James Akor’s (not real names) new drivers’ license recently expired. To get it renewed, he is required to visit a licensing office. On getting to one in Lagos, he was asked to produce a passport photograph and pay the prescribed fees which vary depending on who you meet.
Having paid the necessary licensing fees, he was issued a laminated temporary drivers’ license with his passport photograph embossed for duration of three months. It was envisaged that at the end of the period or before it, his valid drivers’ license would have been ready for collection.
So he left full of expectations since he could operate on the roads with the temporary license. A couple of weeks after, he travelled out of Lagos and while he was there, the temporary license expired. He had not completed the assignment that took him there and could therefore not return to Lagos immediately to collect the license which he envisaged, would have been ready then.
Three days later, he was stopped by an official of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) for routine check. The following conversation occurred:
FRSC: Good morning sir
Akor: Good morning.
FRSC: Can I see your drivers’ license?
Akor: Here it is (producing the expired temporary drivers’ license from his breast pocket)
FRSC: It has expired and I am going to book you.
Akor: Well, it just expired. I had paid the necessary fees in Lagos and would have to finish my assignment here before going back to collect the permanent one. The lady officer took pity but cautioned that the police and other agencies may have a different view of the matter if and when they stopped him.
Not far away from that vicinity, a contingent of the police on routine check flagged him down. This time, all explanations to the effect that it is no fault of his as he had paid all the necessary fees and would only be able to collect the permanent one when he goes back to Lagos, fell on deaf ears. Not even the explanation that the temporary license just expired three days ago and he would ordinarily require some days of grace impressed any one. Off course, he had to grease the palms of that officer before he was let go.
On return to Lagos and as he made his way to the licensing office the next day, he was again stopped by another set of FRSC officials who as usual, demanded for his drivers’ license. On producing the expired temporary license, they held tight to it. All efforts to explain that he has been out of town and on his way to collect his permanent license, which had been paid for since three months fell on deaf ears. He parted with some money before they allowed him to go.
Ironically, when he got to the FRSC’s office, his permanent license was not yet ready. They had to make a photocopy of the expired temporary license, stamped and extended it for another three months. This time, what he has as his driving permit, is a piece of paper that could tear or deface any moment. And he is expected to use it for another three months, at the end of which he will have to abandon whatever he is doing just to collect a valid drivers’ license.
By that time, it would have at least, taken six months for him to collect a drivers’ license that will last for three years. If the license starts counting from the day it was paid for, Akor has just two and a half years to commence the same ritual again. It is therefore to be imagined the amount of valuable time he will spend just to renew his drivers’ license each time it expires.
Elsewhere, a lady pharmacist who was rushing home at the close of work to attend to her baby was stopped by a FRSC officer in a busy street in Lagos. She had a hell of time protesting to the officials about the inconvenience in abandoning her job to be hanging around the licensing office for a license she had since paid for to no avail. She had asked them to tell her whose fault it is that a license she had paid for, should now be a subject of constant harassment. She said she has a tight job schedule and could only go to the licensing office when she is free. The protest was so intense that it attracted a large crowd in sympathy. It took the intervention of a senior police officer to allow her go.
These few instances mirror vividly, the experiences of most drivers since the introduction of the new drivers’ license some years back. They bring to the fore the hardship and exploitation many drivers encounter in the hands of sundry enforcers of road traffic regulations. But more importantly, they highlight the contradiction in punishing innocent people for the failings and incompetence of the issuing authorities.
Ironically, the same authorities that are responsible for late issuance of licenses months after the due fees had been paid would turn round to fleece the public for no fault of theirs. It strikes as a big contradiction that it takes up to six months just to renew a drivers’ license in this country.
If the long period of delay is worrisome, the penchant by sundry traffic enforcement officers including the very FRSC to exploit the situation to the detriment of drivers is even more confounding. One had expected the FRSC should have shown more understanding given that it is no fault of drivers that their licenses take that long before being issued to them. But that would not be.
Having paid for the renewal of a license; issued a temporary one, it is taken that the license has been renewed. At the expiration of the period indicated on the temporary one, sufficient time should be allowed to enable the holder make time to visit the licensing office especially given the daily struggles to eke out a living in a very harsh economy. To require people to be thronging the licensing offices everyday conveys the erroneous impression that life is all about drivers’ license.
That is the contradiction in the entire exercise. Worst still, the same office responsible for the tardiness, would send their men to the streets to harass people for the monster they created. We have heard there is a week or so of grace for such renewals. But enforcing officers usually feign ignorance of it just to continue with their self-serving activities.
It is vital for the FRSC, the police and other agencies that regularly enforce traffic regulations to come public on what the law says about days of grace. Sensitization of the public on their rights should form a crucial aspect of law enforcement. This is very vital to obviate the penchant by unscrupulous officials to prey on the ignorance of the people.
Given the foregoing, the recent order by Governor Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos to officials of the FRSC to withdraw from state roads and streets and concentrate their activities on federal roads is a step in the right direction. For some time now, there have been concerns over the constant duplication of functions and harassment of motorists by FRSC officials, the Police and Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO’s) in inner streets and roads instead of the highways.
Apart from compounding the traffic situation in the state, their desire to meet questionable revenue targets has brought undue suffering to the public making it difficult for some businesses to operate for fear of indiscriminate fines. They can go ahead with their spurious revenue targets. But the activities of the FRSC should be along the federal roads.
One FRSC commander in a neighbouring state vowed a fortnight ago not to leave state roads because accidents occur there also. That could be true. But it cannot compare with the fatality of accidents that occur on federal roads. There are little or no accidents on some of the streets we see the FRSC officials on a daily basis. They have no business there as the police can always fill any gap that may arise. We commend Ambode’s response to other state governors.
