Number plate: Senate summons FRSC, FIRS, minister

Senate Committee on Federal Character and Intergovernmental Affairs has invited the Minister of Transport, Mr. Idris Umar, and the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mrs Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru, to its public hearing on Tuesday.

According to the chairman of the committee, Senator Dahiru Kuta, they are to make some clarifications as the Senate moves to resolve the controversies surrounding the proposed new vehicle number plates and driving licences.

Others invited are the Chairman of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr. Osita Chidoka; the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Luxury Bus Owners Association of Nigeria, Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association of Nigeria, Directors of Vehicle Inspection Offices in the 36 states and the FCT, security agencies and civil society groups.

Kuta said the exercise was not a with-hunt but to ensure that the ordinary people were not seriously affected by the new policy.

The Senate and the House of Representatives had earlier directed the FRSC to stop the scheme until a resolution was reached on the matter.

Following a motion on the subject matter earlier in the month, the Senate mandated the committee to carry out a public hearing on the scheme against the background of complaints against the FRSC that it was stepping beyond its bounds.

According to Kuta, the FRSC stands to generate at least N2bn as its own share of the issuance of the new number plates and driving licence, much to the distress and detriment of the “poor masses of the country”.

Kuta said, “The public hearing on the new scheme is to get firsthand information from the public and stakeholders in the sector after which the National Assembly will now chart a way forward. Whoever is talking about a witch-hunt on this matter is, to me, simply uninformed.

“The extant FRSC Act empowers it to primarily, prevent and minimise accidents on the highways and clear obstructions on any part of the highways and educate drivers, motorists and other members of the public generally on the proper use of highways.

“The commission was not established principally as a revenue-generating agency for the states and Federal Government. In recent times, the FRSC embarked on frequent and arbitrary introduction and re-introduction of vehicles number plates and driving licences and the commission will ultimately be generating N2bn annually as its own share of the new scheme.”