Contempt Of Court: Federal Road Safety Ignores Court Judgement To Pay A Kaduna Based Company – SIXT-MEDIA LANE
The Federal Road Safety Commission(FRSC) is having serious problems paying its debt to a Kaduna based company that obtained a court judgement against the popular federal government agency in Nigeria.
The debt arose from a judgement delivered by the Federal High Court Kaduna on 29th September 2020 against the Federal Road Safety Commission in a suit filed by a Kaduna based company against the Federal Road Safety Commission in February 2016 for unlawfully arresting its vehicle and detaining it for over four years at their Sector Command Headquarters, Kaduna making the Kaduna based company to incur losses.
The Kaduna based company through it’s lawyer, Barrister Chuks Agu diligently prosecuted the case at the Federal High Court Kaduna from 2016 to 2020 and successfully obtained a final judgement against the Federal Road Safety Commission on 29th September, 2020 which was delivered by Honourable Justice Emeka Nwite.
The Federal Road Safety Commission appealed against the judgement of the Federal High Court to the Court of Appeal, Kaduna Division on 30th September 2020 but after five (5) years of prosecuting the appeal, its appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on 19th March, 2025.
After the dismissal of its appeal on 19th March 2025, the Federal Road Safety Commission was finally faced with the task of paying the judgement debt to the Kaduna based company but it is finding it difficult to pay the principal judgement plus the accrued interest imposed by the Federal High Court in its judgement. The FRSC is complaining that the federal government refused to fund its operations adequately and that’s why it is finding it difficult to pay the judgement debt to the Kaduna based company, whose Director is a senior lawyer in active legal practice.
However, the Kaduna based company feels that the Federal Road Safety Commission is being dishonest and it is just trying to disgrace the the federal government of Nigeria by claiming that it is not properly funded to pay the judgement debt imposed by the court, which is meant to compensate the Kaduna based company for the detention of its vehicle by the FRSC for several years at its Sector Command premises in Kaduna.
The Kaduna based company through its lawyer, Barrister Chuks Agu is taking steps in accordance with the law to recover the judgement debt from the Federal Road Safety Commission because judgement of courts must be obeyed and no one should be allowed to disrespect the court of law, because the peace and orderliness of the society lies in the sanctuary of the courts and nowhere else.
It’s curious that the federal road agency which is a high revenue generating agency cannot pay its debt imposed by the court to the company that it wrongly impounded its vehicle for several years. What is it doing with all the fines it imposed and collects from motorists for violation of traffic offences? It’s quick to collect fines but very reluctant and unwilling to pay its debt. That is not how a responsible government institution should operate or behave.
This is a developing story and more details will emerge in days to come, as the company is determined to recover its judgement debt through all lawful means from the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) who claims to be broke, a claim that the Kaduna based company does not believe but considers as very disgraceful and dishonourable.
More details will be supplied to Nigerians as the events unfold between the Kaduna based company that is trying to recover its money from the Federal Road Safety Commission and the federal road safety agency that is playing hide and seek game over its legal obligation to pay the judgement debt of over five years now, saying it has no money in its account, thereby destroying the image of the federal government of Nigeria, as underfunding the federal road agency. The relevant authorities supervising the Federal Road Safety Commission may need to take a very close scrutiny of its financial accounts as a result of this issue which is damaging the image of the federal government and the Federal Road Safety Commission itself.
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