The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on Saturday in Lagos, inaugurated 232 new Special Marshals to join in reducing traffic challenges within the Lagos metropolis.
Mr John Meheux, the Zonal Commanding Officer in charge of Ogun and Lagos State, urged the newly inaugurated members to be good ambassadors of the organisation and work toward achieving the goals and objectives of the corps.
Meheux, represented by Mr Segun Akinyemi, the Zonal Head of Operations, also advised the members to uphold the calling of the special marshal to educate citizens on the excesses on roads.
“As a special marshal, you have a calling to educate Nigerian citizens on the excesses on the roads.
“Lots of people are dying on the roads and there is solution to the challenge; the solution is you by bringing in sanity to our driving culture to avert crashes.
“You have a duty on the road, it can’t be done alone by the men in uniform; that is why we are here today to sacrifice our time to bring orderliness to our roads,’’ he said.
Also, Dr Sini Kwabe, National Coordinator, Special Marshal, advised the newly inaugurated members to have positive motive toward the service.
According to Kwabe, many people have the desire to join the special marshal but with the wrong motives.
“I am happy to see the kind of caliber of people inaugurated today.
“We need your cooperation to achieve the same objectives of the service.
“As a special marshal, you have to show the difference; don’t use your regalia to intimidate people on the road.
“FRSC is the only agency in the country that is certified with ISO, so, we have to maintain the standard,’’ he said.
The national coordinator also said that the special marshal team, with about 18,000 members nationwide, was very unique being the only volunteer group that had the right to arrest and prosecute the offenders.
He urged them to work as a family with the FRSC as it was “a call to service and we have to sow seed to save lives’’.
Earlier, the Lagos State Sector Head of Special Marshal, Mr Bashiru Adeyemi, congratulated the newly inaugurated members for the successful completion of their screening.
Adeyemi said that over 400 prospective applicants were registered since 2017 but only 232 scaled through the final exercise.
“Following the successful completion of the screening, four-session training programmes were organised.
“The training spanned a period of four saturdays during which the trainees were trained on drills, traffic control procedures, FRSC Establishment Act (2007) and the roles of special marshal.
“Operational patrol ethics were also imparted into them,’’ he said.
He advised them to be mindful of the main objective for joining the team and brace up for the task and challenges ahead.
“It is a call to serve humanity with your resources, time and energy; it requires utmost dedication and commitment,’’ he said.
Mrs Toyosi Olasoji, one of the new members said that she was happy to scale through the screening.
Olasoji said that she would work hard toward achieving the goals of the scheme.
Another new member, Pastor Olugbenga Kalejaiye, said that being a member of the special marshal was a great responsibility that must be fulfilled to save lives.
Kalejaiye said that he would dedicate his time and energy to ensure sanity on the roads through the volunteer scheme.
