►The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Nigeria on Wednesday told the Federal Executive Council that it will henceforth impound vehicles without genuine clearance documents from the Nigerian customs service.
►The Corps-Marshal of the FRSC, Osita Chidoka, briefed the council of the organisation’s decision while presenting an update on Nigeria’s status on the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020).
►Briefing the press after the meeting, Mr Chidoka said the decision would speed up the accumulation of reliable database on cars plying Nigerian roads.
►The Corps-Marshal of the FRSC, Osita Chidoka, briefed the council of the organisation’s decision while presenting an update on Nigeria’s status on the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020).
►Briefing the press after the meeting, Mr Chidoka said the decision would speed up the accumulation of reliable database on cars plying Nigerian roads.
“People come to us and present their custom duty papers that they have paid for it and we register. But now we are no longer taking that paper, we are now linked with the custom clearance platform. So the data of all the cars that have validly entered into the country through the customs system is already domiciled in our system.
“So when we enter your Chasis number and that car does not come up into the system, then we have to get you to get genuine customs papers because what they carry are fake papers,” he said.
Mr. Chidoka said the FRSC had been able to do something similar for the insurance industry.
“If you notice now if you register your car with the new number they will tell you to bring your e-policy because all the insurance companies are required to update their policy to a database while we verify it.
“So any car that carries the new number plate, that goes through registration, has valid insurance. That is what we want to do with the customs license. Initially our plan was when we see you we ask you to go back to customs; but with the feedback from Mr. President today, that is not enough.
“We need to hold that car, investigate how it entered into the country without going through the normal process. So we will modify the process to include the customs in that process,” he said.
Mr Chidoka said the ECOWAS Regional Vehicle Identification Scheme had adopted Nigeria’s FRSC model of operation while Ghana and Sierra Leone had asked for Nigeria’s assistance in improving their own road safety management.
He said his organisation would continue to work hard to make Nigerian roads among the 20 safest roads in the world by 2020 in terms of accidents and that under his leadership, the corps’ personnel had increased from 11,000 to 19,000.
“I assure Nigerians that the delay being witnessed in getting the new driver’s licence will soon become a thing of the past,” Mr Chidoka said.
Before the commencement of the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting, he decorated President Goodluck Jonathan as grand patron of the FRSC.
