The Court of Appeal sitting in Asaba, Delta State, has delivered a ruling affirming that the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) can only operate on federal roads.
This decision upholds the judgment previously issued by the Federal High Court in Warri, which determined that the FRSC’s jurisdiction is limited to federal highways.
The judgement was given in a lawsuit filed by Darlington Ehikim, a member of the NBA Warri. Justice E. Nwite of the Federal High Court, Warri, granted all the reliefs he sought for, including a declaration that the FRSC has no right to operate and/or carry any activity on State and Local governments roads.
An appeal filed by FRSC challenging the judgment has now been dismissed. The appellate court also issued restraining orders against the commission from operating on roads other than federal highways and also awarded cost of N10m against the FRSC.
The plaintiff’s lawyer, Mr. Kunle Edun who commended both the trial and appellate court for standing by the proper interpretation of the law, noted that the judgment re-emphasizes the federal structure of the country because the FRSC being a federal agency should only concern itself with federal roads.