FRSC Vows Appeal as Ministry Official Debunks ‘90% Federal Roads’ Claim
By Ahmad Tijjani Abdul
KANO — A fresh controversy has emerged over the ownership and jurisdiction of roads in Kano State after the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) announced plans to appeal a Federal High Court judgment restricting its operations on non-federal roads.
This just as an official of the Federal Ministry of Works disputed the Corps’ claim that most roads in the state are under federal control.
The Public Education Officer of the FRSC, Kano Sector Command, Abdullahi Labaran, un an interview said the Corps would challenge the court’s decision, insisting that its enforcement activities in Kano are confined to federal highways.
“We will appeal the court judgment on our operations within the city,” Labaran said.
Defending the Corps’ position, he maintained that “about 90 per cent of the roads in Kano State are federal roads.”
He explained that, “all the operations carried out by the FRSC in Kano are on federal government roads.”
Labaran’s remarks followed the landmark judgment of the Federal High Court in Kano in a fundamental rights suit filed by legal practitioner Abba Hikima, which held that the Corps lacks the legal authority to operate on roads outside the federal highway network.
However, a senior official of the Federal Ministry of Works, who spoke to FineNews Nigeria on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment publicly on the matter, dismissed the FRSC spokesperson’s assertion as factually incorrect and inconsistent with the established classification of roads in the country.
“The claim that 90 per cent of Kano roads are federal roads is simply not correct,” the official said.
“Federal highways terminate within a 25-kilometre radius of the city in accordance with the highway classification framework, and beyond those limits, the roads fall under the jurisdiction of the relevant urban authority.”
He further explained that the transfer of responsibility for such roads is neither arbitrary nor recent, but is backed by long-standing federal government policy governing the ownership, administration and maintenance of federal highways traversing major cities.
“It is a well-documented code that has been implemented over the years. The portions of federal highways within the designated urban limits are ceded to the state for ownership and maintenance. Anyone familiar with the framework should know this,” the official added.
The conflicting positions have intensified public debate over the scope of the FRSC’s statutory powers, with legal and transport stakeholders closely watching the Corps’ proposed appeal, which is expected to provide further judicial clarity on the extent of its enforcement jurisdiction on roads within Kano metropolis.
Neither the Federal Ministry of Works nor the FRSC Headquarters had issued an official statement on the differing interpretations as of the time this report was filed.