The recent drama orchestrated by the FRSC and the NPF on the floor of the Senate hearing on the proposed new vehicle plate numbers to me represents a miniature picture of the true state of affairs within the Nigerian State.
A state of perpetual waste and inefficiencies engendered by the duplicity of functions and responsibilities within Government agencies as well as between Government agencies was the image painted by the two sister agencies on the said day, an indictment on the ACTS establishing both of them and the unveiling of another constitutional lacuna (Others await revelation-in-time).
And if not for the wise intervention of the Committee Chairman Senator Dahiru Kuta, by reminding the directionless agencies of the agenda of the hearing, perhaps more illegal-legalities would have been unearthed (I scream as I think of the amount that the country has spent doing the same thing by two different agencies of Government, albeit in a different way) and the need to set up more senate hearing committees would have been needed (a waste of tax payers money, yet a need though).
I am not here to discuss whose ACT OF ESTABLISHMENT is correct, or who needs to go back and study its JOB DESCRIPTION again, or the fact that THERE EXISTS AN OBVIOUS CONSTITUTIONAL LACUNA in both ACTS, or the fact that the NPF and the FRSC needs to undergo A MERGER OR ACQUISITION (A battle that has once raged between both agencies, which I think was just an issue of EGO, rather than the interest of the State at heart by the powers that be.). Those issues are as obvious as the rising sun and I leave them to the experts.
Rather I am here to analyze the issue and proffer a lasting solution to inter-agency rivalry and irresponsibility, either genuine or not. In one single word, my solution is:
DECENTRALIZATION
Yes! Decentralization of both the NPF and the FRSC.
Is it rocket science, and as such it is not obvious that leaving the job of POLICING and ROAD SAFETY of the entire Nigeria in the CENTRE is one of the greatest lies ever told? It is too large for the CENTRE to handle not to mention the fact that it is a process in futility, spotted with inefficiencies and a lack of project management insight.
Are you with me?
DECENTRALIZATION
The FRSC becomes a regulatory commission saddled with the responsibility of regulating and harmonizing laws and safety instruments such that the standards in quality and quantity as well as pricing are maintained. The issue of dubbing some roads Federal and some State based on who built or maintains it should not apply to the safety of road users and as such each State would man the roads within its jurisdiction.
ADVANTAGES
1. States can make laws peculiar to their States and safety nature (based on approval and harmonization from the FRSC).
2. The Federal Government can better focus resources on other things, instead of wearing itself thin trying to perform the function which it cannot fund both in terms of human and financial resources.
3. The States will also provide employment for its citizens and stem the tide of OTHER STATES-FCT migrations.
4. An overall and holistic efficiency will be observed in road safety.
The advantages are numerous.
I rest my case folks
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