Having just concluded hearings on the new registration of vehicles and licence policy of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), fresh indications show the senate may be looking at reasons bordering on security to take a final decision. UCHENNA AWOM reports.
It was reminiscent of the ding-dong affair between the Police and the then newly autonomous Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) sometime in 2002, when the police mounted a strenuous campaign to return the fledgling agency back under its control.
Observers at the time felt that police who were facing a very serious image problem was in dire need of an agency whose performance could help mitigate their already battered relations with the Nigeria public. So they picked on the Corps on the pretext that they were performing identical functions. Besides that, they locked themselves on atrocious war of who between them was constitutionally empowered to issue drivers license.
Again, it was viewed by the public that the urbane mannerism of the officer-corps in the commission and their transparent approach in revenue drive, through the issuance of drivers’ license and registration of vehicles at that time, apparently provoked the envy of the police from where it was carved out, courtesy of the FRSC Act.
The battle at one point was temporarily won by the police when former President Olusegun Obasanjo announced a merger of both, but wise counsel prevailed and the duo was again demerged. Since then, there has been no love lost.
However, penultimate Wednesday, the Nigeria Police and the FRSC re-enacted the age-long battle as they again locked themselves in ‘responsibility war’ on the legality of the vehicle registration exercise currently being done by the Road Safety Corp. The battle ground was in the senate, precisely at a public hearing organized by the Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-governmental Affairs on the new number plates registration.
The Police had insisted that it was an exclusive right of the State Motor Licensing Authority (MLA). Deputy Inspector General of police (DIG) Olajide Akano who appeared before the committee described the said new number plates registration and drivers’ license upgrading as illegal and a violation of the Act that set up the commission.
According to him, the police have already concluded an electronic data system, Enhanced Central Motor Registration (ECMR) that will capture vehicle registrations in the country electronically which would further assist in addressing the security problem because most of the security challenges were carried out using vehicle. The ECMR, he said, will cost only N3,500 for plain-glass vehicle and N5, 000 for tinted-glass vehicle.
But in a swift reaction, the FRSC Corps Marshal, Osita Chidoka declared that the ECMR programme of the police had been faulted and certified illegal by the Joint Task force that met separately at Kano and Nasarawa States. Osita who read the communiqué of the JTF to the senators said the Act of the FRSC is very clear on the issue of the production of number plates and the compilation of data for it by the commission.
“At the 104th meeting of the Joint Tax Board (JTB) between August 6 to August 7, 2003 in Nasarawa State and the communiqué noted that road taxes are the responsibility of the states. The communiqué also highlighted that the ECMR are un-receipted by the Police. The meeting agreed that the function of keeping motor vehicle records is kept statutorily by the FRSC…The CMR, as currently put, is illegal,” he said.
Senate Agrees, Faults Police
Police insistence ran into a brick wall as the senate threw their weight behind the FRSC, declaring emphatically that the issuance of vehicle registration plate is the exclusive statutory right of the FRSC and not the police. Chairman of the committee, Dahiru Awaisu Kuta who intervened and stopped what could have re-ignited their old rivalry cleared the issue, as well as his colleagues in the panel.
To underscore their seriousness, a member of the committee, Senator Kabiru Marafa not only faulted the comment of the police DIG that the FRSC did not have the right to produce the number plates, but also referred the police and the audience to a clause in the FRSC Act that empowers the corps to issue drivers license and vehicle registration plate.
The committee bared their fangs as they were particularly irked by a seeming fresh plan by the police to embark on another registration which they said will be another burden to Nigerians.
By inference, what the senators did was to ask the police to stay clear of any new effort that will not only duplicate what the FRSC is doing but also add to the financial burden of the already overstretched Nigerians.
According to the senators: “What we are doing is to find a way to streamline all the registration into one to save Nigerians from being subjected to further costs.” Besides, they faulted the Nigeria Police on the planned reintroduction the Enhanced Central Motor Registry (ECMR) and demanded immediate halt and a synergy between Police and the FRSC so as to avoid operational conflicts.
However, from the presentation of key stakeholders, it was obvious that the FRSC actions were well thought and may be in sync with road users and Nigerians alike.
For example, the National President of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Chief Abubakar Sadiq in a presentation, told the senate panel that his association fully supports the new number plate being implemented by the FRSC. In his words: “Having critically appraised the situation and the insecurity implications, the project was in the country’s interest.
The introduction of the new number plate and drivers’ licence is a good thing to happen in Nigeria, most especially as it tends to correct some security lapses; therefore it should be allowed for immediate implementation”.
Nonetheless, the caveat in the position canvassed by the RTEAN is for further meeting of stakeholders with the FRSC to strategically review the mode of acquisition and cost payable for the items and mutually come up with a more acceptable cost.
They also demanded that the major stakeholders in the transport sector should be incorporated in the committees involved in the process so as to determine the mode of production and sales.
Similarly, National President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Joseph Daudu (SAN), in his presentation, harped on the security situation in the country. He suggested at the hearing that the proposed number plate and drivers’ licence must provide necessary information for security agencies to track criminals and improve safety of road users across the country.
As it were, Corps Marshal Chidoka made a spirited defence of the project at the hearing. He told the panel that the proposed new number plates and drivers’ licences have additional security features that will help in checking the spate of road accidents and death rate caused by untrained drivers.
The scheme he added, would aid revenue drive of the states as unregistered vehicles would find it difficult to operate on the highway without being arrested by security agencies.
“The introduction of the new number plates was to standardize divers’ licence issuance and vehicle identification with number plates and make them uniform across the country with colour codes that will indicate the status of use of the vehicle; either for private, commercial, government, diplomatic or military, and the system would provide uniformity and orderliness nationwide”.
The reason for the latest effort he added was that the previous arrangement was fraught with forgery, which made it vulnerable to criminals. “There was no data base of all the licenses issued nationwide. There are also cases of the use of restricted codes by unauthorized persons for number plates and licences were issued to persons who do not know how to drive”, he said.
Lack of Synergy
But senators frowned at the lack of synergy between the FRSC and the police going by the sharp disagreement between the officers at the hearing. Senator Domingo Obende observed that it was obvious from the response of the police DIG that there was no synergy between the police and the FRSC on the registration exercise.
The senators pointedly told the police that it was illegal and unconstitutional for them not to carry along the principal stakeholder, the Federal Road Safety Corps,(FRSC) on their plan to commence issuance of the CMR,
Akano it could be recalled had told the senators that the National Road Traffic Regulations, NRTR 2004 empowered the Motor Licensing Authority, MLA to register vehicle. “No section of the NRTR 2004 empowered the FRSC to register vehicles and maintain database of same.
It is the MLAs in each state that are empowered to register vehicles while the Police Act 2004 empowers the police to maintain motor vehicle statistics. It was a position that caught the attention of the senators. They viewed it as a reflection of internal struggle, which suggests lack of synergy between both critical government institutions.
They therefore demanded that both must cooperate in the interest of the country and respect the relevant laws, which carefully spelt out their functions.
But Chidoka insisted that they are working collaboratively with the police; “There is a fundamental issue that all state governments are expected to keep a registry of vehicles, but that they are not involved in the registration of vehicles because that’s a state function. We are already working in synergy with the police, all the biometric data will be forwarded to the police, this we have told them”