Clement Idoko examines the political undertones generated by the introduction of the new vehicle number plates and driver's licences by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).THE introduction of new driver's licences and vehicle number plates by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and gradual phasing out of the old regime has generated controversy in the polity. While some Nigerians welcome the FRSC initiative because of perceptible benefits to individuals and to the nation, some others expressed their anger over the cost of the items.Interestingly, the introduction of the new driver's licences and vehicle number plates has also been greatly politicised, to the extent that agencies of government that are supposed to work together in ensuring the success of the project have been engrossed in a cold war. This cold-war was generated from the argument over whose right it was to design and produce the driver's licences and vehicle number plates.While members of the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) had claimed that FRSC was usurping their responsibilities by dabbling into the design and production of driver's licence and number plates, the Nigeria Police has also joined the fray, insisting that it had the constitutional right to do the job.According to reports, apart from querying the constitutional responsibility of FRSC to issue vehicle number plates and drivers' licences, the police have acquired 10,000 biometric central motor registry (BCMR) machines for the registration of security features of motor vehicles and their owners. But the FRSC has insisted that it is the only patent owner and that no any other government agency has such power to design and produce the driver's licences and vehicle number plates. It is therefore, imperative to look at some provisions in the FRSCEstablishment Act 2007 as they concern the design and production of driver's licenses and number plates.Part I of the Federal Road Safety Commission (Establishment) Act, 2007, Act No. 22, entitled, 'Establishment, Functions and Powers of the Federal Road Safety Commission', clearly defined the role of FRSC relating to driver's licences and vehicle number plates. Section 5 of this Part I, says 'the Commission may make regulations generally for the carrying out of the objectives of the Act and, in particular, may make regulations relating to (g) designing and producing driver's license and vehicle number plates to be used by various categories of vehicles; (h) registration, licensing, road worthiness of vehicles, driver's licence, use of expressways, use and construction of vehicle highway codes and, in general on human, vehicular and environmental factors to make the highways safe.'These provisions were further buttressed and amplified in Part II of the ACT, entitled, 'Establishment, Functions, and Rank of Members of Road Safety Corps'. Section 10 sub-section (1) of the Part II, says 'There is established for the Commission a body to be known as the Federal Road Safety Corps (in this Act referred to as 'the Corps') which shall consist of such number of uniformed and non-uniformed members as may be determined, from time to time, by the commission.''Again, Sub-section (3) of this Part, states emphatically that, 'In particular, but without prejudice to the generality of the provision of subsection (2) of this section, members of the Corps shall, subject to the provision of this Act, be charged with responsibilities for (d) designing and producing the driver's licence to be used by various categories of vehicle operators; (e) determining, from time to time, the requirements to be satisfied by an applicant for a driver's licence; (f) designing and producing vehicle number plates.A source close to FRSC, who said that some people were only playing politics with the entire issue of the number plates and driver's licences, added that in spite of these unambiguous provisions empowering the corps to design, produce and regulate the issuance of driver's licences and number plates, there had been political mudslinging on FRSC without recourse to this statutory mandate.It would be recalled that the Attorney Generals of states, on November 19, 2011, validated FRSC's authority to produce the driver's licences and number plates for the states. The Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved the schemes and subsequently adopted the driver's licence and number plate as security documents on December 22, 2010. On September 2, 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan launched the new schemeNonetheless, many critics have accused FRSC of abandoning its mandate of providing safety on the nation's highways. These criticisms drew the attention of the two chambers of the National Assembly, which suspended the issuance of the items in controversy while investigations were ordered into why FRSC had to introduce the new number plates and driver's licences.The Nigeria Police, expressing its bellicosity at a public hearing organised by the Senate on the issue last week, drew the attention of the Senate to the fact that it already had plans in place and had commenced modalities to capture the security features of motorists through the police BCMR scheme currently being test-run at a much lower cost.In a position paper presented to the Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs, the police pointed out that, as the agency charged with the responsibility of crime prevention, the BCMR system would also help it in the collation of data on car-snatching, recovery and prosecution, adding that it would be wrong for the police to abdicate this responsibility to any other agency that is not so empowered. This is despite the fact that the Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of the FRSC, Mr Osita Chidoka, has always maintained at every fora that the FRSC Establishment Act 2007 mandates the Corps to design and empowered to produce all driver's licenses used in Nigeria.According to him, the former licence regime was fraught with many challenges, including, forgery of drivers' license through parallel production; possession of multiple drivers' licenses facilitating impersonation and fraud; inadequate security features and difficulty in managing end to end quality. The current decentralised production makes it difficult to properly run identity verification checks, and non-capturing of driver's license data in FRSC database. Only 500,000 entries existed as at June 2007, he said. Chidoka had revealed during his presentation at the Senate Committee public hearing on the controversy over the new licence regime that the federal and state governments currently lose over N15 billion in revenue to drivers' licence faking and touting. The FRSC Public Education Officer, Mr Charles Akpabio, also said: 'Apart from the FRSC, no other government agency has power to produce number plate and driver's licence.''However, at the just concluded public hearing, the House Committee on Road Safety gave everybody the opportunity to speak their minds on the issue and also entertained questions on whether to continue or discontinue with the new number plates. The president of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Alhaji Najeem Usman Yasin and some other stakeholders, in their presentations at the public hearing, applauded the initiative by FRSC because of what they described as perceived inherent benefits to individuals and the country as a whole.According Yasin, the corps had excelled in many areas which included bringing the FRSC into international front burner, consistent decline in road traffic crashes, among others. He concluded by saying that NURTW supported the implementation of the scheme provided (it) would be administered in the overall interest of all Nigerians for promoting national security and safety on highways.In a paper presented by the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, (RTEAN) by the national president of the association, Chief Abubakar Sadiq, he said, having critically appraised the situation, weighed the security implications, the new number plate and drivers' licence were a good thing, especially as they would correct some security lapses. He, therefore, called for their immediate implementation.The position of RTEAN is that both the initiators of the scheme (FRSC) and stakeholders in road transportation should be allowed to further meet with a view to critically and strategically reviewing the mode of acquisition and cost of the items, and mutually come up with a more acceptable cost.President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Joseph Daudu, in his presentation at the public hearing, maintained that the security situation in the country was bad and that there was a need to tackle it. To tackle this, he said that the proposed number plate and driver's licence would provide the necessary information for security agencies to track criminals and improve safety of road users across the country.The NBA president, who spoke at the one-day public hearing on the phasing out of the old number plate and drivers' licence held at the instance of the House Committee on FRSC headed by Nasir Daura, called on the National Assembly to step up its oversight functions on various implementing agencies to ensure effective implementation and avoid over-pricing at the state level. In the same vein, the Director General of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), who is also the chairman, Joint Tax Board, Mrs Omogui-Ifueko, explained that the scheme would reduce the problem of racketeering and loss of revenue and enhance revenue accruable to state governments.According to her, the new number plate as approved by the Joint Tax Board (JTB), including all the state tax boards, showed that the sum of N3,000 against N750 (old price) for motorcycle; N15,000 as against N2,500 (old price); N20,000 against N3,000 (old price) for articulated vehicle; N40,000 against N6,000 (old price) for out of series; N80,000 against N18,000 (old price) for fancy; N30,000 against N7,500 (old price) for Dealer; N15,000 against N5,000 (old price) for Government and N40,000 against N10,000 (old price) for Government Fancy. To obtain the new driver's licence, the JTB approved an upward review of prices from N3,000 to N6,000 for vehicles, while driver's licence for motorcycle was raised from N1,500 to N3,000In his presentation, Chidoka explained that the proposed number plates and drivers' licence have additional security features that would help in checking the spate of road accidents and deaths caused by untrained drivers. He told the lawmakers that about 5,000 deaths were recorded on a monthly basis and that the facilities available at the commission, including central database, were obsolete, cumbersome, fraught with irregularities, chaotic and portending risks to national security, adding that there was no formal standard for production of number plates in the past.He also informed the lawmakers that: 'The commission had produced 231,876 new number plates as of 1 March, 2011, and so far discovered that 47 per cent of drivers' licences renewed were fake, 154 individuals attempted but failed to obtain licences with multiple identities, accredited 214 driving schools nationwide and commenced medical certification of commercial drivers.' According to him, the scheme would also enhance revenue accruable to state governments as unregistered vehicles would find it difficult to operate on the highway without being arrested by security agencies.The corps marshal told the committee that the introduction of the new number plate was to maintain and standardise driver's license issuance and vehicle identification with uniform number plates across the entire country, in addition to colour codes representing the purpose the vehicle is used for, whether private, commercial, government, diplomatic or military. According to him, the system would also provide uniformity and orderliness nationwide.Despite the advantages inherent in the system, the corps discovered that the recently phased out national drivers' licence and number plates were characterised with forgery which are used for criminal activities. There was no database of issued licenses across the country.He said that there were cases of the use of restricted codes by unauthorised persons for number plates, while licenses were issued to people who could never drive, including the blind and limbless. Most disturbing was the non-existence of a comprehensive database which makes crimes committed with vehicles difficult to track.
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