Which driver's licence would you rather carry, the one issued by Lagos State government or the one by the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC?
The Lagos State Government and officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, are set to do battle over plans by the state government to introduce its driver's licence to Lagos motorists. But the FRSC has vowed not to recognise such drivers licence. It has also threatened that drivers with such licences would be arrested and prosecuted if found on federal roads.
Chike Nwaka, zonal commanding officer of the FRSC in charge of Zone 2, which comprises Lagos and Ogun states, told Newswatch last week that motorists with Lagos driver's licence without FRSC licence would be arrested and prosecuted if caught on federal roads even in Lagos State. He warned that drivers without FRSC driver's licence would be made to face the stiff wrath of the law as the commission would not allow the confusion that happened when the state government began manufacturing its own vehicle number plates to affect issuance of driver's licences.
Bamidele Badejo, commissioner for transportation, Lagos State had said, while briefing the media as part of activities marking the one year of Babatunde Raji Fashola's government, that the state had concluded plans to start issuing driver's licence to motorists on Lagos roads. He said that the state government has the powers to issue its own driver's licence because that responsibility falls under the residual matters in the constitution.That means state assemblies could legislate on it. "When we start producing our own driver's licence, it would be the only document with which anyone can drive on Lagos roads," Badejo said.
With the muscle flexing by the two bodies, motorists in Lagos are now confused on what to do. Olasunkanmi Akindele, a private car owner in the state told Newswatch that he has been driving in Lagos for more than 10 years with the FRSC-issued driver's licence and wondered what to do with it now. "Am I to dump the FRSC licence and go for the one to be issued by the Lagos State Government or carry both?
Nwaka says he has no such confusion. He should stick to the FRSC-issued driver's licence while Badejo insisted that he would rather have to get the Lagos State driver's licence or would not be allowed to drive on Lagos roads.
Whose responsibility it is, therefore, to issue driver's licences? Before the Lagos State Government decided to embark on the issuance of its own driver's licence, it was done solely by the FRSC but based on the recommendation of Vehicle Inspection Officers, VIOs. The VIO is a state government agency in charge of training and testing would-be drivers. But recently, most driving licences are issued without formal driving tests. Many Nigerians secure the document after paying the stipulated fees, mostly through the use of touts. The result is that a lot of people who are behind the steering today are not qualified to drive. The situation in Lagos State poses a serious challenge to government due to the large number of vehicles on the roads as well as the high rate of accident in the state.
A situation whereby under-aged people and those of unsound mind are found behind the wheels has now forced the Lagos State Government to insist on introducing own driver's licence. It is also saying that those holding FRSC's driver's licence would have to undergo simulation tests at any of its five drivers' institutes before being allowed to drive on Lagos roads.
Kayode Opeifa, special adviser to the governor on Transportation, said many drivers on Lagos roads are killers who did not go through the necessary tests before taking to the wheels, hence the decision to re-certify them. "Most of these bus drivers have not gone through any driving school, they don't know the rudiments of driving; they don't know most of the highway codes. Some of them don't even have driver's licence, so they go about violating traffic rules," he said.
Opeifa said that at weekends he goes out driving to have a first hand knowledge of the traffic situation in the state. "I make sure I visit some of these roads during the weekend and you need to see the rate at which these guys (commercial bus drivers) disobey traffic rules. I almost got myself killed on one occasion, while trying to prevent a commercial bus driver from using one way." He said that every commercial bus driver would attend the training institute, while private car owners must pass the simulation test. Opeifa said that at the end of the training, a certificate and a driver's identity card with adequate security features would be issued to commercial bus drivers. He said: "We will make sure that we make this institute a must for every bus driver in this state, any driver who does not have the identity card of this institute would not be allowed to drive his bus on our roads."
A road safety officer who wishes anonymity, however, told Newswatch that what the Lagos State Government was trying to do was in the interest of the state as touts have infiltrated the activities of the FRSC and VIO's. "Look, I am a traffic officer and I know what is going on in the issuance of driver's licence. What we need to do to avoid the controversy, which Lagos State Government action would cause, is to review the constitution to either give the job to the federal government or to allow states handle the issue," he said.
Security experts are of the view that such a sensitive task should not be decentralised, as there are security implications to be considered before dabbling into it. They said the process of obtaining the driver's licence should be more rigorous so that only qualified Nigerians would have access to it. One of them is Kayode Olagunju, sector commander of the FRSC. He is of the view that states should not be allowed to issue drivers' licence. "We should not allow states to start issuing drivers' licence because they are only looking for ways to make more money. When Lagos State began producing its own number plates, there were instances of two vehicle having the same number plate," Olagunju, said in Lagos recently.
Nwaka is, however, not ruling out the possibility of the federal government intervening in the crisis. "My headquarters in Abuja is aware and we shall take it to higher authority. We should be the one talking about taking the responsibility away from them because the VIOs have failed. I expected that they should talk of re-enforcing and re-invigorating the VIOs, equipped them properly, make sure that they are properly trained and ensure that they do the job. We have a testing ground. They are the ones unleashing murderers on the highways as drivers and they are now complaining. If they have done what they were supposed to do they won't complain," Nwaka said.
