FRSC to begin enforcement against unregistered vehicles

Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Dr Boboye Oyeyemi on Thursday, said the corps, in conjunction with other security agencies, will from August 1 go all out against all motorcycle and tricycle operators that are unregistered and without drivers’ license.

He said the enforcement was in line with statutory traffic rules and regulations that mandated all operators of motorcycles and tricycles to obtain a class A driver’s license and be registered to pay road tax.

Speaking in Ibadan, during a road safety stakeholders’ workshop organized by the University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom, Oyeyemi vowed that the full weight of the law will be brought upon all motorcycle and tricycle operators who fail to comply with the directive.

While tracing the emergence of motorcycles to the failure of the nation’s transportation system, Oyeyemi urged state governments to invest in high capacity buses and ensure that the leakages in the rail system are fixed.

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He described as a misnomer the use of motorcycles for commercial purposes, adding that they were tools for kidnapping, armed robbery, and other criminalities.

“It is a total violation of traffic rules and regulations for you to put your motorcycle and tricycle on the road without it being registered. It is a road tax. When you don’t register, it is a traffic violation. It is a law and the law compels you to register your vehicle before putting it on the road.

“Also, not having a license for motorcycle and tricycle is a violation of traffic laws. Must we encourage this lawlessness? Must we allow the government to be cheated?

“We complain about infrastructure yet you fail to fulfill your obligation of registering your motorcycle or tricycle. It is a road tax.

“If you look at the prevailing security challenges, most tricycles and motorcycles are being used to commit various forms of criminalities. It is a government directive giving us mandate that motorcycles, tricycles should be registered before being on the roads, and we should enforce it.  The law states that before you put those vehicles on the road, they must have been registered.

“They have a statutory responsibility of ensuring that they obtain a class A driver’s license ride a tricycle or motorcycle. We are already working with other security agencies and by August 1, failure to have this will be met by the force and full weight of the law. There is no going back on that,” Oyeyemi said.

Meanwhile, Oyeyemi has hinted of a possible increase in the cost of procuring drivers license and getting number plates.

This, he said, became imminent owing to the increase in the cost of producing drivers license, number plates, most of which were imported.

“I am proposing a price increase in the cost of procuring the driver’s license because the present rate cannot meet the production cost.

“We are proposing through the Joint Tax Board for an increase in number plate and drivers license. The Joint Tax Board will consider it and appropriate action will be taken by them. It is left to them to approve and give us approval,” Oyeyemi said.

peaking further, Oyeyemi said governments of African countries must be more serious about funding road safety.

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Describing road safety as highly capital intensive, he noted that the budget for road safety alone by each African nation should be N1 trillion.

He added that road safety will get more attention if African countries committed 10 percent of funds meant for road construction to road safety.

“We need more funding. Road safety is highly capital intensive and multi-sectoral. Continuous investment in road safety will give us the necessary mileage,” Oyeyemi said.

Personalities who made presentations at the workshop included the convener, Dr Abigail Taiwo; Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ibadan, Professor Peter Olapegba; Professor Oluwole Agbede of the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Ibadan; a professor of the cardiothoracic surgeon, Olugbenga Osinowo.