JTB SUSPENSION OF 30TH JUNE DEADLINE: FRSC DEFERS ENFORCEMENT ON NEW NUMBER PLATE

As a fall-out of the Joint Tax Board (JTB) suspension of the 30 June, 2014 deadline for a change to the enhanced motor vehicle number plate and driver’s license and separate court judgments from Lagos and Abuja, the Federal Road Safety Corps has deferred enforcement on the new scheme.

The Corps has therefore directed its Commanding Officers to commence robust nationwide public awareness on the new initiative for motor vehicle administration in the country, emphasizing on the benefits of the new scheme and the need for buy-in from all Nigerians.

Similarly, the FRSC stated that the new directive is in line with decisions taken by the Joint Tax Board after its recent 129th meeting held on 23rd and 24th April, 2014 at the Headquarters of Edo State Internal Revenue Services in Benin which state thus:


a.      “In the light of the Court judgment against the FRSC, the Board decided to suspend the 30th June, 2014 deadline earlier  announced for a change to enhanced Motor Vehicle Number Plate and the Driver’s License pending the outcome of the appeal by the FRSC”

b.      “The States Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Vehicle Inspection Offices (VIOs) have been encouraged to put all necessary logistics in place to improve Motor Vehicle registration and issuance of Driver’s License in order to build a comprehensive database”.The FRSC equally directed its Commanding Officers to explore all available platforms such as motor park rallies, advocacy visits and other forms of public engagement in keeping with its 2014 strategic goal of improved public communication and road use education.

It will be recalled that the FRSC had in response to an earlier Federal High Court verdict in Lagos on 26th April, 2014, affirmed that the court never vacated its statutory  powers to design and produce the new number plate but only questioned its powers to fix deadline for enforcement of the new scheme, as confirmed by the recent directive from the Joint Tax Board which has the statutory powers to fix prices and  set deadlines for implementation of the new number plate and driver’s license.

This was the same position taken by an Abuja Federal High Court yesterday, which declared that the FRSC has no powers to invalidate a driver or vehicle license before the expiry date.

CC. Jonas Agwu
Corps Commander
Corps Public Education Officer