New number plate/licence: Why we didn't consult NASS - FRSC

THE Corps Marshal of the Federal RoadSafety Commission (FRSC), Mr Osita Chidoka, on Monday, disclosed that the National Assembly was not consulted before the introduction of new number plates and driver's licences because the relevant committee of the House had not been set up in September 2011 when the inauguration was done.This came to the fore during House of Representatives committee on FRSC organised public hearing to examine the planned phasing out of number plates and driver's licenses by the FRSC.The FRSC boss, however, told the committee that the last session of the House of Representatives had been briefed on the policy, noting that the additional security features in the new plates and licences would help checkmate the spate of road accidents and death rate caused by reckless drivers on the road.According to him, about 5,000 deaths were being recorded on daily basis, adding that the facilities available at the commission, including central database, were 'obsolete, cumbersome, fraught with irregularities, chaotic and portend risks to national security.'He added that the commission had produced 231,876 new number plates at March 1, 2012 and had, so far, discovered that 47 per cent of driver's licences renewed were fake, noting that 154 individuals attempted but fail to obtain licences with multiple identities.Addressing the committee, chairman of the Joint Tax Board, Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru, on her part supported the decision by the FRSC to phase out old number plates and licences, noting that it had potential to reduce racketeering and loss of revenue to government.According to her, the new number plate, as approved by the Joint Tax Board (JTB), including all the state tax boards, sho-wed the sum of N3,000 against N750 for motorcycle; N15,000 as against N2,500 for vehicle; N20,000 as against N3,000 for articulated vehicle, while the JTB approved an upward review of driver's licences prices from N3,000 to N6,000 for vehicles and N3,000 for motorcyclist.
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