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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

INTERESTING: New Number Plates, Police Vs FRSC


If the ongoing development between the authorities of the Nigeria Police and the Federal Roadsafety Commission(FRSC) is anything to go by, then the September deadline for the acquisition of new number plates by all car owners may not be feasible.
Details at our disposal say the Nigeria Police and the Federal Road-Safety Commission ( FRSC) are now at each other’s neck over vehicle registration right.
Recall that the Police has recently announced its own version of the exercise to the chagrin of the FRSC authorities, as the Commission alleged police sabotage of its effort to authenticate the nation’s vehicle registration.
CSP Frank Mba, the Police Force spokesman, had on 9 September announced the introduction of Biometric Central Motor Registration (BCMR), which would replace the manual Central Motor Register (CMR) with effect from 16 September.
According to him, the system would help the police to fight terrorism, prevent crimes as well as apprehend and prosecute other law offenders.
This will be ahead of the September 30 deadline earlier fixed by the FRSC.
However, the FRSC authorities have continued to express their displeasure and resentment over the decision of the police at a point they were working towards centralising vehicle’s registration.
An officer who spoke to DailyPost from the Lagos office of the FRSC divulged that the September deadline for the new number plate and other registrations has been shelved as a result of the ongoing disagreement between the Police and the FRSC. He said the claim by the Police that its registration was different from the FRSC’s does not hold water.
“Their job is to ensure compliance and use all data at their disposal, not to stretch too far into doing biometric registration. This is a slap on the face of the Commission. I have gathered that the deadline fixed earlier has been shifted, pending when this issue is resolved” The officer said.
Reacting to the allegation, a source from the Police Edet House, Abuja who equally pleaded anonymity said the FRSC was not sincere in its query. He argued that even though the FRSC is in charge of vehicle registration, they must do their job as it relates security ” especially within this period that crime is on the rise, and Boko Haram insurgents are devising several ways to better their several campaigns against the Federal government.” He stressed that data which will be collated from the exercise would be helpful, while the Police go about combating crimes.
However, EC Ihechene, an education Officer of the FRSC, who spoke to our correspondent on behalf of the Federal Roadsafety Corps Public Education Officer (CPEO), Jonas Agwu in Abuja said he was not aware of any shift in the new number plate’s deadline. He said ” I have just consulted my boss, and he is also not aware of such development. We are not also aware of any fight between the Police and the Commission. If the date is going to be changed, then we are yet to be told , but if such information is coming from the board, it must first of all get to us here in Abuja head office, and not from any other state”.
Meanwhile, Nigerians have continued to cry out over the announced multiple registration by both the police and the FRSC. Many are of the view that the registrations are unnecessary as they are all geared towards exploiting the ordinary man, who is now compelled to pay from his nose.
Source: Daily Post

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