Overloading: 20,000 vehicles impounded weekly, says Oyeyemi

The Corps Marshal, Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC), Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, says overloading of vehicles has constituted a major problem on Nigeria roads as about 20,000 vehicles are impounded weekly for the offence..
Oyeyemi expressed the worry on Thursday during a strategic session with unit commanders of the corps at the FRSC Academy, Udi, Enugu State.
The corps marshal said that overloading and speeding were becoming major problems and had led to increase in crashes and fatalities by 4.5 per cent in 2019.
He said that with the Federal Government’s efforts at improving road infrastructure, over speeding and overloading had become monsters and major problems.
“It has not been rosy this year as the fatalities have gone up.
“We are having more problems with articulated vehicles as more than 90 per cent of the trucks have spent over 30 years on the road and below safety standards,” he said.
Oyeyemi said that the management of the FRSC would have to meet with tank farms owners in order to address the issues.
He said that in order to meet the FRSC 2019 corporate strategic goals, the corps’ end-of-the-year patrol would sustain the campaign against distracting tendencies on the highways.
He mentioned such tendencies as use of phone while driving, overloading and speeding.
“We are going to sustain enforcement on the use of speed limiting devices, distracting tendencies as well as pursue the issue of overloading,” he said.
He said that most of the crises were at the unit commands, adding that it was gratifying that the Federal Government had released their capital vote to enable them to procure more facilities to preserve lives.
“We are procuring more patrol vans, recovery vans and ambulances as government has done well to release the capital vote,” he said.
The corps marshal said that the FRSC was not unmindful of the huge expectations from it by government and Nigerians.
“This is in realisation of the fact that the road safety environment is critical to various aspects of the national life,” he said.
Oyeyemi said that effective and efficient outcomes were expected from the corps members with the recent assent to the United Nations Convention on Road Signs and Signals by President Muhammadu Buhari.