By Agili Modest

Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Nasarawa state command has denied the allegations making the rounds regarding special treatments given to commercial motorists in the state. It insisted that all motorists in the state are treated in an equal manner but checks by the Nasarawa Eye shows commercial motorists enjoys special treatments from men of FRSC especially when on road patrol.

Meanwhile, following the directive by Governor Abdullahi A. Sule of Nasarawa State mandating the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to check indiscriminate use of Government number plates by motorists in the state, the Corps Commander of FRSC in Nasarawa state, Ibrahim Maiyaki Bazama said he has given his men the marching order to clamp down on illegal use of official plate numbers by private car owners in the state.
The FRSC State Corps Commander who revealed this in a chat with Nasarawa Eye in his office recently said that the governor’s directive was coming at a time when criminal elements use government number plates to carry out their heinous activities. He reiterated the FRSC’s commitment to enforce this through aggressive patrol in strategic locations to arrest use of illegal number plates.

He said that the organisation’s operations to check unauthorised use of plate numbers would be across the state to ensure that official plate numbers are not abused by the private motorists

Bazama explained that the FRSC would use its eagle eye to identify defaulting vehicles, adding that there is an extant law to arrest anyone using government number plates without being a government official.

The FRSC boss disclosed that since his assumption as Nasarawa State Corps Commander, his men have impounded over 200 motorcycles whose riders did not use crash helmets, stressing that the use of helmets by motorcyclists was still in force. He called on motorcycle riders to use the helmet for their safety.

Bazama said that over 300 vehicles were also impounded by his command for not using number plates, noting that with the aggressive clamp down on motorists without plate numbers in the state has led to increase in purchase of number plates by the motorists, thereby improving the revenue base of the state.

Continuing, he said that apart from the Corp’s operations to ensure safety on the roads, the FRSC also carried out research on our roads and gave advice to government with a view to implementing policies that would improve the safety of road users.

He said personnel of FRSC usually organized free vehicle checks every quarter of the year to advise motorists on what needed to be done on their vehicles towards their safety and that of the passengers; just as he called on the road users to see officers of FRSC as their friends because according to him, the command’s duty was to save lives and property on the roads.