Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, has approved massive deployment of personnel in a bid to achieve a crash and hitch-free 2020 Sallah celebration. He has also directed Commanding Officers to collaborate with COVID-19 Task Force teams and security agencies across the country to ensure maximum compliance with established laws and orders and all directives on physical distancing, compulsory use of face mask and restrictions of movement across states. The special patrol commenced yesterday, Friday, May 22, and will last till May 30, 2020.

According to Bisi Kazeem, the Corps Public Education Officer, the directives of the Corps Marshal were contained in an administrative instruction released to field Commands. He disclosed that the directives involved “massive deployment of personnel to ensure free flow of traffic, prompt removal of obstructions and timely rescue services in the event of any road traffic crash is critical to the realisation of a safe motoring environment during the season and beyond.”

“The Corps Marshal,” according to Kazeem, “outlined the modus operandi for a successful 2020 Eid-el-fitri celebration and gave Commanding Officers matching order to enforce without compromise all established laws and orders on safe road use.

“While charging them on the need to give maximum effect to Presidential Orders, Oyeyemi revealed that the objectives of the special patrol is to achieve among others, the following;

1. Compliance with protocol and guidelines set up by the various states with respect to COVID-19
2. Ensure that the Presidential Orders on interstate travels and restrictions ate diligently enforced with all sense of professionalism and civility
3. Curtail the occurrence of Road Traffic Crashes within the period and provide prompt rescue services
4. Ensure full deployment of patrol vehicles, ambulances, tow trucks, bikes and other patrol equipment
5. Collaborate with security agencies, ensure effective traffic management, increased visibility on the highways, and strict enforcement of overloading and physical distancing amongst commuter.

“He warned that the special patrol was necessitated by the upsurge in traffic volume and the rise in COVID-19 cases Nationwide. The strategies deployed are anchored on achieving a decline in transmission of the virus amongst commuters and the need to mitigate the attendant risks of road traffic crashes.

“As such, the Corps Marshal further instructed Commanding Officers to apprehend any vehicle caught in the act of overloading of vehicles in both persons and goods. The offenders are to be tried in already established mobile courts across the federation.

“He therefore called on all Nigerians to be at alert, cautious and imbibe all safety ideals before, during and after the celebration.”