FRSC cancels deadline for new number plate

The Corps Marshall of the Federal
Road Safety Commission, Mr.
Boboye Oyeyemi, has said that the
agency will no longer insist on any
deadline for the enforcement of
the new number plate.
Oyeyemi, who stated this on
Wednesday in an interview with
journalists when he paid a courtesy
visit on Governor Theodore Orji at
the Government House in Umuahia,
said the agency would abide by the
court ruling which restrained it
from enforcing the proposal.
He explained that motorists who
still had the old number plate
would rather get the new ones
when they go to renew their
vehicle licences.
Oyeyemi said, “We will abide by
the court ruling. It was a case of
double taxation to be compelled to
have the new one if your licence
has not expired. It is a phase
approach. If your driving licence
expires, you go and renew it. It is a
12-month cycle. There is no
deadline again.
“That does not mean that if you
carry a fake number plate or driving
licence that you will not be
prosecuted, “ he said.
The corps marshal, however, vowed
that the agency would not back
down on the June 1, 2015 deadline
for the enforcement of the speed
limit device.
He said that by 2016, all imported
vehicles in Nigeria must have
speed limit device installed in
them.
The policy, according to him, has
become necessary because of the
discovery that over 15.8 per cent
auto crashes in the country was
speed related.
Oyeyemi, however, noted that
Nigeria recorded 25 per cent
reduction in road accidents in 2014
and lesser incidents in January
2015, expressing the hope that with
the new device, auto crashes would
reduce by 80 per cent in 2016.
He called on state governments to
set up traffic management agencies
to man state roads so that the FRSC
could focus on interstate and
federal roads for more effective
results.
The FRSC boss had earlier during an
audience with Orji offered to train
Abia traffic officers at the agency’s
training school at Udi in Enugu
State.
Responding, Orji appealed to the
FRSC to assist the state to shore up
its internally generated revenue
through number plate registration
and renewal of vehicle licence.
He frowned on the sharp practices
of some syndicates who defraud
the state of revenue through sale
of fake number plates. He also
advocated for the setting up of a
joint task force to crack down on
the perpetrators.
Orji said his administration had
commenced expanding some
internal roads in the state to
accommodate more vehicles and
lessen road accidents.
He thanked the FRSC personnel in
the state for their efforts in
reducing auto crashes, and pledged
the continued support of his
government for the agency.