FRSC to claim damages from Dangote over officer’s death

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Adelani Adepegba, Abuja
The Federal Road Safety Corps says it would claim maximum damages in the court against the Dangote Transport Company over the death of a road safety officer who was crushed to death by a truck belonging to the firm.
FRSC Corps Marshall, Boboye Oyeyemi said the operative was killed by the Dangote truck driver who drove recklessly, adding that another corps personnel who was also knocked down on Saturday had a limb amputated.
Oyeyemi who spoke at the unveiling of the Corps 2016 strategic goals on Tuesday in Abuja, said though damages cannot bring back the dead or restore the limb of the personnel in the hospital, the family of the deceased deserved to be compensated for their loss.
“I will press for maximum damages from Dangote, am going to be hard on them; I won’t allow it to go,” Oyeyemi said.
“Our legal people will press for maximum damages for the family (of the deceased), though this won’t bring the dead back. The Dangote truck driver crushed an officer and ran away. We have towed away the truck, it’s in our custody.”
Oyeyemi stated that the agency had been able to reduce road traffic crashes by about 3 per cent and fatality by 21 per cent at the background of the ‘2013 Ember operation’ in 2014.
In 2015, the Corps Marshall said that road crashes and casualties decreased by 9.3 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively, adding that the number of crash victims rescued within the same period was 1,207, through the Corps swift intervention at crash scenes, thus ensuring reduced record and reversal of needless deaths.
He explained that 2,257 traffic offenders were arraigned at mobile courts and 2,025 (89.7%) convictions were secured with options of fines while seven were imprisoned and 225 (10 per cent) were discharged during the ‘Ember operation’ in December, 2015.
The Corps Marshall patted his agency on the back, stating that the FRSC worked assiduously in 2015 to bring down the rate of road traffic crashes nationwide by 13 per cent, stressing that it reduced from 10,380 in 2014 to 9,031 in 2015.
Deaths from road crashes, he said, reduced nationwide by 16 per cent from 5,991 in 2014 to 5,044 deaths in 2015.
“Recognising the need to leverage on this achievement in 2016 and further make roads safer for all categories of road users, the FRSC management has, after critical evaluation, come up with three main goals to be pursued in the year 2016. These are: Improved fleet operations and sustainable stakeholders’ consultation, collaboration with states on improved road safety administration and improved enforcement and public education,” Oyeyemi said.