Driver’s license: The palaver

YEMI OLAKITAN

An investigative media chat with an average Nigerian driver on his experience with driving in Nigeria, particularly the commercial capital Lagos, will reveal an endless tales of woes such as ‘‘LASMA harassment,’’ police extortions, confrontations with hoodlums, traffic jams, road safety officials, bad roads and many more. Chief of these is the problem of procurement and renewal of driver’s license which was described by a particular driver as ‘‘complete madness.’’ Discussions with various drivers by Sunday Mirror reveal that many are not too happy with the system put in place by the authorities to procure or renew their driver’s license. Ag. Head of investigations, Yemi Olakitan examines the subject.

A driver's license or driving license is an official document that states that a person can drive an automobile without supervision. The laws relating to the licensing of drivers vary between one country and the other. In some countries a license is issued after one has passed a test while in others; a person acquires a license before beginning to drive and may not need to pass through a driving school.  According to Barrister Shittu, a Lagos based lawyer, the authorities have made the new driving license regime cumbersome with too many procedures, they need to simplify the process and make it easier. ‘‘It is the same thing with registering a business, getting an international passport; we like to make things complicated in Nigeria, thereby creating an opportunity for crooks, thieves and counterfeiters to thrive. If things are simple to obtain, then there would be no need for a black market for fakes who peddle their products as genuine,’’ he said.

soyinka

In a chat with Seyi Imohi, a taxi driver based in Lagos Island on his experience, he said, ‘‘the government should return driving license procurement and renewal to the local government as we used to do it before. Look at the hassles we go through just to collect a driver’s license. It does not worth it at all.  You collect form, you go to the bank to pay, and then you go to VIO, someone that has been driving for the past 20 years, They are asking the person to go to a driving school, after going through so many procedures, you are then asked to wait for months. This is madness! They should hand it over; people should go to their respective local governments and collect the drivers’ licenses, you want to collect drivers’ license, for six months, you are still on it. They should change the system. It was not like this before. I got my drivers’ license in 1981. It is here with me and it is still intact. This country belongs to all of us. They should put up a system that makes things convenient and not frustrating. They are treating us like second class citizens in our own country,’’ he said. 

Babangida

In another chat with James Xavier, an IT professional, on his experience on the procurement of a drivers’ license, he said, ‘‘when you get to their office and you queue up and spend the whole day to procure the drivers’ license. They will then announce to you that the original license cannot be ready as at yet. You would have to do with a temporary driving license. In which case, you have no choice but to collect it and leave since they are the one body responsible for it. Then after a few weeks or months depending on how lucky or unlucky you are, the original will still not be out. I have been using a temporary driving license for the past one year and a half and there is no hope of a permanent driver’s license in sight,’’ he said.

Speaking further, James said, ‘after using the temporary driving license for weeks or even months, you then get pulled over by FRSC officials while driving and they will look at your temporary driving license that you suffered so much to collect in their office. They will then tell you that your license is fake. How can it be fake when you were the ones who gave it to me in your office? You took my data capture with all the delaying and suffering. You now tell me it’s fake; it means that FRSC is giving out fake driver’s licenses,’’ he said. 

In another chat with Yusuf Lawal, a commercial driver, he said, ‘‘I got a temporary drivers’ license since April, this year. They said they will call me for capturing. Up until now they have not call me. I have gone to their office here at Sura, many times. They will just sign here and there. They will say, it is not ready and I have been using the temporary license like that. I have been traveling with it and my car is good although, they have not harassed me on the road but I feel it is taking too long. On what the government should do to arrest the situation, he said, ‘‘I heard a rumour that they will soon make it a local government by local government thing. I heard that soon it will only take three or four days to procure your drivers’ license, I pray that will come true and that it happens as they say because we can no longer continue with this new arrangement. It is not working,’’ he said. 

In another chat with a commercial driver, Bioye Oyeniyi, he said, I got my driver’s license in Ibadan, Oyo state. I tried to get it in Lagos state but the hassles were too much so I went back to my state to collect it. They were asking me to pay N25, 000 to get a drivers’ license so I said instead of me to pay that kind of money I will go to my state ad get it and I got it. In fact, drivers are facing a lot of problems in Lagos; driver’s license is just one. What about LASMA? They harass us with the most flimsy excuses and treat us like dung,’’ he said.

Another driver, Mr. Balogun Ayinde, he said, ‘‘I know someone, a friend of mine who has been carrying a temporary driver’s license for the past seven months and when you are driving you ought to carry your driver’s license. What is the use of a professional driver without a license? We are treated anyhow by transport law enforcement agents, all because we do not have somebody at the top. This driver’s license issue has been politicized and monetized. This is why we are facing all these problems in obtaining it. Otherwise, why is there so many problems attached to it? Is this the first time the Federal government has been giving Driver’s license to Nigerians?’’ he said.

Speaking with Mr., Anthony Giobagunwo, he said, ‘‘we want the federal government to help us concerning the problem of Driver’s license. It should not take more than two days to collect your driver’s license. It is not necessary to go to driving school. There are hundreds of Nigerians who have been driving for the past ten years and never went to a driving school. All that should be required is a test result and it should not take more than three days. If you go to these people’s office, they will give you one sheet of paper for one year.  As I am speaking to you, my driver’s license is expired but I have not collected another one because of the hassles. The government should make it easy for us to collect it; you will use one year to fill a form and another year to do capturing and another year to collect it. They need to employ more people to do the job simplify things, so that it will be easier,’’ he said.

Investigations by Sunday Mirror reveals that there are also some private agencies or driving schools who give out driving licenses to drivers in Lagos. In a chat with an official of one of the agencies who spoke on anonymity, she said, ‘All that you need to do is to obtain a form for N5, 000, submit your passport photographs and test results and then after a few days, your driver’s license is ready for collection. She insisted on the genuineness of her company’s driver’s license. ‘Our driver’s license is not fake. It is genuine. We don’t obtain in Lagos. They are from Ogun state. I can assure you it is genuine,’’ she said.

Investigations reveal that some government officials do take advantage of the cumbersome process of obtaining driver’s license to make a business for themselves by giving out driver’s licenses for a fee.

There are many fake driver’s license in the hands of drivers these days that you wonder whether, there is an original one,’’ said Ibrahim, a taxi driver. ‘‘It is all the fault of the Federal Road Safety Corps and other agencies responsible for issuing driver’s license. They should just make the process simple. If you look at the hassles, the waiting, and the queuing up at the FRSC office and then you meet someone who says, I will get you a license within 3 days, you will want to go for it and then when you look at the counterfeit driver’s license. It looks like the original.’’

 According to FRSC the government launched a new driver’s license issuing system that changed the requirements and procedures to obtain a driver’s license in 31 Jan. 2012. This chaotic situation actually started in 2013, when the government gave an October deadline to phase out the old drivers license and plate number for vehicles. All agencies of government particularly in Lagos State found it lucrative to pounce on vehicles on the road and challenge owners or drivers of such cars to produce their driver’s licenses.  The Vehicle Inspection Officers, VIO, and Nigeria Police especially have in such circumstance declared as “fake” even the drivers licenses issued by FRSC causing their victims to part with some money.

It is widely believed that the officers of the authorities involved in the issuing process are taking advantage of the scheme to enrich themselves.  Applicants attributed the compromise to demand for gratification and inhuman treatment, especially during the data-capturing stage. The process has rapidly created a business, informally, for the operatives of the agencies that play one role or the other during the stage of documenting applicants, or in the process of capturing their biometric data.

According reports, it is just like a racket from which some FRSC personnel and VIOs are feeding fat. On-duty officers reportedly demand for a minimum of N2, 000 to enable them collate applicants’ forms and where you fail to meet their demands, you will not be able to go through the process in record time. These are some the reasons why Nigerians experienced delay in obtaining their driver’s license.

The FRSC attributed the reasons for the delay to problems with the FRSC's technical partners during the upgrade to the new system.  In July 2011, a Nigerian national newspaper, not Mirror, reported the Deputy Director of Operations at the Vehicle Inspection Office as conceding that “'driver’s licensing is in a bit of disarray at this point. ‘‘If you go to most states of the federation, you will find that they are not able to produce driver licenses because of the current confusion” and indicated that the different agencies involved in issuing driver's licenses (i.e., the FRSC, the Board of Internal Revenue and the Vehicle Inspection Office) are using different procedures.  Sources report that citizens with the former version of the driver's license will be required to upgrade to the new one regardless of whether their current license has expired or not.

However, the situation in other states of the country is not as pathetic as that of Lagos state. Reports say that Ogun state’s system is faster and more organized.  An applicant completes an application form that he or she also dates and signs. The applicant provides a signature on a signature mandatory card, which is then scanned into a database and displayed on the driver's license. The applicant also provides two passport photographs that will also be scanned into the database and displayed on the driver's license. He pays "the cashing office" a processing fee in cash or by a bank draft.  In addition to the application form and fee, he also provides proof of his identity or name by producing an international passport, or a birth certificate or sworn declaration of age or affidavit. The declaration of age or affidavit must be sworn before a court by a family member. He provides a written driving test and proof that he or she has passed a road test from an "approved instructor or driving school". A licensing officer verifies the results before the applicant submits a copy to the licensing office. Once the application has been processed and the documents verified, the driver's license is mailed to the applicant's "residential or chosen mailing address."

Investigation reveal that even in Ogun state, the applicants "can not obtain an on the spot drivers license because the application must be processed". This includes updating the database and allocating a number to the application. The driver's license number identifies the applicant and cannot be changed. An applicant can obtain a license from a state in which he is not a resident. Sometimes applicants will receive a driver's license from a different state than the one from which they applied because of the high volume of applications in the first state.

The idea of an autonomous body regulating traffic, in addition to the Nigeria Police, who are statutorily charged with that responsibility, started from Oyo State, under the government of Chief Bola Ige, who as governor of Oyo State, was tired of the carnage on the old Ibadan-Ife highway. The road ranked first among slaughter houses, called trunk roads in those days; surpassing the Lagos-Ibadan; Kano-Zaria-Kaduna; Onitsha-Owerri-Aba and the Warri-Patani-Portharcourt roadways which were its closest rivals.  The governor thought if the idea was not to degenerate into another opportunity for bribery, it required somebody with integrity. Professor Wole Soyinka was his choice. The Nobel Prize Winner lived up to his expectations as he was frequently on the roads himself, assisting in making the arrests.

Destruction of lives and properties abated very quickly – not only on Ibadan-Ife, but Ibadan-Iwo and Ibadan-Oyo roads.  The change of governors in Oyo State in 1983 and the military coup of December 31, 1983 brought an end to corps activities in Oyo State. When General Ibrahim Babangida came to power in 1985, he provided the opportunity for the nation to revisit the issue of a road safety unit autonomous of the police, who were considered corrupt.  In 1988, by Decree 59, the Federal Road Safety Corps was promulgated into law and Professor Wole Soyinka became the Corps Marshal.  However, according to James Xavier, it can hardly be said that the FRSC is still the same organization that Professor Wole Soyinka left behind since they seemed to have danced to the tune of corruption since Professor Soyinka left. 

The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), was mandated by law to take charge of matters of road safety and regulations. However this role has been challenged in court by Nigerians.  it has been argued that, ‘‘the FRSC has no power to issue drivers' licenses, a function that critics say, constitutionally lies with the states, A coalition of civil society and non-governmental organizations also argued that the FRSC's practice of issuing driver's licenses is "an aberration of the 1999 Constitution."

Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court in Lagos on March 26 declared that the FRSC had no legal authority to impose new number plates or driving licenses on motorists in the country.  The judge also held that “the ongoing exercise by the FRSC to replace the old number plate with a new one is illegal and unconstitutional because there is no law empowering it to carry out the exercise.’’

Justice Tsoho delivered the judgment in a suit filed by a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr Emmanuel Ofoegbu, against the FRSC.  In the suit, Ofoegbu had challenged the power of the commission to impound vehicles of motorists who failed to acquire the new number plates. The plaintiff argued that there was no law validly made in accordance with the constitution prohibiting the use of the old number plates.

However, an Anambra State High Court sitting in Awka ruled that the issuance of new vehicle number plates and drivers licenses by the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, is “legal” and “constitutional,” citing “Section 5 of the Act of 2007.    

In May, Adeniyi Ademola, the judge of a Federal High Court in Abuja, ruled that the FRSC lacked the constitutional power to compel vehicle owners to renew their vehicle particulars which had yet to expire and declared the threat of the commission to arrest and prosecute motorists who did not obtain the new license and number plates illegal and unconstitutional.

 “The court is also mindful of the recent judgment of a Lagos Federal High Court on the same subject matter, which I completely aligned with.”

In a judgement delivered on June 30, in a suit instituted by one Ajefo Ekwo, against the commission on the legality of the issuance of the new number plates and drivers licences, the trial judge, Peter Umeadi, who is also the Chief Judge of Anambra State, ruled that by the provision of the National Road Traffic Regulation 2012 and the Federal Road Safety Commission Act 2007, the FRSC is empowered to issue new vehicle number plates and drivers licenses.

“I hold that the directive of the respondent to all motorists previously registered to re-register their vehicles for the purpose of changing their old number plates with new vehicle number plates is legal and constitutional and stand firmly on both Act 2007 and Regulations of 2012,” the judge declared.

“Section 5 of the Act of 2007 allows the commission, the Respondent, to make regulations for carrying out the objectives of the Act. The Act of 2007 specifically allows the respondent to make regulation with regard to the designing and producing of drivers’ licenses, and vehicle number plates to be used by various categories of vehicles.”

The judge ruled that it is wrong to hold the FRSC responsible for the discontinuance of the old number plates explaining that by the passing of the National Road Traffic Regulation 2012; it is only natural for the old plates to be changed.

“As soon as the Regulations of 2012 were made, they took a life of their own. It does not matter if it was done by the respondent or that the respondent is vested with the powers. But it is not only the respondent that was vested with the powers therein. It just happened that the Regulation of 2012 and the Act of 2007 allow the respondent to place a pivotal role in the sequence event to realize the goal of the legislations. It is on this note that it should be understood that old vehicle registration license were not discontinued by the respondent qua respondent but by the force of the Regulation of 2012.

“I agree with the learned counsel of the respondent that to achieve the use of legal, legitimate and now only authorized new vehicle registration licences and driver licences the old ones have to be discontinued and the law has vested the respondent with the power to do that.”

According to reports, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) as a result of the judgment said it would begin enforcement of the new drivers’ licence and number plate is Aug 1, 2014.  The Lagos State Sector Commander, Mr Chidi Nkwonta, said that the decision followed the new court judgment.  “This new judgment made it very clear that as from Aug. 1, FRSC should impound. “So, Nigerians must discountenance that first misleading judgment and take this one because we are going to continue enforcement as from Aug. 1, 2014.’’

“We never asked anybody to stop (processing licences). Anybody who stopped ab initio stopped at his own peril. “Neither did the court ask anybody to stop, that judgment never said anybody should stop. “So anybody who did so did it at his own risk and the deadline was supposed to be June 30.

“Now we have extended it to Aug. 1, because we needed to go on appeal on the other matter.  “But right now, there is another judgment which says we can go on.

“So, while we are still waiting for the appeal we are going to go on with this other judgment.“

This was FRSC response to Justice Peter Umeadi of a Federal High Court in Anambra on June 30 which had ruled in a suit filed by Chief Ajefo Ekwo challenging FRSC’s powers to enforce new drivers’ licence and number plates.

Umeadi said that the respondent’s directive to change old drivers’ licence and number plates to new was legal, valid, subsisting and in conformity with the FRSC’s 2007 Act and the National Road Traffic Regulations of 2012.

Nkwonta, however, said that the recent judgment had put aside the earlier judgment of the Lagos High Court ruling that the corps had no authority to produce and fix deadline for the documents.  The FRSC commander said that the earlier judgment was given in error and the commission would stand by the new judgment while appealing against the earlier judgment.

He said that the command had not failed to process the vehicle documents for new applicants that patronized the commission after the initial judgment. Nkwonta said that all the registration centres and 18 additional work stations in all parts of Lagos were functional and the network was effective.  He said that the commission had improved in the processes as well as working at weekends to make it easy for applicants.

According to the FRSC in the new arrangement made public, to apply for a driver's license, applicants must be at least 18 years old.  Those who are renewing their drivers’ licenses are to apply online at www.nigeriadriverslicence.org or in person at a Driver's License Centre (DLC). Pay the licence fee online or at the Bank. Present your application form to the Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) Officer and Vehicle Inspection Officer (VIO) at the DLC for endorsement. Proceed to the Federal Road Safety Corps Officer at the DLC for biometric data capture. Obtain a temporary driver’s license valid for 60 days. Pick up original driver’s license at the BIR Office after 60 days.

Applicants who are obtaining licenses for the first time are to attend training at an accredited driving school. The driving school will then present you to the Vehicle Inspection Officer (VIO) for a driving test. Pass the driving test and obtain a certificate of proficiency from the VIO. Complete the driver's license application form at the Driver's Licence Centre (DLC). Pay the license fee online or at the Bank.

Present your application form to the Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) Officer and VIO at the DLC for endorsement. Proceed to the FRSC Officer at the DLC for biometric data capture. Obtain a temporary driver’s licence valid for 60 days. Pick up original driver’s license at the BIR Office after 60 days.