From Jude Idu, Abuja
The Directorate of Road Transport Services, a specialised unit of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration is faced with a plethora of challenges. The responsibilities of the Directorate constitute a significant component the mandate of contributing the smooth functioning of the emerging mega-city.
Expectedly, the Director of the Directorate, Dr. Bello….is one person who has had to confront these challenges and devise ways of tackling them. In this interview, he explains how new and sophisticated technology will be used to fight criminality in the FCT, Abuja
Taking a panoramic view of the FCT, what major challenges are confronting the directorate?
When you talk of challenges, I should start with the one that is generally affecting every organisation. And that is poor funding. And that is because the kind of work we perform is such that a lot is required of us. And without funding we can hardly perform to that optimum level expected of us, more especially with the latest technology as it relates to our work. Our operation greatly involves the use of technology and anytime we are not getting it well people feel bad about our operation and they complain but they wouldn’t know that we operate with a certain budget and that everything we do is within the budgetary allocation. So members of the public feel we are not getting it right more especially those who are ignorant of how government is run. The second part of your question, is the lack of trust among Nigerians or should I say apathy over our enforcement teams. You see, Nigerians find it uneasy to believe in the performance of their citizens. The general belief is that the government has failed in its promise across board. They believe that when a sector fails that the government has failed all round. So it becomes difficult for them to see through and notice the little that other sectors are doing. So, no matter how you perform your function as an agency, what they believe is that government has failed them. Even as the director of the agency, there are certain thingsI would say, but you would not believe me, just because you see me from government side.
So, in Nigeria, it is all about the people against the government, the public trust is not there. No society grows like that; we have a situation wheren no one believes that you can ever get it right or that you are saying the truth as a leader. The people must have the trust in their leaders for any society to grow. For example, in my own agency, it is always difficult to please everyone and as an organization which mediates between the public and the government, we always try to say the truth as much as we can and to have this public trust because we keep interacting with the public.
We try as much as possible to carry out our duties in line with best practices; we try to ensure that the public gets the best and to maintain the standards which can be obtained elsewhere in the world. But no matter how we try there must be this public out cry of total failure. Despite the way we try to discharge duties, the public still goes with the erroneous belief that our men are corrupt. We have cases of public complaints that our men extort people but thorough investigation always proves otherwise. And this is because the system does not allow such. There is no offense that would warrant any offender handing money to any official along the road because there is no need for such as everything is done through technology or electronically. Lack of public trust in public office holders hamper growth not only in FCT but Nigeria in general. So these are the major challenges we have. Once people believe in us and we do our duties to the best of our abilities with possible procurement of latest technology equipment, I think that the DRTS in the FCT will be one of the best agencies in Nigeria and the world.
Do you have problems with categories of staff under your service in terms of professional background?
Well, I don’t see that as a challenge. But the challenge here is that in line with the functions we perform, we have a kind of pyramid, where those who are growing in the service should be in a greater number to perform the job, while the senior officers supervise them. But that is not the case now because already we have a greater numbers of senior staff now performing jobs of junior officers. But effort is being made to correct it but I can tell you that it is not a challenge in so far as the job is being done well. Part of the causes is that some people within the FCT Administration were transferred into the Directorate and sometimes most of them assumed office as senior officers, so that created this kind of scenerio, where we have more senior officers than juniors. So, we use the senior officers to complement the work of the juniors, to ensure that the job is done. So, if I tell you it is not a challenge to us, then I am lying. Like I told you, we do not have professional deficiency as people allege. The DRTS is a multi-sectoral agency. We have professionals well represented and we are doing what we are supposed to do like I said earlier.
What is the agency doing to eradicate the proliferation of illegal parks, more especially on the road corridors?
As you rightly said, they are illegal motor parks. All these places used to harass innocent road users are illegal because they were not created by law to be used as motor parks in the FCT. The effort we are making is to remove these illegal ones created by agberos and in achieving that we are opening up the existing ones created by government and modernizing them. Like what we did in Area 1, we were able to open it up and put infrastructure there and to ensure that commuters don’t stand on the road corridors to attract convergence of commercial vehicles. There are other ones at the same other side of Area 1. Go there, even in the night, it is well illuminated.
The reason is to attract commuters because it is only when passengers stand at the road corridor that vehicles go for them. And we have had so many reports of criminal activities. You hear about ‘one chance’ people rob passengers who board such vehicles. People are also kidnapped that way – when they stand on the road corridor for vehicles. But to checkmate this menace, we started opening up these motor parks and to make them more attractive. Because it is only when you make good use of the parks that we reduce the practice of picking people along the road. And also in other to end the operations of those who pick people along the road, we have also deployed our men across the routes. For example, those who pick people along Julius Berger bridge are being apprehended even across other intersections. We are doing it to stop illegal proliferation of illegal parks emerging from all corners. We not only arrest them, there are other things we are doing which I may not discuss here due to security reasons. But the bottom line is that we are doing many things to end the menace.
The FCT administration has a mandate and that is to build one of the best 25 mega cities across the whole world. And for such to happen, we wouldn’t allow such situations to happen here. That means we are deviating from the mandate of the administration. We are not taking it lightly. If you visit states of this federation, you see one union fighting the other and in Abuja, because of the efforts the Directorate is making, such has been very minimal and there is no day we don’t dislodge up to 10 illegal motor parks across the city. What our men do is to move around with operational vehicles and dislodge their settlements and arrest the operators. We have prosecuted so many of them. So all these are in the efforts to discourage the practice and government would do more to ensure that the mandate is achieved.
Some drivers and Agberos have alleged that DRTS officials compromise and this is the reason for the continued existence of illegal park operations?
The allegations are simply not true. You see, I told you earlier, how people come up with different allegations, which always unsubstantiated. May be one of these days, I will work with you around the FCT road corridors to unravel the truth about some of the things being reported by people, sometimes even your colleagues, journalists ask questions based on what they hear from people but sometimes even those who reported the incidents are ashamed to defend their earlier comments. Well in as much as I won’t rule out corruption in some places, we wouldn’t also subscribe to unsubstantiated allegations which we have witnessed here time without number. Perhaps someone had told you this, but call him next day to give evidence of what he said and you may be embarrassed again. What we normally tell people is to bring their complaints because my office is open 24 hours and when such complaints are brought we help and get to the root of the problems. And this is because we are serving Nigerians. The present leadership in the Directorate focuses on service delivery and we do it in a manner so that tomorrow we have a place called DTRS. So many of us here have image to protect and as Director, I have workers elsewhere and I wouldn’t want to create an image that would destroy what I have built for years.
What is the operational status of the computerized vehicle inspection machine?
DRTS is still making effective use of the machines to the ignorance of many. The administration does not engage in channelling vehicles for inspection on daily basis. Such is done periodically depending on the previous check on individual’s vehicle. And this is the recommendation of vehicle engineers. Which is also world’s best practice. The truth is that we do that after one year for the private vehicles and six months for commercial vehicle. We f we are still in collaboration with Mr. Segun Obayendo, the CEO of Temple Resources, who in the next seven years out of the 15 agreed should hand over the project to the FCT administration. We know that he is going to recover the invested money before then. And definitely, when government fully takes over, additional machines will be added, depending on the latest technology. As you know we started using the technology and by the time government fully takes over, we would upgrade to the latest ones. We have technical people who recommended one year test for privately-owned vehicle and six months for commercial vehicle. And when we begin to ask questions on the reason , it then means they did not know what they recommended which ab nitio is the best practice all over the world. We always go for the best and anything outside that, it wouldn’t be in the interest of the country. So I think we have done what is the best. It was a team of engineers who came up with the recommendation.
The agency is supposed to generate funds. How is it performing in this regard?
I can tell you that we are doing very well. We are meeting up our targets. And the FCT administration, is happy with our performance. I cannot give you a specific figure. But one thing I want you to know is that revenue generating is secondary to us. Our major aim is service delivery that ensures safety on our roads. So when you hear any of your friends complain of our strictness, yes we are doing it for the safety of the public.
May we know why your men on the roads suddenly have stopped using Google Apps in determining defaulters of paper renewals?
Well just like I said earlier, what we do is to offer the best services available. The app in question which is the use of Google, causes a lot of delay while trying to arrest offenders along the roads and before you finish with the Google the traffic light is showing green but we are making use of advanced technology. We are installing cameras in a intersections, which records the behavior of every road user. And when such is used even the offender, would be shown his video of offense committed. The use of camera from now on will take adequate care of it and the use of Google apps are now obsolete. Like I said, some intersections already have mounted cameras. Very soon Abuja residents will experience new technology in terms of crime fight. It may longer be the roads users words against that of the officers. The government is doing a lot by installing latest technology equipment to serve the people and no more the use of app where someone can deny what was given or not. Mind you, this is not the ICT backbone. This is a different idea of mounting cameras at different intersections and some would be working soon. Very soon government will launch them into use. And don’t forget that Banex junction, Kubwa road and two other places are being monitored by same camera for different offences and that is to say that the new methods are here already and when I said they are soon to be launched, I mean it.
What is the estimated number of commercial vehicles recommended in the original FCT transportation master plan?
There is no particular number given to the FCT because the city is growing. You would not say that in 2022 that this certain number of vehicle would be in Abuja. Because within the year 2022 the city must have grown beyond it’s original habitat. Sometimes in the past, they used to stop at the city gate but now the city stops at Lugbe and that is expansion and the same way it affects other developments. The motor parks in Lugbe then were not counted as motor parks in the city and if you have counted one million vehicle then now there must have been more than that due to rural-to-urban migration. The transportation master plan was inadequate because the number of people projected to live in the FCT was a small number and with population growth it is obvious we can’t make use of the number because the number must have tripled because of insecurity and other issues. It is same in other areas like hospitals, education and we cannot ask the people to leave the FCT because people come from Nasarawa, Kaduna and all over the place. You rather make provision to accommodate them. People come from neighboring states to do business so also Abuja residents go out to other states to do business. And we would not ask them not to come in. Others travel to states like Plateau and work in Abuja because of the proximity. But I think people should be praising the FCT administration on the way they are managing the city.
People seem to be confused about your agency’s area of jurisdiction during operations, more especially on the provision of vehicle number plates and drivers licence.
This is not peculiar to Abuja. It is a special arrangement because the tax board is always there, the Road safety is there, the DRTS is also there. So out of these three, once you pay your money to the tax officer, then the road safety will do its job, which is minimal and that is just the work of capturing the bio-data of the prospective drivers. The group that does huge part of the job is the DRTS (VIO) in the FCT. They are the one to train you, to test you and they are the ones to train you on how to observe all road signs. They are the ones to determine whether one has passed training or not and when one passes the test, they are the one to endorse the document and also transfer it where the prospective driver will be captured in the system. In the FCT, the signature you see in the license is the signature of the Director of Road Services. And in the situation like that whom do you say does the job. And sometimes people do not understand how these things are carried out. They make certain unsubstantiated claims. Coming to the functions, the only major role the Federal Road Safety Commission plays is to design the template for uniformity because the way you see the driving licence in Abuja is the same all over the states. They have already designed it and handed over to the states for their various states transportation units to use. And one other question is: is the Road Safety supposed to be on the roads in the FCT? And the answer is yes, because Abuja is a Federal Capital Territory and as a federal agency, they have the right to carry out duties in the FCT believing that all roads in the FCT are Federal. The constitution stated that the FCT is run like a state, so instead of chasing them away we accommodate them.
Let’s talk about the challenges associated with the issuance of substandard plates numbers. Who is to be blamed for this, between the DRTS and Road Safety?
Well, let me use one analogy. Have you ever gone to your tailor to complain of poor job done? Alright, if you have ever done that you have the right to ask. Well the plate we give is not being printed by us. The Road Safety does that for us, just like I told you that they design and print driving licence for the FCT. And it doesn’t mean that we will not have ours when we want it. And the thing is that they render service and we pay them for the services provided. But on the issue of alleged poor quality of the number plates, I can tell you that it is the a case of two people buying items from same trader, while one still has his own looking fresh the other has gone bad already. Then you ask yourself are these people using this product the same way it is meant to? We have inquired from the Road Safety after several protests from the public and the answer was that some people wash their cars with non-recommended detergents and that peels off the colour of the number plates. Meanwhile, a person who got plate number same time with you still has his own working while yours has already faded. The way out and what we tell people, is to use recommended chemicals to wash your car. Another way out is to just come down to our office and pay little amount of money and get your plate number replaced. People should stop fighting with officials when they are arrested for faded plate number. It is not wise because it has security implications.
In your estimate, has the establishment of DRTS lived up to expectations?
As an insider, I will not tell you that we are not doing well. We are doing well and from what you have been seeing, do you think that the DRTS is not doing well? And that they have remained the way they have been in the last 10 years? I have to answer you like an African. On a serious note, there has been a lot of changes from the business development angle, they are the ones who regulate the activities of the allied vehicle services. They regulate the activities of the mechanics, the auto dealers or spare parts dealers. They register and regulate them to ensure standards and people are happy with them, they are part of DRTS. Last time you came here, the Public Relations Office was not like this. It used to be a unit, it is now a division. We are doing a lot to serve FCT residents and we also have so much manpower.