Men of the Federal Road Service Corps (FRSC) and Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) Monday clashed over inspection of vehicles, particular in Calabar, Cross River State capital. The incident occurred at the U. J. Esuene Stadium in Calabar in the hours of 11am.
DAILY POST reports that the uniformed men standing at the right side of the road leading to eleven-eleven roundabout struggled with each other on who to stop vehicle first and check the particulars.
Members of the public who passed-by expressed surprise at the actions of the men. Commuters watched in awe to condemn the action of the .
“We are surprise to see two government agencies, one federal and the other state, involved in this show of shame, struggling on who to check vehicle particulars first. This was an act of embarrassment. What is in this place that two big organizations like these two could come here to inspect vehicles?
Chief Okon Ekpeyong Etim said, “It is sad that we are witnessing this. What is all this,” he exclaimed.
The disagreement consequently resulted in heavy gridlock as vehicles that came in from IBB, Mutalla Mohammed highway and others found it difficult to pass.
By the time DAILY POST correspondent left the scene, the gridlock had gotten worse. The Sector Commander, Chidi Ebere Benjamin Nkwonta had during a courtesy visit on him by members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Cross River State Council said that nobody was the owner of the road in the country.
“We are sensitive organizations, we are not into dragging any jurisdiction with anybody, we want to concentrate on public safety which is our primary concern, so if it is expedience for us to negotiate with whatever agency is in town, we say fine, you cover here we cover there but that does not mean that we are ceding our power but for expedience, we can get into that understanding, so people should understand that..
“Nobody owns the road, these are all agencies of government created by law which have statutory responsibility, this function is not mutually exclusive, it is cooperative in a way, jurisdiction is kind of stratifies but we cooperate, Police is primary on the road to check crimes, VIOs as the name suggest is vehicle inspection officer and Road Safety is there to prevent traffic clash, all are working towards public safety but the job are stratifies.
“The job is not exclusive but since the job is similar, FRSC, DOPT, 100 Marian, VIOs, we are all checking motorists, it is possible that the job can be collapsed. Road Safety has drafted a model law on what state motor vehicle administration law should be like; we have it available to state to domesticate it” he stated
At the time of filling this report, it was not clear what actually caused of the struggle but it was, however, gathered that, the two agencies arrived the area the same time and started flagging vehicles down for inspection.
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