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Three hearty cheers for the Corps Marshal
The times are quite challenging and the need to plan well for the future has been stressed. Stressing this need was the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, who advised the staff of the Corps to plan well for their future through self development and investment of part of their earnings “for tomorrow”, saying consuming all what someone has at present without giving a thought for tomorrow makes retirement a dreadful experience.
Oyeyemi gave the counsel last Monday while addressing staff of the FRSC National Headquarters Abuja during the first Corps Marshal’s parade he addressed for the year.
He warned against gluttony and tendency to consume all that staff have without investing part of it for their tomorrow, thereby undermining preparations for retirement day.
His words: “Every staff must subscribe to the existing staff cooperative schemes, such as the Post Service Scheme and staff house ownership scheme which provide opportunity of immediate accessibility to invested funds by staff on retirement as well as possibility of personal house ownership while serving, which is provided under “one staff, one house project.”
The Corps Marshal revealed that with Management’s review of last year’s activities of the Corps, it became evident that the organization performed satisfactorily, restating his commitment to sustain the tempo of activities in making the highways safer in the New Year. He expressed appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari for the unprecedented logistics support his administration has rendered to the FRSC which made the attainment of the feats by the Corps possible.
Oyeyemi identified provision of patrol and rescue logistics, support for staff capacity development initiatives and approval for the National Road Safety Strategy Document as some of the policy decisions made by the Federal Government which impacted positively on the performance of the FRSC last year.
“Let me also thank members of the National Assembly, the two committees of the National Assembly with oversight powers over FRSC; office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and all relevant stakeholders who stood firmly by the FRSC in pursuit of its strategic goals for last year,” Oyeyemi stated.
He commended personnel of the FRSC for demonstrating diligence during the end of year special patrol for last year and reassured them of his commitment to addressing staff welfare needs. He disclosed that as part of the efforts, arrangement has been completed with the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria to grant more staff of the Corps “Home Renovation Loan,” while another N200 million will soon be disbursed to staff by the Post Service Scheme to enable them access it for their immediate financial challenges.
On 2017 performance expectation for the FRSC, Oyeyemi enumerated public enlightenment and education; improved enforcement and post crash care; advanced road safety admiration and strengthening professionalism and transparency as some of the 2017 strategic goals of the FRSC. He charged the staff to rededicate themselves to improved service delivery, saying members of the Corps have no alternative but to work harder to justify the confidence reposed in them by government and people of Nigeria.
The Corps Marshal warned staff to take issues of productivity measurement very seriously by ensuring that they always fill the Annual Performance Evaluation form (APER) which is used not only for promotion purposes, but as a form of determining who is qualified to be given relevant assignments and nominated for courses.
Speaking on promotion, the Corps Marshal reaffirmed the integrity of the Corps’ promotion process, disclosing that in line with the need to make the process more transparent, a review committee set up by the Management to look into the process will submit its report by February with recommendations that could strengthen the process. He however warned those making unguarded utterances about the conduct of promotion exercise in the Corps to desist from such unethical practice as the process was so transparent that every candidate was given a copy of his or her script and allowed those in doubt to seek redress using official line of communication.
The FRSC Boss also frowned at the practice of some staff who engage in clandestine activities such as leaking of official documents to unauthorized persons, criminal acts like conniving with people to commit crimes such as touting in driver’s license and number plates and making internal affairs of the Corps a media issue. These, he said, must stop forthwith as perpetrators would not be spared of the wrath of the disciplinary codes of the Corps if they are caught.
On staff’s health condition, Corps Marshal Oyeyemi warned against acts that could undermine staff’s health status and enjoined them to be active in sports; undertake regular checkups and visit hospital whenever they are sick to avoid the condition degenerating. While assuring that Management will not abandon any staff who is afflicted by ailments, he warned them against self medication and non adherence to safety rules by patrol men during patrols.
Speaking on commencement of enforcement of the law on speed limiters, Oyeyemi disclosed that after exhaustive consultation with relevant stakeholders and aggressive public enlightenment programmes to give motorists ample opportunity to install the device in their vehicles, enforcement is expected to commence on 1st February 2017 in line with the earlier presidential directives and resolutions of the stakeholders. Corps Marshal Oyeyemi further stated that with the measures already put in place by the Corps in collaboration with stakeholders through collaborative initiatives, the new enforcement date on speed limiters remains sacrosanct.
The Corps Marshal enjoined staff to brace up to the challenges in the new year 2017 and enjoined them to look up to the year with optimism, dedication to duties and commitment one’s assignments in the determination to restore sanity on the nation’s highways.
Corps Marshal’s Parade is a weekly parade organized by the FRSC, which provides platform for Commanding Officers across the country to address their staff on contemporary issues ranging from indiscipline, comportment, command and control to career development of the staff. As part of the process, the Corps Marshal sometimes personally addresses the staff of the National Headquarters Abuja to press on these issues as demonstrated in Abuja last Monday.
