he police biometric vehicle registration Our ReporterSeptember 18, 2013 No Comments »
The authorities of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) recently announced a change in the process of vehicle registration from the present analogue Central Motor Registry (CMR) system to a digital Biometric Central Motor Registration (BCMR) system, from September 16.
According to the Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mba, the new system is part of efforts to reposition the force to effectively tackle crime, particularly the high incidence of car theft, kidnapping and terrorism in the country. He also explained that the new system, which is capable of capturing 20 million fingerprints per second, is designed for forensic analysis under which fingerprints could be matched or verified against registered fingerprints collected during the registration. The database, he added, would be made available to other sister security agencies in the country. It is expected that the new system will provide one-stop forensic database for all manner of investigations, which will greatly enhance policing, tracking of missing cars and prevention of crime.
Details of the new vehicle registration, which could be done at designated banks, online and at police commands across the country, show that motorists will pay N3,500 to register their vehicles while owners of tricycles and motorcycles would pay N1,500 for the exercise.
Going by the explanations of the police spokesman, the vehicle registration initiative appears to be a good one, especially as it relates to its potentials for crime fighting. What the force will, however, need to explain is how this initiative is different from the new vehicle plate number/ registration scheme that was introduced sometime ago by the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) at such a high cost that the Federal legislature had to intervene to ensure that it was significantly reduced.
We recall that that scheme, which has not even now been fully complied with, was also said to have been informed by the same need to have a comprehensive database of vehicle owners’ details to reduce crime and improve general security, which the police is now propounding. The number plates, under the scheme, were attached to individual vehicles and their owners, and their details were captured and are available with the FRSC. The Corps Marshal, Mr. Osita Chidoka, had then also explained that the introduction of the new number plate would provide a comprehensive database of all vehicles in the country.
The objective of the new police BCMR to be obtained at a cost of N3500 appears to be the same as that of the FRSC number plates that many car owners are only just now trying to acquire.
The BCMR appears to be a duplication of efforts. Let the police provide more information on the scheme, especially as it will relate to car owners who have already obtained the new number plates, and already have their details on the FRSC database. If it applies only to new vehicle registrations, it could be okay, provided that vehicle owners will not at the same time have to undergo the same process with the FRSC.
It will be good to have a measure of cooperation between the police and the FRSC on the issue of car registration so that there will be no duplication of efforts and vehicle owners are not subjected to double charges on account of biometric vehicle registration.
The force has a duty to either convince Nigerians that its new BCMR scheme is not an avoidable duplication of FRSC efforts, or drop the idea so that the FRSC can continue with the exercise it has already started. Replicating this job by the police would be an unnecessary and confusing dissipation of energy. The result of this is that the public may interpret its new scheme as just another money-making effort.
Government should streamline the country’s security agencies and map out their specific functions. Duplication of security agencies has not in any significant way helped to curb the festering insecurity in many parts of the country. Let government consider the merger of agencies that perform similar functions to avoid duplication and unnecessary overlapping of responsibilities. Most of the functions currently being performed by the FRSC and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) are not quite different from police responsibilities.
The issue of vehicle registration should not be tied to revenue generation. Nigerians should not be unduly burdened with multiplicity of registration processes and fees, just because they want to register their vehicles, or obtain drivers’ licences. Let government centralize the issue of fingerprint database so that once a person is captured in one agency’s database, such information will be available to all other agencies that require it, as is done in advanced countries. There are, indeed, more pressing security challenges facing the police than the biometric registration of vehicles that is already being done by the FRSC.

https://www.nairaland.com/1433020/police-begin-biometric-registration-vehicles

Moderator.