From
dealing with daily traffic snarls and potholes to unruly drivers in rickety
vehicles with expired documents, Nigeria’s highway patrol officers have a lot
on their plate.
At
the same time, they have to face the risks from armed robbers who attack unsuspecting
road users idling in monster traffic jams.
But
an increase in crime on the roads has sparked fresh debate over whether members
of the Federal Road Safety Corps should be allowed to carry firearms.
The
chief marshal of the FRSC, Boboye Oyeyemi, has said some 70 operatives were
either shot dead by robbers or knocked down by hit-and-run drivers in 2016.
Those
deaths would have been prevented if his operatives had guns, he claimed.
FRSC
spokesman Bisi Kazeem said officials were legally entitled to do so.
“The
provision is there in the FRSC Act but the government has to approve and
gazette it before it can be implemented,” he told AFP.
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