He is simple, workaholic, outgoing, easy to assess, ready to help, but behind these is the stern quality of a leader who does not suffer a fool easily. This is Shehu Mohammed, the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).

Without doubt, FRSC has gone and is going through visible transformation. He rewards performance but frowns on corruption. And instance was the arrest of some bad eggs within the service on Abuja Kaduna highway. They were caught collecting bribes while on duty and guardroomed in Abuja for a week under investigation. 

Two weeks after their release, the same crew were caught collecting money from motorists, the rest is history for them. That is how he hates compromise.

He is a stickler to neatness and courteousness, hence the constant enlightenment to road safety personnel about looking good always. You are addressed as you are dressed.

He is fortunate to have lieutenants among his management team who align with his vision for the promotion of FRSC ideals.

He is a quintessential public servant who puts everything he has in the success of the corps.For his resilience and doggedness, he has been able to positively change the Corps’ narrative.

Recently, the corps marshal led Nigeria’s delegation to the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Improving Global Road Safety.

The UN High-Level Meeting, held on July 20 – 21, 2026, focused on “Scaling up and accelerating implementation of commitments to halving road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030.” 

His presence at the world gathering represented a growing recognition that road safety is no longer simply a matter of traffic enforcement; but a global public health, economic, governance, infrastructure, mobility, and sustainable development issue.

The meeting, which brought together heads of government, ministers, policymakers, international organisations, civil society, the private sector, and road safety experts, assessed progress and accelerate action under the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030.

For the hindsight, FRSC was created to address Nigeria’s road safety challenges, and has progressively evolved into an institution whose work intersects with global road safety governance.

Its duties now extend beyond enforcement, driver’s licensing, public education, emergency response, data, technology, road infrastructure safety, and inter-agency collaboration.

Shehu Mohammed at the UN meeting, however, dished out Nigeria’s road safety experience as part of the global search for practical solutions to a crisis that claims nearly 1.2 million lives annually and affects low and middle-income countries. 

Road safety must, therefore, be viewed beyond the traditional image of traffic officers on highways. The modern road safety institution is simultaneously an enforcement agency, a public education platform, an emergency response partner, a data institution, a policy contributor, and an international development stakeholder.

He explained that road crashes remain a leading cause of death among children and young people between ages of 5 and 29. The FRSC helmsman dwelt on Nigeria’s institutional reforms, technology-driven enforcement, improved emergency response, and public enlightenment initiatives as elements of Nigeria’s efforts to strengthen its road safety system.

He also highlighted the country’s hosting of the Secretariat of the African Association of Road Safety Lead Agencies (AARSLA), which provides an important platform for African road safety agencies to share experiences, strengthen institutional capacity, and develop common responses to challenges that often transcend national boundaries.

In Africa, he noted, road safety agencies face common problems: inadequate financing, weak enforcement capacity, unsafe infrastructure, poor emergency response, limited data, and rapid changes in transportation technology.

According to the corps marshal, by hosting a continental platform for collaboration, Nigeria is positioned to contribute to the development of African solutions to African road safety challenges.

“The corps is not only implementing road safety policies within Nigeria; it is also participating in the exchange of knowledge and institutional practices that can strengthen road safety administration across the continent.”

The corps, he said, must not only enforce existing traffic rules; it must, however, anticipate emerging risks and help shape regulatory frameworks for new forms of mobility.

In his submission, therefore, he said road safety must continue to be treated as a shared responsibility involving federal and state governments, transport agencies, road owners, vehicle manufacturers, professional associations, the media, civil society, development partners, and the motoring public.

“The FRSC remains a critical coordinating force within this ecosystem, but the corps cannot and should not carry the entire burden alone.”

With numerous initiatives being put in place by the FRSC to change the present narratives on road safety management in Nigeria, what the agency requires is political will, enhanced capacity for the work force, stronger legislative framework and traffic laws and coordinated approach cutting across all strata of the society to ensure that the commitments made in New York are felt on every Nigerian road.

Also FRSC has launched a nationwide Zonal Special Intervention Patrol (ZSIP), rolling out twelve intelligence-driven operations across its Zonal Commands to confront the most persistent causes of road traffic crashes in different parts of the country.

From Operation Fushin Zuma (Anger of the Bee) in Kaduna to Operation Ride Safe in Bauchi, Operation Shark Smile in Port Harcourt, Operation ABO (Safe Passage) in Lagos, Operation Sauka Lafia in Abuja, Operation Kasolayo in Ilorin, Operation Kwushi Ihe Mberede in Enugu, Operation Sanity in Osogbo, Operation Total Compliance in Benin, Operation Harbin Kunama (Scorpion Sting) in Yola, Operation Hadarin Kalangu in Jos and Operation Daidaita Loading in Zone 10, the coordinated intervention manifests the Corps’ resolve to confront specific traffic violations through intelligence-driven enforcement, robust public enlightenment, enhanced operational visibility, stakeholder engagement and strategic collaboration with sister security agencies, all with one overriding objective; to reduce road traffic crashes, save lives and make Nigerian roads safer for all.

The Special Intervention Patrol, the Corps Marshal said is a strategic operational initiative to enable every Zonal Command to address its peculiar crash trends through intensive enforcement, sustained public education, stakeholder engagement, rescue preparedness and enhanced operational visibility. 

This he said is designed to achieve measurable reductions in road traffic crashes by focusing on offences that have continued to claim innocent lives on Nigerian roads.

He described the initiative as a decisive shift from conventional enforcement to targeted, intelligence-led operations capable of delivering greater impact. 

According to him, every operation has been carefully designed to confront specific dangerous behaviours responsible for avoidable deaths and injuries.

He said the operations would involve massive deployment of personnel to highways, motor parks, loading points and other critical corridors, complemented by sustained public enlightenment, stakeholder engagement and close collaboration with sister security agencies to guarantee effective enforcement and rapid emergency response.

The Corps Marshal warned motorists, commercial vehicle operators and fleet owners to strictly comply with all traffic regulations, emphasising that violators would be met with firm but professional enforcement in line with the Corps’ statutory mandate.

While reassuring Nigerians that the operations are not intended to punish law-abiding road users but to protect lives and property, he called on members of the public to cooperate with patrol teams by obeying traffic regulations, avoiding dangerous practices such as overloading and mixed loading, and reporting reckless driving and other unsafe behaviours.

He further urged transport operators to embrace voluntary compliance, noting that road safety is a shared responsibility that demands collective action from government, transport stakeholders and every road user.

“Every Zone has a mission. Every patrol has a purpose. Every operation is a commitment to saving lives,” he noted.

Meanwhile, on the Kugbo outbound corridor in FCT, it is a common phenomenal that drivers and commuter drive through with quiet but unimaginable anxiety and panic.

This is as a result of a recurring pattern that had become painfully but familiar: massive articulated trucks struggling through the highway during peak hour, while smaller vehicles trapped beside them, while some impatient motorists competing for limited road space, which often lead to devastating crash that would leave families shattered and communities in mourning.

For years, this has been the lots of the road users Until March 18, 2026. That’s when the narrative changed.

On that day, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), led by its helmsman the Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed , decided that too much blood is being spilled virtually in every other day.

He embarked on what has become one of the most remarkable preventive road safety interventions in recent years, “Operation Safe Kugbo”.

The mission was undoubtedly straight forward, and bold. That is keep articulated vehicles off the Kugbo outbound Abuja–Nasarawa corridor during the rush hours of the working days.

It was simply a carefully planned, intentional deployments and intelligence-driven intervention built on one simple belief: if the greatest source of danger is removed at the time the risk is highest, lives will be saved.

And since the commencement of this laudable Operation Safe Kugbo on 18th March 2026, there have not been a single fatal road traffic crash recorded on the route.

This operation which is being implemented in accordance with Section 223 of the National Road Traffic Regulations (2022) and the FCT Traffic Regulations, targets one of Abuja’s busiest commuter routes during evening peak periods.

For this purpose, all articulated vehicles are made to park between 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., when traffic is always on the high side.

By so doing, FRSC personnel enforce temporary movement restrictions until traffic eases. To achieve this there is mutual understanding between the Corps and the fleet operators.

As at the last count since the operation started, over 9,000 articulated vehicles have been successfully restricted from operating during these peak hours.

Road safety management has therefore been made unique among public services because its greatest achievements often do go unnoticed.

The success of this unique exercise was not built on overwhelming manpower or sophisticated technology, but just with only six Officers, twenty two Marshals, two patrol vehicles and four motorcycles deployed on a consistent shift basis have sustained the operation.

By this exercise it has shown that modern road safety is no longer about responding faster after crashes occur, but it is about ensuring that crashes do not occur at all.

Operation Safe Kugbo has shown the practical demonstration that the most successful road safety strategy is not measured by the number of offenders prosecuted or patrols conducted; but measured by empty accident registers, fewer emergency calls, hospital wards that never receive crash victims and children who never become orphans because a tragedy was prevented.

It is therefore expected that Operation Safe Kugbo will be used as a blueprint worthy of replication across other high-risk corridors. 

The Corps Marshal needs to be commended for this transformation as it goes to show that a leader should be pro-active in the managing of critical situations.

Abdul wrote in from Abuja via [email protected]