Senate orders FRSC to stop issuing new number plates and drivers’ license
Senate on Wednesday ordered the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to stop issuing new vehicle number plates and driver’s license. The order follows the adoption of a motion on new number and driver’s sponsored by Senator Dahiru Kuta of Niger state and 19 others.
The Senators during the consideration of the motion on Wednesday described the new vehicle number plates issued by the commission as illegal noting that act that set up FRSC does not empower it to issue number plates.
“The commission was not established principally as a revenue generating agency for states or Federal Government,” Senator Kuta said while promoting the motion.
He said the new driver’s license which the FRSC launched in 2011 “is now issued for N6, 000as against the N3, 000 while the new number plates have suddenly jumped from N5, 000 to an astronomical N15, 000,” he added.
Senator Smart Adeyemi from Kogi state said the cost of the new number plates is too exorbitant for motorists and is illegal.
He said that the “FRSC has abandoned its mandate, it was established to ensure safety on highways, but what the FRSC is trying to do now is to render other government agencies redundant.”
The Senate President, David Mark while ruling on the motion said the new number plates by FRSC was an imposition of additional burden on Nigerians.“Let them not impose additional expenditure on the people and their primary objective was not to generate revenue,” he said.
Similarly, the House of Representatives had in last November asked the FRSC to stop the issuance of new vehicle number plates and driving licence.
The House had directed its Committee on FRSC to investigate the “rationale, necessity and circumstances” for the commission’s decision to replace the existing number plates and driving licence.
The FRSC had set a deadline of August 2012 for Nigerian drivers to obtain the new driving license and number plates which were last year commissioned by President Goodluck Jonathan.
According to the FRSC the upgraded license and plate numbers are interlinked and will be connected to each driver, in order to help the FRSC track all road offences and monitor the driving behaviour of all vehicle owners.The federal government has already implemented a number of new schemes to crackdown on the illicit use of the Internet, especially email scams that attempt to steal money from other users.
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