The
Director General of Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dr Joe Abah has
commended the Federal Road Safety for its professionalism, transparency and
diligence in reforms that have made the Corps a sterling example in improved
service delivery in the country. Dr Abah gave the commendation during the
opening ceremony of the workshop organized by the FRSC for security agencies on
National Vehicle Identification Scheme.
According
to Bisi Kazeem, Head, Media Relations and Strategy, FRSC, the Director
General of BPSR, said the commitment shown by the FRSC in improved service
delivery, response to consumer needs and reforms in its processes, is
commendable, saying all well meaning citizens of the country should appreciate
the initiatives. He stressed the need for information sharing mechanism by the
security agencies, noting that the improved web-based verification portal being
launched by the FRSC is another innovation that would facilitate access to such
information on holders of the driver's licences and users of number plates as
demographics, biometrics and offences committed.
Dr
Abah further stated that in this era of information and communication
technology, no responsible organization should wait to be overtaken by others
before engaging in reforms that could improve its service delivery system. He
called on the participants who were drawn from the various security agencies to
embrace the programme by utilizing the facilities to serve the cause of
national security through accessibility to the data as well as nd improvement
in the inter-agency communication provided by harmonized platform.
In
his address, the National Security Adviser, Major General Babagna Munguno, who
was represented by the Director of External Affairs, Baba Ibrahim commended the
FRSC for continuously improving on its processes, assuring that the Office of
the National Security Adviser would continue to render necessary support for
the success of its programmes. He enjoined other security agencies to key into
the platform being put into use by the FRSC as a means of finding solutions to
the national security challenges.
Declaring
the workshop open, the Acting Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Dr
Habiba Lawal who was represented by a Director in General Services Office,
Sonnie Aruyah also commended the FRSC leadership for the commitment it has
demonstrated to issues of national security through innovative ideas as
evidenced by the platform being launched. She noted that with the new web-based
verification portal, information such as the demographics, biometrics and
offences committed by holders of the driver's liccences and number plates would
be accessible to all security agencies who key into the system.
The
SGF called on the participants to utilize the training to understand the
technical knowhow and applications to achieve the much desired synergy and
information sharing mechanism among the relevant security agencies.
Welcoming
the participants to the workshop, the Corps Marshal of FRSC, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi
in his address, noted that the workshop was the second in the series of the
training programmes being organized by the Corps in its commitment to sharing
its data in line with developments in information and communication technology.
According to him, the first of the workshop took place in 2015, stressing that
the benefits the participants have derived from the training are evidenced by
the increasing awareness created on applications and accessibility to the
Corps' data.
"The
training was deliberately structured to serve as a synergy between members of
the security agencies and especially to create opportunity for all the services
to operate on the same level in this very important national project of the
Uniform Licensing Scheme," he stated.
He
further noted that as the lead agency for road safety management and
administration in the country, FRSC has over the years been at the vanguard of
ensuring a credible licensing system for the country by embarking in reforms in
number plates and driver's licences. He added that upon the launch of the
National Uniform Licensing Scheme (NULS) in 1990, all the states of the
federation were brought under the uniform scheme which guarantees uniformity,
credibility and standards in the system.
The
Corps Marshal disclosed as part of the sustained commitment of the FRSC to
improve on the efficiency of its licensing system, it has again come out with a
more advanced web-based verification portal for Drivers' Licence and users of
number plates. This he said enables such information as the demographics,
biometrics and offences committed to be easily accessible. "It also
applies to the Speed Limiting Device portal, Driving School Standardization
portal (DSSP) and Road Transport Safety Standardization portal (RTSSS),"
he said.
Oyeyemi
revealed that Nigeria driver's licence enjoys international recognition and
acceptance in some states in the United States (USA) and European countries,
adding that the document has become a veritable source of identification, which
banks and other reputable organizations rely upon to do business with their
customers. "Apart from promoting safety and national security for our dear
country, the success of the scheme is also strategic in assisting in the fight
against international crimes and global terrorism" he stated.
He
called on all security agencies in the country to embrace it and be on the same
page in its applications for the identification of suspects and perpetrators of
crimes and criminal acts. He said this makes it imperative that security
agencies work collectively to fight against acts of forgery and parallel
production of the licences by fraudsters and touts who benefit from distorting
the system.
The
Corps Marshal expressed appreciation to the President, members of the National
Assembly, the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the
National Security Adviser and generality of Nigerians for the successes
recorded in the project. He implored the participants to take the training
seriously and use the opportunity to share ideas and critically examine other
areas of reform in the collective desire to have a national licensing system
that can assist the security architecture of the nation and facilitate security
goal that is built on credible information process.
The
one day workshop had in attendance all the representatives of the Security
agencies in the country who were exposed to training on the applications and
technicalities of accessing the Corps' database on driver' licence and Number
plates, especially to be able to detect genuine and fake licences.
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Society