FRSC obeys court order on new number plate enforcement

As a fall-out of the Joint Tax Board (JTB) suspension of the 30 June, 2014 deadline for a change to the enhanced motor vehicle number plate and driver’s license and separate court judgements from Lagos and Abuja, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has deferred enforcement on the new scheme.

The Corps has therefore directed its commanding officers nationwide to commence robust nationwide public awareness on the new initiative for motor vehicle administration in the country, emphasising on the benefits of the new scheme and the need for buy-in from all Nigerians.

Similarly, the FRSC stated that the new directive is in line with decisions taken by the Joint Tax Board (JTB) after its recent 129th meeting held on 23rd and 24th April, 2014 at the headquarters of Edo State Internal Revenue Services in Benin.

The directive read thus; “In the light of the court judgement against the FRSC, the board decided to suspend the 30th June 30, 2014 deadline earlier announced for a change to enhanced Motor Vehicle Number Plate and the Driver’s License pending the outcome of the appeal by the FRSC.”

“The States Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Vehicle Inspection Offices (VIOs) have been encouraged to put all necessary logistics in place to improve Motor Vehicle registration and issuance of driver’s license in order to build a comprehensive database”.

The FRSC equally directed its commanding officers to explore all available platforms such as motor park rallies, advocacy visits and other forms of public engagement in keeping with its 2014 strategic goal of improved public communication and road use education.

It would be recalled that the FRSC had in response to an earlier Federal High Court verdict in Lagos on April 26, 2014, affirmed that the court never vacated its statutory powers to design and produce the new number plate.