FRSC TO CONDUCT DRUG TESTS ON BERGER DRIVERS

FOLLOWING their traditions of recklessness driving and other road
traffic violation on the nation's highways, The Federal Road Safety
Commission (FRSC) has said it will conduct drugs and mental
examination on Julius Berger Plc drivers nationwide.

Corp Marshall and Chief Executive, FRSC, Mr. Osita Chidoka revealed
this weekend at a meeting with the management of Julius Berger Plc,
particularly convened in the aftermath of the road traffic accident
involving Julius Berger's truck and a commercial bus which led to
the dead of sixteen people in Kubwa, an outskirt of Abuja.

Mr. Chidoka who expressed concerned over the escalating rate at
which people are being killed by road traffic accidents in Abuja and
its environs in the recent times, announced that a total of
twenty-one people were killed by vehicles in just few days.

"If you can notice in the last three days, every Julius Berger's
vehicle that we have arrested in any vehicle infringement we have
sent to court. We want to know the status of your drivers as it
affects alcohols drug testing, drug testing and the health policy of
the company".

"We convened this meeting earlier today and the Julius Berger team
came and I insisted that the Managing Director of Julius Berger Plc
should come because I wanted to underscore the important of human lives."

"I wanted to underscore the important of the Road Safety
Standardization Scheme we have in place at the FRSC and to
underscore the fact that road safety is put before all other issues.
Because if it was a plane crash involving Julius Berger Plc plane,
the whole world will be informed, it will be on the CNN, BBC,
and even if it is three people that are involved, everybody will turn up".

"And I felt that there was need for us to have this meeting at the
highest level of Julius Berger, because there has been a matter of
behaviors developing amongst Julius Berger drivers and I totally
found them unacceptable, I totally found reprehensible because
it is not the management of Julius Berger that have told them to
behave so, but they have the responsibility to make sure that they
do not behave so".

"And that was why when we started the RTSS scheme, we invited Julius
Berger to be one of the speakers at the event and at the last minute
they turned down the invitation. Because I wanted them to come and
see what the Standardization scheme is all about and what we intend
to achieve."