The Federal Road Safety Commission has described the plan by the Lagos State Government to produce state drivers licence as a potential security threat to the state and Nigeria.


The commission has therefore called on Lagosians to shun the state government because such a licence will only be valid on state roads in Lagos. The state Sector Commander of the FRSC, Mr. Kayode Olagunju, made the position of the commission known at a news conference in Lagos on Friday. He said, Any licence issued by the Lagos State Government will only be valid in Lagos State, not even on federal roads in Lagos; thus anybody who takes the Lagos State licence should also apply for the national drivers licence to operate without breaching the law in all parts of Nigeria.

If a driver has to be in possession of at least two different drivers licences to operate in Lagos, wont that create confusion and also amount to multiple taxation? That has also become a problem that should be addressed by all stakeholders. Is the scheme revenue generation-based rather than safety and security? An answer is required here.”

Olagunju also said that the state government lacked the legal backing to re-certify the national drivers licence as planned and advised all holders of valid licences produced by the collaboration of state agencies and the FRSC to resist what he described as an illegal action. The FRSC boss accused the state government of already creating confusion and undermining national security in the Vehicle Identification (Number Plates) Scheme in the state.

He alleged that a number plates earlier produced and sold to motorists by the FRSC before the state government backed out of the scheme had been replicated due to improper and uncoordinated generation of numbers by the state using FRSC numbering codes without authorisation. He said, All the number plates produced so far by Lagos State are not in the national database and no returns of form MVA01 have been made by the Lagos Board of Internal Revenue.” He said it was ironic that the state government, with its indebtedness of over N25 million to the commission (the highest in the country), could turn around and accuse it of non-performance in the issuance of drivers licences.

He said, If all the states of the federation are owing on the licences already delivered to them after collection of monies from applicants, the scheme would have collapsed by now; as it is run on a revolving fund arrangement, where the state takes N2000 out of the N3000 fee paid by applicants. The FRSC is left with only N1000 as production fee. So, the Lagos State Government, for more than a year, has been retaining the total N3000 paid by many drivers licence applicants, while FRSC in discharging its responsibilities, is still producing.”

Rather than creating confusion in the licensing scheme, the commission asked the state government to step up its pre-licencing conditions to ensure that only qualified drivers were recommended to the FRSC to be issued licences. The commission promised to brief its national headquarters on the development in the state and await further directives.

The state Commissioner for Transportation, Prof. Bamidele Badejo, was quoted during the week as confirming that the state government had concluded plans to introduce its drivers licence and re-certify the national drivers licence.

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