WE ARE NOT INVOLVED IN THE SALE OF SPEED LIMITER DEVICE...FRSC

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has reaffirmed its position of non-involvement in the marketing speed limiting devices for vehicles in the country.

Spokesman of the agency, Mr Bisi Kazeem, told the newsmen in Abuja on Friday that accredited vendors were in charge of sale and calibration of the device, and not the FRSC.       

`` There are accredited vendors screened by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) and FRSC.

``They are the ones in charge of sale and calibration of the speed limiting device, not the FRSC,’’ he said.

Kazeem was reacting to Thursday’s move by the Senate to stop the ongoing enforcement of the installation of the speed limiting device on vehicles by the FRSC.

The President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, asked the Committee on Federal Character to look into the matter following a point of order raised by Senator Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West).

Media reports quote Melaye as saying that the ``proposal by the FRSC to sell speed limit device to car owners’’ would cause further economic hardship for Nigerians.

``If you have two cars you buy two speed limit devices. This is not the time to bring economic hardship upon the already traumatised people of this country. 

``In every civilised part of the world, it is the responsibility of road safety authorities or agencies like her to mount speed limiting devices on roads, and when you beat this speed, they charge you.

``To ask individuals to purchase the speed limiting device from road safety is unacceptable and this is even not the time to do it,” he said.

The FRSC began full enforcement of the installation of the device, which costs N35,000, on commercial vehicles on Feb. 1, and plans to extend it to other categories of vehicles in due course.

Kazeem said introduction of the policy was within the mandate of the Corps, noting that the enforcement began since Feb. 1, and not about to begin as stated by the senator.

He added that the House of Representatives had earlier endorsed the policy after a public hearing.