Okwe Obi of the Sun reports that the delay in the issuance of driver’s license by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and by extension, the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs), for almost a year has attracted wide condemnation across the country.
Prospective drivers who applied to be licenced and those seeking a renewal of their old licenses, especially in the states have complained about the tortuous process and delay in getting them done.
Most liaison offices in most of the states, especially Lagos have heaped the blame on the headquarters of the FRSC and the VIO, in Abuja.
Regrettably, the situation has stagnated businesses and employment opportunities of the license applicants.
On a daily basis, these applicants and their relatives visit the premises of the VIO headquarters at Mabushi and FRSC headquarters at Zone 4 and 7, pleading with the officials to expedite the process, to enable them get their licenses.
The conundrum appears to have given room for unwholesome practices, as some officials take advantage of the situation to milk unsuspecting Nigerians with the promise to fast-track the process for them.
Peter Omang, 22, said that he applied to get a driver’s license since January this year, but has not been able to get one. His case is not different from Mr Chisom Nwoha who applied in Lagos to renew his license since December last year in Lagos, but has been driving with the temporary letter given to him by the licensing office in Ikeja, Lagos.
Omang said: “I made all the necessary payments and documentation since January, but I have not been able to get licensed. The VIO has been making excuses with the promise to call me when it is ready.
“The delay is sickening. I need it to get a job and to apply for other things. At some point, I thought I was being scammed.
“The VIO officer who is assisting me told me that my license would be ready in three months, but this is almost eight months. I have the temporary license. But it has expired. And you know how these officers behave on the highway; they hardly listen when you try to explain.”
Also, Cathrine Danjuma, who applied for a renewal, said she had not gotten the original driver’s license, for almost six months.
“I think we are also having a similar challenge. They will issue you a cover note or a temporary license. In fact, that is what I have been using for sometime now. I have not been able to get the original driver’s license.
“Whatever the case is, they need to speed up the process,” she said.
When contacted, the Spokesperson, Directorate for Road Transport Services (DRTS), Abuja, Kalu Emetu, explained that the tripatite arrangement which involved the Federal Road Safety Corps, the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO) and the revenue board, was responsible for delay.
According to him, the failure or the delay of a segment of the trio affects the entire process.
He said the tripatite arrangement was done to ensure a central monitoring system that is devoid of fraud.
Emetu said it was not the responsibility of the states to produce driver’s license, but the Federal Government.
He said: “It is partly our responsibility to issue driver’s license. What Road Safety does is to harmonize it. It is like getting the contract from the state to print, for it to be uniform.
“Then they will give to all the states. In the process of issuing it to prospective drivers, what happens is that there is a tripatite arrangement; you have the state, revenue board and the Federal Road Safety Corps.
“Now, three of them perform different roles to get the driver’s license done. The state will test you to know if you can drive. It is the state that will also approve for you to be captured after being satisfied that you can drive.
“When all these things are completed that is when Road Safety Corps comes in to capture and to get your data to maintain a central data bank.
“Now, when it is done, they will print the license and send it back to the state, which Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS) represents the states. Then DRTS will issue the rate to the prospective drivers.
“Now, you cannot give what you do not have. The responsibility the FRSC is performing is that of printing it and making sure that the person’s data that are in the system, and when they do not do all these things that is when there is a problem.
“The problem also is the FRSC had some challenges that made them not to deliver on time.
“It does not affect the renewal of driver’s license. A temporary one will be issued pending when the original one will come out.”
Also, the FRSC Acting Corps Public Education Officer, Olusegun Ogungbemide, admitted that the Corps had technical issues before the arrival of the Corps Marshall, Shehu Mohammed, which he claimed had been resolved.
Ogungbemide, however, claimed that most prospective drivers failed to claim their license on record time.
“We had hitches at the earlier stage before the arrival of the Corps Marshall, Shehu Mohammed.
“So, when he took over he made some tactical visit to some of our facilities to have on-the-ground assessment of what he inherited and to also make known to members of the public that we were having both internal and external issues that caused the delay in issuance of driver’s license.
“Ever since, we have resolved it. We gave the mandate to our facility managers to ensure that they fix it within 24 hours and which they have started.
“So, I think the major problem we have is that many people have also failed to go and claim their driver’s license at their various stations. “I will get you the details of the number we have that have not been claimed.
“It is not just about not having it, many people have also not gone to claim theirs.
“When I say internal problem I am making reference to our own end here in Abuja. I am not denying that.
“The internal problem that we had has to do with some of the technical equipment that are used in preparing these items. And at the same, when he (Mohammed) came, he made sure that all those equipment are put in good condition and they are functioning perfectly.
“External problem has to do with our technical partners who are in charge of the control system like the VIO.
“It is a tripatite arrangement. The three of us are involved. We are not passing blame now.
“But ever since he came in he has put machinery in place to solve the problem and we have started operating 24 hours.
“We commenced work on the release of the backlog. The hitches that you witnessed came from those who have failed to pick up their driver’s licenses from the various centres.
“It is not as if we are having any major problem,” he said.
Across Lagos State, license applicants who spoke to Sunday Sun confirmed that they have waited for over one year, saying that licensing officers only last month released the ones applied for in May last year, claiming that the printing plant of the FRSC broke down.
