FRSC gets tow-truck to clear obstruction on roads

AUTHORITY of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Kwara State Command has taken the delivery of a tow-truck of about 70 ton capacity to remove obstruction on roads when crashes occur.

The state Sector Commander of FRSC, Fredrick Ade Ogidan, disclosed this when he led his management team on a courtesy visit to the Chairman, Kwara State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abdullateef ‘Lanre Ahmed.

ROYAL NEWS gathered that the NUJ boss received the FRSC boss alongside members of the State Working Committee (SWC) of NUJ.

Speaking during the visit, Ogidan informed that the tow-truck had since been deployed to Ilorin-Jebba Highway due to huge number of trucks plying that axis.

He said the corps was pursuing vigorously reduction of road traffic crashes and fatality rate in the state by 15 percent this year through enforcement, construction of clinics on highways that are stocked with necessary materials and life support equipment.

Ogidan, who noted that road crashes are inevitable, said the corps is duty bound to provide succour to accident victims when it occurs.

While seeking the collaboration of the media, the FRSC Sector Commander observed that the job of road safety corps cannot be achieved without the support of members of the pen profession.

“Our duty is to ensure that when accident happens, people should not die. We are saying that we can’t do without road crashes. Crashes will happen from time to time. But when it does happen, let nobody die. That is why FRSC is in the business of ensuring that the roads are patrolled on the daily basis, providing recovery vehicles.

“Kwara State has been very fortunate to have a tow truck of about 70 ton capacity that has just been sent to Kwara State that will help in removing any obstruction that will stop people from passing on the road. The Corps Marshal being from here was magnanimous enough to bring that vehicle to this place, and it is already working along the Jebba axis where you have a lot of trucks.

“This year, we have set a target for ourselves that we want to reduce fatality on roads by 15 percent, and we are pursuing that vigorously through enforcement, ensuring that we have our clinics on the highways and stocked with the necessary materials and life support equipment that can easily resuscitate road traffic crisis in the country.

“But even when the victims get involved, at least, we are able to get there and provide succour so that we rush them to the nearest hospitals and they can live. That is by pursuing that to ensure that nobody dies in road traffic crash.

“We are also ensuring that there are ambulance services on several points on the highways to ensure that when accident happens, ambulances rush to the spots and give first aid to the victims of road traffic crashes”, Ogidan said.

Responding, the state NUJ Chairman, ‘Lanre Ahmed, decried the indiscriminate overloading of commerical vehicles traveling on the highways, saying this ugly trend has accounted for the spate of incessant road crashes.

The NUJ Chairman, who commended the road safety corps for its efforts in curtailing road accident, also tasked the management of the corps to prioritize welfare of its officers and men.