The Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has charged Intelligence operatives of the Corps to rise up to the task of ensuring the security of the FRSC and national security of the nation through diligent intelligence gathering, processing, sharing and application. He stated this on Monday, while declaring open a three day capacity building conference for Intelligence Officers of the FRSC at the FRSC Academy Udi, Enugu state.
According to a press release by Bisi Kazeem, Head, Media Relations and Strategy, FRSC, Oyeyemi stated that the capacity development programme was in furtherance of Management’s policy of improving the efficiency of the FRSC personnel for increased productivity and quality service delivery. He noted that since the philosophy of the Management is driven on the tripod of Consultation, Reward and Punishment (CRP), it behooves on it to ensure constant interaction with staff and stakeholders at all levels through training and retraining of personnel to prepare them adequately for the tasks they carry out.
“We believe that it is only when a staff has been properly trained and given exposure to the theoretical and practical knowledge of his job that a proper measurement of his level of productivity can be taken,” he stated.
The Corps Marshal further stated that as a knowledge-driven organization, FRSC is committed to regularly updating the knowledge of its staff and improving on their understanding of the assignments they carry out. This he said, is to prepare them to make useful contributions to national development, and explains why the Corps continues to organize training and retraining programmes for all categories of its personnel including Management staff and Commanding Officers.
He pointed out that as part of Corps’ initiatives under the World Bank training facility, patrol operatives had been trained at the California Highway patrol Academy, USA, and in demonstration of the policy of improving the capacity of staff, FRSC Management in conjunction with the Bank has developed a training module for all categories of FRSC personnel. “This was followed with a capacity development programme organized for middle level officers at the FRSC Academy Udi, last year,” he further stated.
The Corps Marshal disclosed that in underscoring the importance that Management attaches to capacity development of the staff, a ten year funding plan is being worked out with the World Bank to provide funding for various capacity development programmes for all categories of the Corps’ personnel. He noted that as part of the strategies to develop the faculty and capacity of the FRSC Academy, Management has decided that henceforth, capacity building programmes would be held at the Institution and Training School at Jos.
Oyeyemi expressed satisfaction with the positive impacts the past capacity development programmes have made on the knowledge and productivity of the staff, saying improvements are being noticed in staff productivity. The Corps Marshal recalled that events of the past months as they related to the FRSC including road traffic crashes, fatalities and insurgency prompted Management to take some far reaching decisions to address the challenges, noting that such proactive actions are yielding positive results. He urged the Intelligence operatives to remain vigilant on national security challenges and pay particular attention to the Resources Persons that have been carefully selected to deliver papers on the relevant subjects of intelligence gathering, processing, sharing and application at the conference.
The Corps Marshal charged the participants to make use of the opportunity provided by the conference to share constructive ideas, interact closely with one another and ask relevant questions that could add value to their assignments for maximum benefits from the gathering.
In her remarks, the Head of the Department of Public Administration and Local Government, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Professor Chicka Oguonu who co-sponsored the programme, commended the FRSC Management for its huge contributions to the growth and development of public administration in Nigeria through its training and retraining programmes for staff. She noted that such capacity development programmes create opportunity of public discourse on issues of public administration and robust interaction between the Officers, members of the public and the academia who share ideas and experiences that build understanding and enhanced quality service delivery
“The Resource persons for the conference are made up of highly trained and specialized persons in academia and bureaucrats/experts in criminology and indulgency studies,” she stated.
The three day capacity development programme for Intelligence Officer has as its theme, “Repositioning the Corps Intelligence Unit for Optimum performance.” Participants are drawn from Intelligence Officers from the FRSC 12 Zonal Command Headquarters and 36 states of the Federation, including the FCT, who would be lectured on various fields of criminology, intelligence and public administration by renowned professors, public administration practitioners and experts in the fields.