……Commends Appeal Court judgment on FRCN
Civil Rights advocacy Group HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has challenged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take concrete measures to restore professionalism, discipline, transparency and accountability in the Federal Road Safety Corp(FRSC) just as the Rights group described the Federal Road Safety Corps as cesspool of corruption and inefficiency.
HURIWA which applauded the Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri, Imo State, which affirmed a High Court judgment awarding #10 million in damages against the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) for the unlawful harassment of Dr. Emmanuel Ugochukwu Shebbs during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, demanded comprehensive and compelling strategies by the Federal government of Nigeria to restore the ailing agency back to the paths of effectiveness and efficiency in the discharge of its statutory mandates. HURIWA maintains that cases of abuses of powers by the operatives of the FRSC have become synonymous with the operations of most of the operatives of the FRSC in the major commercial cities of Nigeria which according to HURIWA must be clinically brought to an end.
HURIWA recalled that the aforementioned legal dispute, which has spanned over five years, stemmed from an incident along Bende Road in Umuahia, Abia State. Dr. Shebbs, who was on official movement during a government-approved lockdown exemption day, was stopped by FRSC personnel. After initially passing routine checks, he was allegedly asked for a bribe. When he declined, the officers purportedly re-inspected his vehicle and cited new infractions, including worn-out tyres and the absence of a spare tyre.
Despite identifying himself and explaining the nature of his essential movement, his driver’s licence was confiscated, and a fine of #3,000 was imposed without formal legal backing. Rather than comply with the demand or rely on personal influence, Dr. Shebbs filed a lawsuit at the High Court to assert his constitutional rights-emphasizing that many Nigerians without access to such privileges often suffer in silence.
Delivering judgment, a three-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Amina Audi Wambai upheld the ruling of the lower court, describing the conduct of the FRSC officers as illegal and a violation of the applicant’s fundamental rights. The court emphasized that the seizure of vehicle documents or a driver’s licence without due process is unconstitutional.
The High Court had initially awarded #30 million in damages, which the Appeal Court reviewed and affirmed at #10 million.
“This judgment isn’t just personal,” Dr. Shebbs stated after the ruling. “It’s about
confronting a system where abuse by enforcement agencies is normalized. This sets a legal precedent and gives ordinary citizens hope.”
HURIWA which carpeted the hierarchy of the Federal Road Safety Corps for its inability to ensure that qualified Nigerians applying for either the new driver’s licences or indeed seeking the renewal of their expired licences get their licences on time shows that the Federal Road Safety Corps is in direct need of operational reforms to get the Agency’s leadership to sit-up and discharge their duties as spelt out in the enabling Act that set up the Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC). HURIWA decries the persistent contractual breaches committed by FRSC against Nigerians applying for driver’s licences or seeking to renew their expired licences. If this systematic delay to issue licences is not symptomatic of a derailing agency, what then is it?
“It is a notorious fact that whereas the FRSC has consistently failed to meet up with the timeline for the issuance of new driver’s licences or renewed licences of prospective and qualified Nigerians applying for these licences, their operatives are also known for unduly harassing drivers plying the roads and actively encouraging bribery and corruption.
“This prolonged period of delay to issue out these licences long after the required payments are made by the applicants, and without any informational updates from the Federal Road Safety Corps, is characteristic of a government agency that has lost all elements of professionalism and discipline. We in the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA keep getting reports of persistent harassment of Road users by the Federal Road Safety Corps who are accused of demanding bribes. We commend both the High Court and the Court of Appeal for interpretation of the law that the agency can’t continue to breach the human rights of car owners or Road users without valid authorisation of the competent court of law.”
HURIWA called on the President to direct the head of the Federal Road Safety Corps to immediately implement in-house but transparent measures to rid the agency of corruption and bribes seeking tendencies. We in HURIWA are also asking that the FRSC should be made to engage in the mass enlightenment initiatives to infuse road safety values on all road users so as to drastically reduce the increasing rates of accidents in the Country. We also suggests that the Corps marshal of the FRSC should work out implementable measures in partnership with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency to rid the motor parks of hard drugs and reduce the numbers of hard drugs induced accidents especially by commercial transporters in Nigeria.
Comrade Emmanuel N. Onwubiko,
National Coordinator,
HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA). July 27th 2025.
