He was a product of humble beginning, yet through sheer tenacity of purpose, he rose to the zenith of his career in the public service. Born in Ibadan to the family of Reverend Michael Babalola of Odo Owa in Oke Ero Local Government Area Council of Kwara State, Boboye Olayemi Oyeyemi, MFR, mni, was a child of promise. Although he did not toe the path of the clergy as his father, he distinguished himself in the humanitarian services—the Federal Road Safety Commission—where he recently attained the landmark of Corps Marshal and Chief Executive.
But this amiable and upwardly mobile young man had paid his dues in the commission, having played leading roles since inception. He has both vast field operations and administrative experiences at the National Headquarters.
In the field, he was Zonal Commanding Officer severally, including being in charge of Zones RS4 Lagos, RS3, Yola and RS9, Sokoto.
At the National Headquarters, he performed brilliantly as he continued to resuscitate departments considered performing below par thus also restoring the dignity of officers in departments hitherto considered less productive. He, indeed, can be referred to as the troubleshooter of the corps because of the gift of excelling in all offices he has taken charge of.
He was Acting Director (Operations), 1999, Substantive Director (Operations), 2001, Director (Motor Vehicle Administration), 2003, Assistant Corps Marshal (Operations), 2005, Assistant Corps Marshal (Planning Research and Statistics), 2006, Assistant Corps Marshal (Training Standards and Certification), 2008, Assistant Corps Marshal (Operations), 2009, Deputy Corps Marshal (Operations), 2010, Deputy Corps Marshal (Motor Vehicle Administration) in Apr 14 until his appointment as Corps Marshal and Chief Executive on 23 July, 2014.
For his numerous achievements, which also included the best performing Head of Department from 2009 to 2013, he was appointed to lead the corps.
Instructively, he was the first officer to come from within to head the nation’s lead agency in road traffic administration and safety management, the first law enforcement organization to be ISO 9001: 2008 certified in Africa, and the fourth in the world as well as the UN example of a lead road traffic management agency in Africa.
For the task of leading this institution, Oyeyemi was more than prepared intellectually. He had attended the following institutions within Nigeria where he obtain various certificates:
The Polytechnic Ibadan, University of Lagos, University of Lagos, Harvard University, School of Government, Royal Institute for Public Administration (RIPA), London, The prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) and becoming a proud member of the Alumni Association.
He also attended the following foreign courses: Police Training Division, Sufferm, New York in 1992 – Glock Armorer’s and Firearms Safety Course, Region VI Police Driving School, Wilshire County, Devices, England, Police Training Division, Suffern, NY, USA, Sleep Research Laboratory, Loughborough University, UK, Glock, John R Wald Inc; NY, USA and Shot gun Instructors Course, NY, USA.
On his honours list are the Biographical Man of the Year Award of the American Biographical Institute, USA as well as Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) which he got in 2006.
He is member of several Nigerian and International Institutes and Fellow of the following among others:
Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria (ISPON), Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, London, Institute of Corporate Administration of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria.
Spending more than 27 years in service, he has attended over 200 high profile Conferences, Seminars and Workshops locally and internationally and has three publications on road safety administration and numerous unpublished works.
A workaholic he may be, but Oyeyemi still finds time out to play tennis and golf and sometimes engage in cycling. He also likes reading and research and is happily married to
Married to his pretty wife, Bolanle Oluyemisi, and blessed with three children, Oyeyemi remains a voracious reader and astute researcher.
In this exclusive interview with a team for Time Nigeria Magazine led by Editor, AbdulRahman Aliagan, Oyeyemi speaks on the entire gamut of the corps’ mandate, the innovative speed limit device and his vision of the road safety body he jealously nurtures. Excerpts.
What is the mandate of the Corps?
The mandate is very clear, prevention and minimizing road crashes, giving prompt rescue to road crashes victims educating road users on the use of roads and signs on the highways. All those things are stated in the Act. But the most important thing is advocacy, education and enlightenment. Event though it is expensive; the corps has been able to raise the level of awareness on drive to stay alive. It used to be drive to stay alive before but with the latest global slogan it is “drive to save a life”. This was as per the World Remembrance Day for road crash victims of 2014 and the focus was on speed.
So far, I think in the mandate given to the Corps in the last 27 years, we have been able to prove that the Corps is an institution that is to be reckoned with. With the scientific approach and the digitalization of our system, it is very glaring today that we have set the pace and I think also in staff performance and administration. We started with just about 20 staff but today we are about 23,000. With the growth and the work today and operational command, we have about 254 missions today with about 200 Drivers License centers for number plates, we have 23 roadside clinics and 26 ambulance points all over the country.
We have covered the country with this and the mandate has been fulfilled and what remains now is how to further consolidate on the gains. So far, so good, we appreciate the government support because this is a lead agency. Do not forget the declaration by the World Bank that Nigeria’s FRSC is the best example for lead agency for road safety management in Africa and with that we are a force to reckon with.
If not for the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone, three of our staff would have gone on secondment for two years with the expenses paid by the government with the aim to set up Road Safety Corps there. We would have commenced the same work also in Liberia and we are talking presently with Ghana to further assist them in improving. So what we have gained, we are sharing, that is another area we are talking about . The support we have received from the World Bank and other agencies of the world, we are also sharing with our sister friendly African countries.
It is a success story and we thank all Nigerians too because, it is not easy changing habits but gradually, though we have not really gotten to the level desired but at least we are making an impact on the roads. So far, we are on course.
How do you curtail the fact that Road Safety Officers are beginning to set up road blocks and use the avenue to exploit motorists instead of meting out the appropriate to erring sanctions?
Based on the world of technology you cannot ask someone to go to Sokoto to pay for an offence committed in Abuja. With the world of technology, you can even use your ATM card to pay on the spot. Apart from that, the Act has been amended to make it compulsory that you can only be charged within the jurisdiction that the crime is committed. So it has been over ruled that you can commit an offence in Port-Harcourt and go and pay in Sokoto. But there is a caveat. If you are traveling and you are arrested at Kotangora and you are going to Kano, you are allowed to go to Kano and when you get to Kano, then you reach Kano and pay your fines there and your papers be forwarded. But, in the era of ICT now you can just walk to the bank and make your payment or through your phone you can make a transfer for the fine.
When we started in 1988-89 the banks were not reading each other. Even if you bring a draft of the same bank to another branch it will still take you four days, they will tell you that it would still be cleared and you will wait before you can get the money but now when you take your checque to another bank, you can be cleared immediately with communication. So such punitive sanctions cannot work again and it has been overruled. It is like the judgment last year in March of one of the High Courts that says, if your papers and vehicle license have expired, you cannot be compelled to go for renewal, that it can amount to double taxation. Remember when there was this issue of deadline it was said that it amounts to double taxation. We agree with that judgment and that was why we said there are no more deadlines. Twelve month circle all Nigerians are expected to renew their driver’s license or cross over to the new number plate, case closed!
So you see this is democracy now. We cannot be funny. Anybody can take us to court to challenge us. Last year, we had over 16 cases. I am paying through my nose now on litigations. It is a serious problem and that is why we must be up and running to ensure that we are doing the right thing. The present system has compelled us to work within the law that set up the Federal Road Safety Corps, that is why we cannot do otherwise. If I do anything it can be challenged in court, either on fundamental right or outside or that I am working outside the jurisdiction that set up the Corps. So with all these things we are being guided, that is why we have periodic assessment sessions with the principal officers so that we must respect the rule of law. We must give rights to citizens; we must behave in responsive manners so that in return what we get is obedience to traffic rules and regulations.
Traffic offenders in advanced countries are not usually stopped on the road like it is done in Nigeria but they are sent tickets to pay for their offences, can’t that be introduced in Nigeria?
Do not forget we were using radar guns before. What they use is radar gun and we are back now, we have taken delivery last year and we have deployed them. What we called evidence based radar guns, evidence paid accolisers. We also have mounted cameras now, courtesy the World Bank through the Federal Ministry of Works and we are grateful to the honorable minister for his personal intervention in respect of this.
We are kitted to that level now especially on the critical corridors of the World Bank. The World Bank has five corridors they are managing in Nigeria and Abuja metropolitan city. If you have observed during the Easter patrol, part of the things at the strategic section today is that we have accoliser, radar guns now and it is going to be made compulsory for redeployment regularly with the communication we have now.
The other one, mailing of ticket is the flying ticket innovation which we have just introduced. One of my philosophy is that we have directed the Field Commands that patrol teams must never pursue offenders. Since we have the data base for the vehicle registration we have the data base for the drivers license, we have the data base, for goodness sake why must we purse offenders? So, the essence is this, you get an offender, you flag him down to stop and he did not stop, the next thing is to get the details, enquire from the data base and mail the ticket and if he did not report after 15 days he will get warrant of arrest. The act is very clear if you are summoned to appear and you do not appear after 15 days the law allows me to declare you a wanted offender, get warrant of arrest come to your house at 12 midnight, get you arrested and take you to court and then you end up in jail.
These are the innovations coming in gradually now. And I believe once we do this, that is what we call the passengers watch, transferring the powers to that of passengers. Like if you are traveling now and you see a motorist that has jumped the traffic light, not using the seat belt, or overtaking dangerously, through our 123 line you can take the details of the vehicle pass the details to us, we get the details and mail it.
That is why all vehicles being registered today are being registered online and that is why we have the capacity to detect stolen vehicles if attempt is made to reregister in Nigeria. An average of one vehicle per week is being detected to have been stolen because we have collaboration with the Nigerian Customs Service and we appreciate that. If you are registering a vehicle we first of all verify the chassis number through the portal of customs. The same thing with insurance, we verify that the insurance you want to use for the vehicle is not a fake one. You can see, we have the network of all the critical stakeholders working toward ensuring good road safety management in the country.
The more we strengthen it the better for the country. Now, you can verify insurance through the National Insurance Data Base (NIDB). You can check whether the vehicle you want to buy is not stolen, the duty is duly paid to the customs, then you can also verify that the vehicle license is not fake. It is gradual, those who are being caught know the punishment being meted on them.
Corps Marshal Chief Executive BOBOYE OLAYEMI OYEYEMI MFR visits Gov Ambode
I believe it is a gradual system and when you are talking about a kind of transformation, you are transforming a system, you are transforming principle, it is a systemic way of getting things done. It is not everything that you can apply at once, there must be a modules, if not you lose all.
Like we are talking about the speed limiting device, now by the first of July, we are going to start. But, again we are looking at the need to ensure it is not for all comers to come into the business of limiting device so that the fake ones are not brought in. Then, if you now say you have installed the speed limiting device and you are still going above 50 for goodness sake it is not true. So the control must be put there, the checks and balances, and these things are calibrated. When you install the device, every year you go for calibration. It is like human beings, they tell you to come for another medical checkup. It is just to check that your sugar level is okay, just to check that your BP is not abnormal and to check that your sugar level if it is not correct you reduce your alcohol intake and your sugar, so it is with vehicles, that is why you service your vehicles, that is why you go for repairs, the same thing with all these devices, they must be calibrated periodically.
You discover that education, enlightenment, orientation and reorientation are some of the key instruments of changing attitudes, Nigerians are funny when it comes to attitudinal change how well is the corps tapping into all the instruments to change attitudes?
The change mechanism, you will notice I was smiling when you are mentioning it. That is a four- point approach of the operational arm of the corps- persuasion, education, subtle force and enforcement. Let me tell you, education without enforcement is entertainment. No matter how you advocate, educate, and enlighten Nigerians if you have not hit it well like biting them, then you have not done anything.
You see, advocacy, education, you give people handbills on the way, they look at it, squeeze it and throw it away. It can be painful but they have read it but it is the same people who will turn round and say you are not doing anything. I wish you can see our frustration during the end of the year patrol, or Easter or Sallah patrols. I know how much it cost to print handbills and you give people hand bills and they look at it and just throw it away. It is a problem but what is required now is for us to fulfill our mandate- enforce the road traffic rules and regulations. There is no going back. That is why I said in the beginning of this year, that is the year of enforcement and that everybody, as many as we can, we must bring them to book and we are doing it.
With the over 200 mobile courts in operation, the language is this, the court said, we should prosecute more people and we are on course on this. What we need more is the support of Nigerians. I am running a lot of programmes on television stations, radio stations a lot of adverts going on and the key stakeholders have been supporting us, even all the multinationals but people are telling us that they are not aware of what we are doing. I do not agree. The issue is that people are not paying attention, that is why when you are arrested it is compulsory for you to attend minimum of 30 minutes lecture. When you attend lectures and you watch films of broken skulls and so on, you will know how to behave.
If you want to do your license and you watch these films it will register. When you are driving below hundred, you drive sensibly.
Now if you go at 120kph you are telling God you want to come home. Then at 140kph- heaven is my home, then if you go at 160kph-Lord I am coming home. It is part of the education we are telling people.
The media need to assist us too. You have a lot of role to play in the area of advocacy, education and enlightenment of the citizens. Do not forget we are dealing with a big country. Nigeria has a population of over 170 million, thousands of road networks of federal, states and local government roads. It has a large size of over 924 thousand square meters. This is a very big country. No matter what we are doing now we still need to redouble our efforts. But the dwindling resources from the government which we are all aware, the prevailing economic situations affects us, that is why we rely on key stakeholders to support us to continue to strive to educate people. Those who are the victims of the corps activities know better.
Before you came on board there were issues between the FRSC and the VIO particularly on the issue of drivers’ license, suddenly this issue died down, how did you manage it?
This is an institutional issue. Look, the Act that sets up the FRSC is very clear; there is what we call the Joint Tax Board. Joint Tax Board is the umbrella body of all the states internal revenue services and revenue boards. Then the Vehicle Inspector Officers (VIO), they are a department under the states Ministry of Works and Transport, as it may be applicable apart from Abuja that is a territory that is a directorate on its own.
The function of VIO is very clear. VIO is for vehicle inspection and drivers test. Anything outside that is nothing. The function of the corps is to produce number plates for the states, design and production of both number plates and drivers license. When you register your vehicle you go to the state to register and not the Road Safety. When you want to do your drivers’ license you go to the state because of their road tax. Once the understanding and the role of everybody is clear there would not be friction. The VIO has no business patrolling the highways. It is not their mandate, their mandate is vehicle inspection. If I see a rickety vehicle now I can impound it and ask the VIO to subject it to inspection, even though the Act supports us to engage in vehicle inspection but since there is a state unit that is doing that we will work with them.
I do not think there is a problem once the roles are very clear. That was what my predecessor was trying to define. But with the leadership in Abuja now, the VIO issue has been resolved. Once you understand your roles I do not think there will be frictions.
I am not a journalist but the moment I start behaving like a journalist, I am infringing on your work. I am a trained engineer so I cannot come and infringe on your own responsibilities. With a clear role defined everybody works as a team. If you look at the scheme in the last few months there have not been any problem because the roles are well defined and we are all meeting as at when due.
There is periodic meeting; the Joint Tax Board meets every quarter. In the state there is what we call the tripartite meeting where the FRSC, the VIO and the revenue board meet every month, there will not be problems. Even if there are issues localized at the state level they meet and they resolve it. That is why communication is very critical when more than one agency is handling a program. The more you communicate you build understanding and you build the system and what we are doing is what will outlive us.
Who actually has the right to use siren?
There has been a kind of lawlessness on the usage of sirens. There was a circular from the government on those who are entitled to use sirens, that is the President, the Vice President, the Senate President, the Deputy Senate President, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker then the security agencies when necessary. But we have seen a lot of abuse of siren and I believe effort is being made to correct this. The Act is very clear on this aspect and I believe we will continue to strive. I agree that this privilege has been abused by those who are unauthorized to use it but efforts are being made to check all these things.
Do the police have the right to ask a motorist to produce his or her drivers’ license?
Yes! In the course of criminal investigation, the police can demand for anything. When it comes to internal security, police is the lead agency. Police can ask for anything and if they have a warrant they can search your home, they can search your office, they can search your car. If your car is suspected to be carrying something that is a threat to internal security they can stop you and why they ask for your license is first is to identify you. Once they establish your identity then they can ask you to go.
How far are you carrying the police along in the drivers’ license bottle-neck because the police claim not to be aware of the delay in the issuance of the license?
I think within the last few months, we could have seen a lots of improvement. When you have a drivers license, a temporary one, it takes you 60 days to get the permanent one and I think I am even reducing that now to 45 days.
How do you like to see FRSC in the next 10 years?
I want to see FRSC playing a role as a major lead in road safety management in Africa, and what World Bank has pronounced FRSC to be has confirmed our status. They have come to confirm that we are a force to be reckoned with at the regional level, we are force to be reckoned with at continental level, we are force to be reckoned with in playing our role to save more lives and reducing the fatalities more than the UN Decade of Action on Road Safety has pronounced, for all of us to drive to be alive and contribute our quota towards the nation building, that’s how I want to see FRSC in the next 10 years.