Plans by the Federal Road Safety Corps and the Lagos State Government to phase out existing vehicle number plates and replace them with new ones with effect from August 31, 2012 may run into trouble as a lawyer, Mr. Babatunde Aturu, has vowed to lead his aggrieved colleagues and motorists to challenge the action in the law court.The state government had commenced the issuance of the new plate on November 15, fixing N15,000 to procure one for a new vehicle and N10,000 to replace an old plate.It also said the new number plate would be unique to individual vehicle owners, making it difficult to transfer them to future owners of the vehicles.But Aturu on Monday faulted the action of the government in forcing motorists to buy new number plates for old vehicles that were already in use.He described the policy as unpopular and punitive, and dared any agency of the government to impound his car for refusing to change from the old to the new plate after the August 31 deadline.He said, If I buy a new vehicle, I will take a new number plate; but it is absurd for anybody to ask me to take another number plate for an old car. I will continue to use it until it can no longer serve me.That policy is unpopular and punitive, they cant enforce it; any attempt to enforce it will be resisted. I will challenge it and encourage any Nigerian who is harassed for this to challenge it in the law court.The House of Representatives had last month directed FRSC to stop the issuance of the new vehicle number plate and asked its committee with oversight function on the organisation to investigate the rationale, necessity and circumstances of replacing the existing number plate.The committee was given four weeks to complete the assignment, while the FRSC was ordered to stop the implementation of the policy pending the outcome of the investigation.The Chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, Mr. Sam Tsokwa, had told the House that controversies had surrounded the new policy.He said the policy was designed to drain the pockets of Nigerians, who are already facing hard times.The Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Ilorin Branch, Mr. Salmon Jawondo, said the FRSC would be required to seek an amendment of the relevant section of its Act that empowered it to produce number plates before a new one could be contemplated.He said the existing Act did not recognise the replacement of the old number plate with a new one.Meanwhile, the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, has defended the action of the state government in introducing the new number plate.Opeifa, who spoke at a function in Lagos on Thursday, said the action was in line with international practice and was in tune with new technologies.He cited a similar situation in the United States and United Kingdom, where each state was free to decide the number plate for vehicles operating within its territory.The commissioner also said that the action would help to reduce criminal activities usually committed with the use of vehicles as people could now be traced with the number plates.
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