More than 1, 000 dormant Special Marshals of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, in Lagos State had been shown the way out in the last two years, the State Coordinator, Olusola Olojede, has disclosed.
Mr Olojede disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, at the 2019 Sectoral Workshop of the volunteer arm of FRSC in Lagos.
The biannual workshop is themed: “Special Marshals Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.”
“We have over 1500 special marshals in Lagos officially, we have removed so many people for inactiveness. Right now, we intend to recruit more than a thousand.
“If you are not active, we remove you. We don’t want people who just wear the kits for wearing sake.
“We have removed over a thousand in the last two years because in Lagos, we used to have over 3000 special marshals,” Mr Olojede said.
He said that the workshop brought together Special Marshals in the state to share experience on how to improve service for more productivity.
He urged the government to help in maintenance of road infrastructure to reduce accidents.
He said that the FRSC volunteer group had done a lot to improve safety on the roads but more were still expected with increased commitment and dedication to the task of saving lives.
“We have done very well and we are going to do more. That is why after this event, we are going to try and get more special marshals recruited to take care of the traffic population in Lagos.
“The population in Lagos is huge, so we need to have more people,” he said.
The state coordinator urged road users to respect other motorists and be patient on the road to reduce rates of crashes and fatalities.
In his keynote address, Hyginus Omeje, FRSC Lagos Sector Commander, thanked the special marshals for volunteering to assist the corps in propagating road safety ideals across the country.
Mr Omeje said: “This is a volunteer arm of FRSC, it is the second arm of the corps. I want to appreciate you for your sacrifices, spending your personal money to ensure safety.
“Special Marshals have contributed so much in term on traffic control and developmental projects. They have come to our rescue in so many ways. I appreciate them for all their selfless efforts and contributions towards road safety.”
In his remarks, Dr Sini Kwabe, National Coordinator of Special Marshals, said that the challenge of road crashes remained an issue and expressed regret that some marshals had died in the cause of rendering volunteer service of saving lives.
“We as special marshals must step up our game in order to stem the tide of road crashes. We must give back to the society as men of proven integrity.
“There is no doubt we need to improve on the standard of our activities. This is the responsibility we have chosen and we are not being forced to do it,” he said.
Mr Kwabe, who noted that special marshals had contributed immensely to road safety, urged road users to obey traffic rules while government should also pay attention to safety on roads.
He commended the Corps Marshal of the FRSC, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, for lifting the ban on recruitment of new special marshals.
The event had in attendance hundreds of special marshals, past national and state coordinators of special marshals, officers and men of FRSC in Lagos, among others.
