FRSC Regrets False BRT Tweet

The FRSC admits it gave false information as regards a BRT accident in Lagos.

The Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, has regretted a tweet from its handle, Monday noon, saying a fully loaded public transport bus, BRT, fell off the 3rd Mainland Bridge, Lagos.

The Commission’s spokesman, Jonas Agwu, said the tweet which was sent out from a Blackberry phone at 12:33pm Monday should be “disregarded.”

The tweet has also been deleted from the commission’s handle. The commission went ahead to say the hoax it had “retweet” could not be confirmed.

Mr. Agwu could not immediately say why its officers sent out the tweet, he, however, said it was a “hoax.”

“We have spoken to the Lagos Command and there is nothing like that,” he said.

The Lagos state sector commander of FRSC, Nse Akpabio, denied that the information that lead to the tweet from Abuja emanated from them.

“Who called them (FRSC Abuja, managers of the twitter handle)?” he asked.

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, however, said a BRT bus crashed at about the time FRSC sent out the spurious tweet, at another location.

“A BRT bus was involved in an accident at Ebute-Ero, near Idumota, Lagos Island, with casualties, no mortality,” Oluwafemi Oke, LASEMA boss said.

FRSC applys the social media extensively. It has operated its twitter account since September 2009 and has over 13,000 followers it feeds with road accident updates and driving tips.

It also maintains a Facebook Page with over 16,000 ‘likes’ and is one of the government agencies that are open with information.