Duoyaro Bawa, a former Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) worker in Lafia, Nasarawa State, wanted to know why his salary was delayed in December 2011 when he discovered that his appointment had been terminated.

What shocked Bawa, who was enlisted into the FRSC in 2007, wasn’t just the news but the circumstances that surrounded the termination of his appointment. He would later learn that a 2010 incident had triggered it.

Bawa told FIJ that his FRSC appointment was terminated on December 19, 2011. However, he did not get the letter until three months later on March 5, 2012.

UNPAID SALARY SAGA

According to Bawa, his colleagues had received their salaries for December 2011 while he had not been paid. Then he notified his sector commander at Lafia.

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“When I told my sector commander, she said she was not aware of what was happening. Then she told me to go to the headquarters in Abuja. I went there that month, but they could not give me a tangible reason,” Bawa told FIJ.

“I kept going there to know why the commission had stopped paying me. Around January or February 2012, someone at the accounts department at the headquarters asked if I was still in service.

“And I responded in the affirmative. Of course, I wondered what he meant by that. He told me to come back.”

APPOINTMENT TERMINATION BUT NO LETTER

When he returned to the headquarters, Bawa would then receive the shocking news that his appointment had been terminated long before that time.

“I was in the dark, wondering what happened. I kept going to the Lafia office, and most of the time, no work would be allotted to me. I stopped going when I got exhausted,” revealed Bawa.

Amid this officer’s predicament, the FRSC neither gave him a letter to indicate that he was no longer in service nor an explanation for his unpaid salaries.

“How would my appointment be terminated without my notice as a confirmed officer? There should have been a notice either in lieu of payment or otherwise, but I got nothing,” Bawa explained.

“I, the victim of the termination, was now busy looking for the letter. I got a call from the command in Lafia in March 2012, and the person said I should come for the letter.

“I signed the letter the very day I saw it. But it did not make mention of my salary or the reason for the termination. Besides, termination only happens when you are on probation while dismissal if you have committed an offence that warrants it.”

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‘BECAUSE I FORESTALLED A MOB ATTACK IN 2010, FRSC SACKED ME’

Driven by the desire to know why he was sacked, Bawa sought redress from the FRSC. He told FIJ that he wrote several letters, but his efforts yielded no results.

“I wrote to a certain level that they said I was fond of writing, and they would not respond if I kept writing to them. But I was not demoralised,” Bawa said.

According to Bawa, a former colleague told him about a board of prerogative mercy earlier this year, and he wrote to them, calling for his reinstatement into service.

“It was in their response that I knew about what triggered the termination of my appointment. They used a booking incident that happened years ago as an excuse. I was accused of soliciting for an offender. Why didn’t they state it in the termination letter if the claim was true?” Bawa asked.

THE INCIDENT

Bawa told FIJ that a driver was booked for a lights sign and driving licence violation while he was the operational head of a patrol at Lafia on a particular Friday in 2010.

“We had been having sensitisation awareness with motorists and their garages, but they were not responding. We then decided to make some enforcements,” Bawa narrated.

“That very day, this bus was coming from Makurdi and going to Abuja via Lafia. It was conveying students to National Park, Abuja. The driver did not even have his licence with him, not even an expired one. And he also violated the lights sign.”

FIJ gathered that while the driver was booked for violating the road safety rules and his vehicle was to be impounded, other motorists had already gathered to protest against the FRSC officials’ decision.

FIJ further learnt that the FRSC officers had experienced a series of mob attacks due to incessant arrests and impoundment of vehicles prior to that incident.

“That area had been a blackspot. There was a time when they mobbed down our office and pulled down the gate. They burnt down our vehicle because of constant booking another time,” Bawa told FIJ.

At that point, Bawa was in a dilemma to either release the vehicle and thwart a possible attack on the FRSC officers or to do otherwise and give room for an attack.

“When I saw the situation of things, I had to use my discretion. I called for the union leader and asked him to sign an agreement on the driver’s behalf that the bus would be released while the leader would have to pay the fine on Monday because it was too late to go to a bank that Friday. And the fine was paid as agreed,” Bawa noted.

Bawa told FIJ that his sector commander called him that weekend.

“It was as if she was waiting for an incident like that. She said she learnt that I released a vehicle. And I told her everything that happened.”

The officer, who said he did not receive any query nor did he face any disciplinary committee at the time, was shocked when he later found that his appointment was terminated based on that incident.

“I need the FRSC to tell me why they terminated my appointment in this manner. Why did I not get a fair hearing if indeed I solicited for an offender? Why was I not queried? Why did they keep me in the dark?” Bawa said.

“I suspect that this is purely a witch hunt to take me out of employment. I worked for the FRSC with all my strength only to be awarded a termination.”

DESPITE TERMINATION, PENSION SAVINGS CONTINUED

One other occurrence that baffled Bawa was the fact that his pension savings continued throughout 2012 even though the FRSC had stopped paying Bawa his salary since December 2011.

“It’s not possible for the pension agency to keep getting monthly contributions except the salary is paid. But in my case, I kept receiving pension notifications every quarter of 2012. Where was the salary going?” Bawa wondered.

Noting that the commission cut off his means of livelihood abruptly, Bawa told FIJ that he did not get a dime as entitlements after the whole termination process.

“I have a family. All my children have lost hope,” Bawa told FIJ.

“I had to resort to farming. I only used my discretion in that driver’s case. I did not collect money from the driver to put in my pocket. The union leader who stood in for him paid the money and brought the teller to the office. Yet, FRSC is using it against me today.”

NO RESPONSE FROM FRSC

When FIJ called Bisi Kazeem, the FRSC spokesperson, on Friday, he said a message should be sent to him. A WhatsApp message, detailing FIJ’s inquiries was sent to Kazeem, but he did not acknowledge it.

FIJ sent Kazeem a text on Saturday to draw his attention to the WhatsApp message, but he did not respond as well. Even when FIJ called him again on Monday, he failed to respond to his calls.

An email was also sent to the FRSC’s email address obtained on its website on Friday but no response had been received at press time.