Special Marshals urged to serve humanity with passion, integrity, commitment

By: Monday Danladi, Bauchi

Members of the Special Marshals arm of the Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC), have been charged to discharge their duties with passion, integrity and commitment to serving humanity.

The charge was given by RS 12.1 Sector Commander, Bauchi Sector Command, CC Caleb Luka, while speaking shortly after presiding over the induction kf new members of the Special Marshals on Saturday at the FRSC Base.

He said, “I am happy about Bauchi State, what the Special Marshals are doing is highly commended. So I want the few of you that have entered to learn from here, key into what you are doing, and then by the grace of God we will produce a National Coordinator from Bauchi, if we continue like this.”

He added that,”I want to say that most of what I’m supposed to say here have been said already, I will only expandiate on it. To be a Special Marshal, your guideword is integrity, passion and commitment. Just like the various speakers have spoken to us here. Nobody forced you to put yourself inside what you are in today. In my humble self as I am, I used to pity anybody that enters Special Marshal. I was telling somebody that if I were not a Regular Marshal, I would not go near anything this Special Marshal.”

“Because the wahala there is too much. But there’s one thing that drives most of us, Passion. Passion is very, very important. There are people that when they pass and they see this crash victim, they feel like crying. So that’s what is driving us from the outside to want to come inside,” he added.

According to him, “The day I went to see the Governor, sorry, the notice to see the Governor was very short. 20 minutes notice. I was running helter-skelter here. When I saw him, I didn’t even know what to say. But something quickly came to my mind. The First Lady has been helping us to do rescue, here, I’m talking about the passion. If you see that woman on rescue, she will show up. She will do the rescue, carry the victim to hospital, pay for their hospital bills before she will leave.”

“When I told the Governor, he was just shaking his head. That means he knows the type of Wife he has and he knows the passion inside her. And we are preparing to give her a Honorary Marshall. We are talking with the State Coordinator about it.”

Caleb Luka added, “Still talking about passion. You see, one thing about this passion, I just came back from capacity building and strategic session. I would have come back tomorrow, but because of this very occasion, I have to rush and start coming. There are resource persons that came from NIPS, National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru. Professors, about four of them, including the VC of Kaduna State University, that personally have passion for crash victims. He told us that to be successful and to reduce this crash, you must have that passion.”

The Sector Commander stressed that,”And not good enough to have the passion if you go and do rescue. After seeing the crash victim, the crassing and what has happened, the next question you should ask yourself, which will enable you to think, because as a good Regular or Special Marshal, you must be a good strategic thinker. So the next thing that will come to your mind is that, what else would I do to prevent this crash so that it will not occur again?

He added, “By the time you have that mind, then you are working towards achieving the target of action, that is a 10% reduction that we are talking about. So please, I want us to imbibe that. And having known that passion, we must also know our operating environment. Operating environment is all encompassing. The human beings, you know, our operating environment is human beings. Who are you? What do you intend to add to reduce these crashes on the road? ”

According to him, “And in Bauchi State, we are so worried, so worried about this Jos Road that we have a unit and a Zebra corridor. You know, the crashes there are so much. It’s terrible. So we must think, what else can we do extraordinary to reduce these crashes?”

“Again, along this Maiduguri Road, I’ve started working on this. These tiper lorries, they are terrible. Just a couple of days ago, we lost Nine, people burnt to ashes. It’s a thing of concern. I want to bring this story so that we think of what is ahead of us, especially the new inductees. It’s not good enough to go there and be doing rescue. Yes, it’s a good thing, but we must think of what other ways,” he added.

According to him,”Public education, the research to what is causing this accident, accident investigation, road inspection, and so on and so forth, so that we will be able to solve the problem. Anything we can do to solve this problem and reduce these carnages on the highways is welcome. Road safety is looking at zero fatalities. That if the crash must occur, we shouldn’t have death. Zero. There shouldn’t be death. But by the time one crash, claims nine people, then it is terrible. When I was sending the report to the HQ, my hand was shaking. Nine people burnt to ashes. When I was telling the ACM operations, he said, to that magnitude, so it’s a thing of concern. So please, let’s look at it. Our accident investigator is doing a lot of work. He’s still investigating to see the various causes so that we build on it and move forward.”

The Sector Commander added,
“Another thing we must also know, apart from knowing our operating environment, which I learned from these professors, doctors, you must quarantine your environment. You must work within the cocoon of your environment. When you know it very well, quarantine that environment and that is chew it very well. You understand? Chew it from what you know about quarantine during COVID-19. Then you’ll be able to make a lot of impact.”

He also said that discipline is also key, saying, “You must discipline yourself as a person, then as an organization. The most important, most importantly, is Sacrifice. Sacrifice of time, sacrifice of resources, sacrifice of so many things, you know. Sometimes you will see some things that are very annoying, but you must be above board. Very, very important.”

“On that note, let me formally induct you into the Special Marshals circle. You’re welcome, as new inductees, and there is a big task ahead of you. I’m just giving you issues. Look at Jos Road, look at Maiduguri Road, look at tiper lorries, trailers, and see how we can reduce these carnages.”

Speaking earlier, State Coordinator of the Special Marshals, SM Godwin Obioha, told the new inductees that as a regimental organization, Special Marshals members obey commands from the FRSC and do everything possible to protect and project its image positively.

He further told them that it is not an organization to toy with because the primary objective is to serve humanity and save lives through effective and active participation in rescue operations and maintenance of safer roads.

Speaking on behalf of the new Special Marshals, Esam Mohammed, assured that they will join hands with the others to ensure safety on the roads across the State.

The oaths of office and allegiance were administered on the new Special Marshals by the RS 12.1, Zonal Command, Bauchi.