazeem, Oyeyemi stated in his address that the Corps’ National Traffic Radio was targeted at ensuring traffic reports were given nationwide and educating Nigerians.
He revealed that measures institutionalised to achieve the mandate of the corps by reducing road traffic crashes by 25℅ and fatalities by 30℅ were being undermined by corrupt practices, hence the launch of FLAG-IT Anti Corruption App in partnership with the Akin Fadeyi and Mac-Authur Foundation to report any act of corruption by FRSC operatives.
Given the reason for the clampdown, Oyeyemi stated that the clampdown became pertinent in view of the need for complementary efforts by the FRSC as a corporate organisation with huge national investment to join the efforts being made by President Muhammadu Buhari, to protect the enormous national economic resources and intellectual property of the nation through the fight against corruption.
He further commended staff who had continually supported and remained committed to the pursuit of the common goals of the corps.
His words: “Let me commend the personnel and urge them never to relent, as we will always stand with and by them. We are also aware that some persons and groups are making desperate efforts to come against us for our anti-corruption stance, I want to advise those with such mindset who may wish to tarnish the image of the corps to desist from doing so, because, it is our collective responsibility to build an organisation that we can all be proud of.”
To this end, he reaffirmed that he would not be deterred or intimidated, but remain focused and determined.
While leveraging on the president’s quote that, “corruption will always fight back,” the Corps Marshal stated that “we know that sooner than later mischief makers would want to make good their threats to smear us with frivolous but distracting commentaries, propaganda, falsehood and harassment.”
