By Bisi Kazeem, Assistant Corps Marshal and Public Education Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).
When he was appointed as the first internally groomed Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) by former President Goodluck Jonathan on July 23, 2014, the emergence of Dr Boboye Olayemi Oyeyemi was celebrated widely, not only among the staff of the Corps but also among stakeholders and members of the public, who were conscious of developments within the Corps. The wide jubilation that heralded his appointment was borne out of the long expectations of the people that a competent officer with full understanding of the vision and mission of the organisation got the opportunity to manage the elite Corps that had earlier earned public trust and got certified with the global certificate of standardisation, otherwise referred to as ISO 9001:2008, for sustained improvement.
Prior to his appointment, Oyeyemi, who was one of the few founding officers of the Corps, had gained wide ranging experiences spanning all the major departments and commands of the Corps, all of which he excelled in managing without blame. With his robust background in operations, motor vehicle administration, training and policy, research and statistics, which he managed with excellence, all eyes were on the Federal Government to give him the opportunity to showcase the leadership skills he had learnt over the years under successive Corps Marshals.
His emergence was, therefore, not surprising to all those interested in the growth and development of the Corps. Interestingly, he did not disappoint the people as he hit the ground running after his swearing in by the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim in the conference hall of the SGF’s office. An advocate of policy continuity, Oyeyemi had no difficulty in recognising the need to uphold and build on the policy direction taken by his predecessor, Chief Osita Chidoka, who had earlier been appointed as a minister and member of the Federal Executive Council.
He announced his management ideals during his maiden strategy session with the principal officers of the National Headquarters and Zonal Commanding Officers, when he stated that the principles of his management would be anchored on the tripod of Consultation, Reward and Punishment (CRP), an acronym for the use of carrots and sticks in managing the affairs of the Corps. As a versatile computer user, Oyeyemi not only promoted the digitisation policy of the Corps, but took it to the next level, thereby widening the scope, usage and accessibility of computers among the generality of the Corps in the last eight years that he was saddled with the responsibility of leading the organisation.
Having successfully spent his two tenures at the topmost office of the Corps and is graciously bowing out, the questions on the lips of many anxious Nigerians are, what did he do differently that he could be remembered for by the coming generations? Here, we must point out, first and foremost, that the unprecedented levels of recruitment that he secured from the Federal Government within the years has, no doubt, raised the number of qualified personnel available to carry out specialist and general duty assignments that have significantly improved the presence and visibility of the Corps across the nation’s highways. His policy of ensuring effective management of the wide network of road nationwide has led to the introduction of Corridor Commands and Station Offices, which have made the presence of the FRSC in all the nation’s 774 local governments possible for collective ownership of traffic management, as envisaged by the Road Safety Strategy initiative.
Concerned with the poor office accomodation and dilapidated nature of most of the structures occupied by the Corps on rental basis across the states, the Oyeyemi-led management vigorously pursued the policy of constructing permanent office accomodation, most of which have been commissioned across states in the six geopolitical zones of the country. This has created opportunity for modern and permanent office structures owned by the Corps.
Towards ensuring a happier and more productive post service life for staff, the last man standing unveiled project 20,000 staff Housing Scheme to make house ownership easier for all staff of the Corps, while we brought into existence FRSC Post-Service Scheme (PSS) to help members of the Corps save for retirement before the retirement benefit/pension are paid.
Furthermore, the aggressive pursuit of the policy of fleet renewal by his management has led to the procurement of an unprecedented number of operational vehicles, tow trucks, ambulances, administration vehicles and other rescue equipment, the largest ever secured by any management in the 34 years of the Corps’ existence.
As an organisation built on the ingredients of knowledge, the FRSC management under Oyeyemi paid special attention to staff capacity development programmes through which opportunities for local and foreign trainings were offered to all cadres of staff. Further to this, various institutions of learning aimed at developing the intellectual and road traffic management expertise of the Corps were not only established, but some upgraded to make it possible for them to offer advanced knowledge and certification. To this end, the FRSC Academy, Udi, Enugu State was upgraded as a centre of excellence for the study of road safety and it was affiliated with the Federal University of Technology, Owerri for the award of post-graduate degree programmes in Transportation Management.
His management has been able to successfully negotiate and took delivery of an ultra-modern Inspectorate Training School, Owa Alero in Delta State, through the benevolence of the government and people of Delta State. In addition, he has been able to negotiate and secure the agreement of Plateau State Government to build the Road Marshal Assistant Training School in Shendam, Plateau State, where work is already at an advanced stage. And in his commitment to the career development of staff, which aligns with the policy of rewarding excellence, the yearly promotion exercise has continued to be observed in the last eight years of his management, thereby creating opportunities for the upward movement of staff, in line with available vacancies and strict adherence to the provisions of the federal character principles.
More to the above, Oyeyemi developed transformational initiatives focused on People, Processes and Technology (PPT), which is why today not only does its staff pride as the most disciplined but the Corps stands out as the best Information Technology (IT) driven organisation in Nigeria, with its robust data base and over 95 percentage digitalised administrative and operational procedures.
His administrative ingenuity that led to the deployment of FRSC personnel to Tank Farms has, to a large degree, dwindled the rate of crashes associated with articulated vehicles, particularly tankers carrying petroleum products. Through its Safe-to-Load initiative, articulated vehicle have been subjected to checks before they are allowed to load from the various depots across the country, with trained personnel of the Corps undertaking routine checks to ensure strict compliance.