No deadline for new number plate, says FRSC

Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi, Corps Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Commission, has said the agency would no longer insist on any deadline for the enforcement of the new number plate.

Oyeyemi, made this known today at a press briefing after a courtesy visit to Governor Theodore Orji at Government House Umuahia.

He said the agency would abide by the court ruling, which restrained it from enforcing the proposal.

He explained that motorists who still had the old number plate would rather get the new ones when they go to renew their vehicle licenses.

"We will abide by the court ruling. It was a case of double taxation to be compelled to have the new one if your license has not expired. It is a phase approach. If your driver’s license expires, you go and renew it. It is a twelve month cycle. There is no deadline again.

“That does not mean that if you carry fake number plate or driver’s license that you will not be prosecuted,” he said.

The Corp Marshall, however, vowed that the agency would not back down on the June 1, 2015 deadline for the enforcement of the speed limit device.

He said by 2016, all imported vehicles in Nigeria must have speed limit device installed in them.

The policy, according to him, had become necessary on the discovery that over 15.8 per cent auto crashes in the country was speed related.

Oyeyemi, however, noted that Nigeria recorded 25 per cent reduction in road accidents in 2014, and lesser incidents in January 2015, expressing hope that with the new device, auto crashes will reduce by 80 per cent in 2016.

He called on state governments to set up traffic management agencies to man state roads so that FRSC would focus on interstate and federal roads for more results.