Drivers react as 10,444 vehicles fail safety tests in one month

The Lagos State government commenced its ‘No vehicle inspection, no road worthiness certificate’ policy in January 2022. In this report, TOLA ADENUBI visited some motor parks to examine commercial bus drivers’ readiness for the new policy.

Some days ago, a top official of the Lagos State government dropped a bombshell. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Transportation, Mrs Bolanle Ogunlola, disclosed in a statement that in the month of January alone, 10,444 vehicles out of 26,442, failed the minimum safety standard tests conducted on them.

She credited the number to the state’s Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, as the state began the execution of its ‘no vehicle inspection, no road worthiness certificate’ policy, which was launched in November 2021.

The state noted that of the 26,442 vehicles that were inspected in the first month of implementing the policy, at its various computerised vehicle inspection centres across the state, only 15,998 vehicles passed, resulting in about 40 per cent of those tested failing.

According to a statement from the ministry, some of the vehicles which failed the minimum safety standard tests are now reporting back for retest while others in this category are expected to show up.

The number of the vehicles returning for retest was not given, neither was the number of those who failed the original tests whose owners decided not to show up again.

This development is now causing anxiety in the state’s transportation sector and even among private car owners who must now also go through the safety procedure to ascertain if their vehicles should be on the road, though much attention has been on the public transport sector, believed to abhor most of the vehicles that are deemed not suitable for road again.

Speaking on the new policy at a stakeholders meeting last year, the commissioner explained that anyone whose vehicle failed the tests would be given a one-month grace period to fix the problems with such vehicles, after which the vehicles would be returned for certification test, before the road worthiness certificate would be issued.

He warned that motorists who failed to take advantage of the grace period for the repair of their vehicles would be compelled to process another road worthiness certificate to enjoy the 30-day grace.

He assured that the issues raised by residents would be presented to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for consideration and appropriate actions.

Saturday Tribune decided to tour prominent parks in the state to feel the pulse of the commercial bus drivers and their preparedness for the policy. Findings revealed that the state Ministry of Transportation still has a long way to go.

 

Iyana-Ipaja garage

For some of the drivers at the Iyana Ipaja motor park, conditions set by the Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS) to approve safety pass mark for vehicles are just too stringent. Speaking to Saturday Tribune, a driver of one of the commercial buses that operate in the Iyana-Ipaja/Egbeda and Isheri axes explained that VIS officials that visited the park in recent weeks were asking for too much from them.

The driver, who identified himself as Ganiu Owolabi, said: “Our union leaders visited the VIS some time ago and what they told us when they came back showed that the computerised inspection test might not work for commercial bus drivers.

“For some of us, the demands of the VIS officials are just on the high side. How can they be asking me to fix a cracked windscreen? First and foremost, the vehicle doesn’t belong to me, and I am not the only driver of the vehicle. In a day, three of us drive the vehicle on a morning, afternoon and night shift basis.

“If I took the vehicle to the owner and told him that the government said he should change the windscreen that is cracked, he would ask me from which money he would do that. He would ask me if he was the one that caused the windscreen to crack.

“Commercial vehicles are exposed to various hazards while on the road. Our major problem comes from the various officials of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), among others. They demand for all sorts of payments from you and if you don’t oblige them, some of them will hit your windscreen with sticks. So, when the windscreen is cracked, the owner refuses to repair and as long as the crack does not impair visibility, we continue to use the vehicle for transport purposes.”

 

Ojuelegba garage

At the Ojuelegba garage, a driver of one of the commercial buses that ply Apapa to Ojuelegba explained that aside from windscreen, some issues that should be overlooked were being emphasised by some of the VIS officials. In the words of another commercial bus driver who identified himself as Alfa Yusuf, “Some of our colleagues that have visited the VIS centres told us that irrelevant issues like arm brake function-ability are being used to measure whether a vehicle passes or fails a computerised test.

“I don’t need my vehicle’s arm brake to be working to drive to and fro from Ojuelegba to Apapa. But we were told that the arm brake is one of the major criteria used during vehicle inspection exercises at the VIS Centres.

“Also, vehicle directional lights, among other irrelevances, are being demanded and the state government ought to know that commercial bus owners won’t fix these things. Are they (VIS) expecting the drivers to fix these things for the owners?

“For private vehicle owners, it is still understandable since most drive their own vehicles. But for commercial bus drivers who are not the real owners of these vehicles, and who are on the road to make a living for themselves and their families meeting some of the criteria set by the Lagos State government might just be too difficult since we don’t own these vehicles.”

 

Regulatory adjustment

When Saturday Tribune visited the VIS centre in Ojodu Berger, an official who said he was not authorised to speak disclosed that the January result had forced the agency to make some adjustments in its testing parameters.

Tthe official said: “During vehicle inspection test, brake efficiency is one of the factors that we use to determine if a vehicle is safe for the roads. If a vehicle’s brakes are not up to the recommended standard, such a vehicle automatically fails the road worthiness test.

“We also check the lightening system, suspension system and emission control system of vehicles to determine whether a vehicle is safe for our roads. We have major and minor defects. For some issues that fall under minor defect, we simply ask the vehicle owner to go and fix the issues with his or her mechanic and bring the vehicle back for re-test. However, if a vehicle issue falls under the major defect, the vehicle is deemed to have failed the test outright.

“For vehicles coming for retest due to minor defects, they are not required to make any further payment apart from what they have paid initially. Once the vehicle owner has obtained his road worthiness certificate, the testing fee is inclusive. It is a computerised test.”

When told about the complaints of some commercial vehicle drivers, the VIS official explained that issues mostly faced by commercial vehicle drivers related to vehicle headlights, brake lights, wiper, among others.

He said: “We do go to motor parks to carry out these tests for them (commercial buses). We were recently at the Ojodu motor park to carry out some test for them. The reason why the test result for January was high is because many of these buses don’t have functional parking brake.

“Before, parking brake was scheduled under major defect at our centres, and that was a major reason why the number of vehicles that failed in January was on the high side. Many of the commercial buses don’t even have parking brake. For those that have it, it is just there and not working.

“So, we have had to remove parking brake from our list of major defect since it is only needed when the vehicle is stationary. It is not needed during driving if the vehicle brake is working. Once we observe that many of the commercial buses don’t have parking brakes, we remove it from our major defect list. So, we expect the number of vehicles that will fail the February computerised test to be lower, compared to what we had in January.

 

Oshodi garage

At the Oshodi garage, motorists who spoke with Saturday Tribune explained that the issue of emission control as a yard stick for safe vehicle measurement should also be waived by the state’s vehicle inspection officials.

One of the drivers at Oshodi-Sango Ota garage told Saturday Tribune that: “Emission control is one of the criteria they (VIS) told us when they came here to sensitise us on the ‘no vehicle inspection, no road worthiness certificate policy last year. To some of us, that would be difficult to attain because most of the commercial buses have had their engines removed either in whole or partially due to engine failure. In the process of removal and replacement, these vehicles start emitting smoke more than necessary. Are we expected not to make use of the vehicles again because of such smoke?

“The owners of these vehicles won’t fix a smoking engine as long as it is still working and moving the vehicles. To fix a smoking engine might require replacing it either in whole or partially, and this will cost money.

“We the drivers need to work to make ends meet. In most cases, we won’t even bother taking such vehicles to the VIS centre for testing because the level of smoke that it is emitting already shows that it might not pass the compurerised test.

“The state government should give waiver for commercial buses since most don’t meet the set criteria of the VIS.”

 

‘Not a revenue venture’

Amid suspicion and allegations from members of the public that the new policy was designed to generate more revenue for the state, the director of the VIS, Mr Akin-George Fashola, said the exercise would not be coming at an extra cost to motorists because its cost had been included in the total package paid for the renewal of their vehicle particulars.

He said: “The referral note that we give when you come to us is just for a grace period that covers 30 days during which we expect you to have checked and fixed the vehicle. The referral note is not an automatic clearance.”

In 2015, about two million vehicles were deemed to be plying the state daily with a density of 224 vehicles per kilometre. Seven years after, the number is almost doubled, leaving the authorities with hundreds of thousands of vehicles to be worried about safety-wise.

While residents are applauding the safety initiative of the state government, many are worried that the implementation, after a while, might go the way of the ban on okada, which has proved to be ineffectual as okada now roam everywhere, including Alausa, the seat of power.