A bill to amend the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Act 2007 passed Second reading in the House of Representatives on Thursday, October 10, 2024. The bill is sponsored by Hon. Olaide Lateef Mohammed (APC; Oyo) and was referred to the Committee on FRSC for further legislative action.
Among other issues, the bill seeks to establish a Road Safety Special Armed Squad for the Corps and improve the benefits for its personnel on the rank of deputy Corps Marshal.
The bill amends section 7 of the principal Act on the Appointment of the Corps Marshal of the FRSC to specify that the person so appointed must be from the rank of the Assistant Corps Marshal (ACM) and above. Presently, there is no specification as to the rank of persons that can be appointed to the foremost office in the FRSC, as is the case in some security and paramilitary agencies. This amendment will serve to streamline appointment of Corps Marshal to certain cadres of the agency and to serving officers within the agency.
The bill seeks to introduce a new section 15 of the Act, to extend the jurisdiction and operational zone of the FRSC to “all public roads” as opposed to “all public highways” as stipulated in the extant law. This will mean that the operations of the Corps will cover all roads and not restricted to highways. However, in reality, the Corps already operates on local roads as well as highways. It would appear that this amendment is aimed at providing legal backing to cover the sphere of the Corps’ already existing operations.
Furthermore, the bill amends section 17 of the Act, to state that personnel of the FRSC on the rank of Deputy Corps Marshall shall be on the Consolidated Salary grade and enjoy its attendant benefits including retirement benefits.
Section 19 of the Act is amended by establishing a Road Safety Special Armed Squad, which will bear arms for the purpose of carrying out high risk operations under the purview of the functions of the FRSC. The extant provision of section 19 of the Act already entitles personnel of the Road Safety Corps exposed to high risk operations, to the same powers, authorities and privileges as members of the Nigeria Police, including bearing arms. The amendment proposes to expand the definition of the powers, authorities and privileges in this regard to include those given by law to the Nigeria Correctional Service, Nigeria Immigration Service and Nigeria Customs Service, as well as the Nigeria Police. It further seeks to establish a special squad to bear arms, to operationalise this provision.
Generally, it appears that the bill seeks to make some changes to the leadership structure and operations of the Corps, by keeping the appointment of the Corps Marshal within the agency, enhancing the welfare of persons on the rank of Deputy Corps Marshall. However, the amendment to operationalise bearing of arms by a unit of the Corps raises concern about increasing militarisation of what should be normal civil enforcement activities of government agencies, especially with citizens’ experiences regarding abuse of firearms by security agents.