Retired pioneer officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) have appealed to President Bola Tinubu and the Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed, to give due recognition to its founder, retired Major Rasaki Salawu, and the 25 pioneer officers of the FRSC, and allocate special recruitment slots to their children.
In a press release signed on behalf of the other pioneer officers by Deacon Sunday Dairo, a retired Deputy Chief Inspector and Zonal RS 11 in charge of Oyo, Osun and Ondo states, he urged the authorities to accord them due recognition, similar to that given to the designer of the national flag, the late Pa Taiwo Akinkunmi, by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
He recalled that retired Major Rasaki Salawu conceived the Accidents Prevention Corps, later known as ‘Maja Maja’, in Oyo State in 1977. The initiative served as the template for the federal-level creation of the Federal Road Safety Corps in 1988.
According to the foundation details, Salawu created the state’s accident prevention scheme after his military retirement. The scheme was approved in August 1987 by the Oyo State military administration under Major-General David Jemibewon, who is still alive. In 1988, the Federal Government under Ibrahim Babangida used this model to establish the Federal Road Safety Commission, where Salawu served as the pioneer Director of Operations.
He noted that Oyo State is known for pace-setting and that, on January 15, 2025, Governor Seyi Makinde honoured Major Salawu with a brand-new car during the Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration at the Government House in Agodi, Ibadan, in recognition of his service to traffic management. However, there are no official records indicating a direct national award or special recognition bestowed upon him by the Federal Government, although his state-level template was adopted nationally.
Dairo appealed to the current Corps Marshal to leave an indelible mark in the sands of time and carve his name in gold by inviting the surviving pioneers, honouring Major Salawu and the pioneer officers with photographs, and granting their request for special slots for their children and grandchildren interested in joining the Corps with immediate effect.
According to him, most of the over 20,000 current staff members of the Corps, who benefit from the pioneers’ efforts, do not know how the Corps was established. He noted that although 14 of the 25 pioneer officers had died, 11 were still alive.
He listed the names of the surviving pioneer members as Bisi Bakare, Ismaila Adegboyega Asifat, Sunday Taiye Dairo, Sunday Oladotun, Taofeek Orimidara, Alani Adegbaju, Muniru Tijani, Kola Ogunsiji, Kareem Rasak Adeshina, J. O. Alabi and Bashiru Olajumoke.
In the press release, the retired officer wondered why the children of retired officers of the Corps were not given priority in its recruitment exercises, as is done in the military.
Dairo said the surviving pioneers were now struggling on meagre pensions while their unemployed children were unable to support them in retirement.
He said the appeal had become necessary not only to preserve the legacy of the founding officers but also to alleviate the hardship confronting surviving members and the families of pioneers who died in the course of their service to the nation.
Dairo, who said he retired in 2013 as a Deputy Chief Road Marshal and Zonal Road Safety Marshal in Osogbo after 35 years of meritorious service, urged the FRSC leadership to institutionalise formal recognition for Major Salawu and the 25 pioneer personnel and introduce special preference for their children and wards in future recruitment exercises. His pin number was M-8805-00021.
Recounting the history of the Corps, Dairo said 25 personnel of the defunct Old Oyo State Road Safety Corps were released to the newly established FRSC following a circular, Ref. SP/C.224/3/VOL.1/312, dated April 8, 1988, issued by the then Military Governor of Old Oyo State, Major-General David Jemibewon.
According to him, the 25 pioneer personnel were released at the request of the Federal Government to train the first batch of 1,000 youth corpers and commence the operational activities of the FRSC at a time when Nigeria had no structured national road safety institution.
‘Many of the personnel died while in active service, while some retired peacefully after years of meritorious national service. Out of these pioneer operational personnel, only eleven are still surviving, though retired. I am one of the surviving retired personnel, and I am writing on behalf of all of us,’ Dairo said.
The retired Zonal Road Safety Marshal said the plight of the surviving pioneers had become increasingly distressing, particularly as many of their children, who should ordinarily have become their support system in retirement, remained without jobs.
‘Most of us only survive on our meagre pensions even though we have children that have graduated from school who could be taking care of us in our retirement years, but these children have no jobs. So instead of them taking care of us, we have to be using our meagre pensions to take care of them.’
‘The situation is so pathetic that we have no choice but to appeal for compassionate consideration,’ he added.
Dairo specifically appealed to the Corps Marshal to invite the surviving pioneers to the FRSC headquarters for formal recognition, take official photographs with them, and consider employing their children with immediate effect. He argued that such intervention would provide relief for retired officers who devoted decades of their lives to building the FRSC.
He therefore appealed to President Bola Tinubu and the Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed, to grant formal recognition to Major Rasaki Salawu and the 25 pioneer officers and approve a special preference policy that would give priority to their children and wards whenever the Corps conducts recruitment exercises.
‘We humbly request the Corps Marshal to consider allocating some slots to us anytime the Corps is recruiting as a way of assisting to alleviate our hardships as our leader and father that God has put in authority, and to invite us for photographs and implement this with immediate effect,’ he said.
He stressed that granting such consideration would amount to more than employment, saying it would constitute a symbolic acknowledgement of the sacrifices made by the pioneers who helped establish the FRSC and gave decades of service to the country.
Dairo said recognising the families of the pioneers would also send a powerful message to serving FRSC personnel that sacrifices made in the service of Nigeria would not be forgotten after retirement.
‘This is not just about employment. It is about honour, legacy and saying thank you to those who toiled to build the FRSC from scratch when there was nothing,’ he added.