Road safety enforcement is about to become deadly – extremely deadly – in Nigeria. Citing incessant attacks, the Federal Government might soon implement a law that will empower Federal Road Safety Corps officers to bear arms while controlling traffic. In the forefront of guns-for-road-safety is the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha. This is a panicky measure. It is akin to killing a fly with a sledgehammer. President Muhammadu Buhari should not be a party to it.
Puzzlingly, the FRSC has become a toothless bulldog in tackling the bedlam. It lacks adequate equipment, technology and practical understanding to manage the scourge. Officers resort to crude methods: they ambush motorists at bad portions of roads or at corners to check vehicle documents. This exposes both the FRSC operatives and the motorists to danger. Repeatedly, a single breakdown leads to gridlock that lasts for hours.
In April alone, the police shot dead Kolade Johnson, 38, and Ada Ifeanyi, 20, in Lagos. Ifeanyi’s boyfriend was critically injured. Police brutality is so rampant that civil society organisations and the youth are campaigning for the scrapping of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad unit, following a spate of illegal arrests, extortion and torture of young people by SARS officers.
In this atmosphere of heavy militarisation, it is insensitive to arm the officials of another civil state agency. Instead of guns, government should acquire technology for it. The funds earmarked for the acquisition of guns should be redirected to this ideal system. Many countries have adopted some automated traffic enforcement systems, notably systems that photograph vehicles that run red lights or exceed speed limits and issue traffic tickets.