Date Published: 11/05/11

Open Letter to the President; Vehicle Number Plates Scarcity hit Nigeria

Following the euphoria that greeted the establishment of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) by the IBRAHIM    BABAGIDA’s    administration in 1988, the Professor Wole Soyinka led agency quickly swung into action to truncate the anomalies and absurdity that have hitherto been created by road users. Such  unethical road  practices   contributed to a lot of avoidable accidents and resultant deaths. FRSC main functions include educating drivers, motorists and other members of the public on proper use of the highways, issuance of Driver’s licence and production of vehicle plate numbers for the entire federation.

Among the problems that have bedevilled this agency laterly, like most government owned organisations, for example Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN or “Please Hold Candle Now”) and Nigerian telecommunication (NITEL) are allegedly inconsistent and inept leadership, lack of requisite capacity, corruption, mismanagement, flawed recruitment, selection and placement process, dependency on consultants for procurement of raw materials and lackadaisical attitude to work.

Getting a driver’s licence today from FRSC is a cumbersome task due to bureaucratic bottlenecks. Touts and fraudsters are having a field day by producing fake driver’s licences for Nigerians who can not afford to go through the excruciating stress and pains of getting a genuine driver’s licence.

In the year 2006, vehicle owners had to cough out as much as 45,000 naira to register a vehicle. Some citizens who travel to Lagos to buy vehicles had to lodge in hotels for weeks before getting the scarce commodity at an astronomical cost. Vulnerable and susceptible members of the public became victims of fake vehicle number plates which some scammers started producing due to the lacuna that was created by this acute scarcity.

 Vehicle owners went through hell getting vehicle plate numbers before the charismatic former Governor of Lagos State, Ahmed Tinubu decided to take the bull by the horn by commencing the production of vehicle    number plates for Lagos State only. By this bold step, former Gov. Ahmed Tinubu really defined the word federalism. Suddenly, every thing changed as potential vehicle owners were able to register their vehicles genuinely for less than 20,000 naira.

However, for over three to four months now, there has been another acute scarcity of vehicle plate numbers following announcement by FRSC that it will commence production of new vehicle plate numbers and will start issuing OCTOBER 1 ST, 2011. To the utter consternation of Nigerians, the FRSC is yet to issue a single number plate due to the inconsistencies in policies that have characterised government owned agencies. Lagos State had to stop production since September in order to comply with this obnoxious directive. Why put potential vehicle owners through this mess again? Why are government agencies not proactive? If the FRSC had issues that needed to be resolved before the issuance of the new number plates, why not resolve it first? Why not maintain the status quo until all necessary and relevant logistics are put into place? Do we need to privatise FRSC for it to be productive? Why embark on production of new number plates when there is nothing wrong with the old one? In other words, what is the rationale for this new policy?

Number plates Vendors and car dealers are already feeling the pain as potential vehicle owners are not willing to buy untill the New number plate is out.

MR President, every right thinking, and truly patriotic Nigerian should be worried about    FRSC state of anomy and abject situation and as a matter of utmost urgency, join others in rescuing what is known to be one of the most salient organisation in Nation building.

 With due respect Sir, i strongly urge you take immediate action, which should ameliorate the plight of car dealers, vendors and potential vehicle owners.

EMMANUEL IMOH EKEREUWEM

VANGUARD FOR SOCIAL CHANGE,

ABUJA

E-MAIL; vanguard. 4.social.change@gmail.com

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