In Nigeria getting a vehicle is a thing of joy. People work hard and save until they are able to get a vehicle. But once the vehicle arrives, the joy is soon eroded as they face the uphill task of getting number plates, drivers licence and all the likes. However, with the introduction of the police biometrics central motor registry requirement (Police BCMR), commentators say motorists now face a new burden and the scheme itself has been greeted with protest and anger. Michael Oche and Blessing Ukemena writes When the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, announced last week that it had postponed the deadline for the registration of its new biometric number plates and driver’s licence from October 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014, motorists heaved a sigh of relief, but the respite was not to last long as the police immediately announced it would commence its own biometrics central motor registry requirement (Police BCMR ) by the force public relations officer, Mr Frank Mba. As it appears there are already several other security identification measures within the country introduced by different agencies of government. These include the national identity card; the VIO e-coding, and the FRSC biometric number plate schemes. In all these, motorists seem to be at the receiving end. Because none of the scheme is free. Though all agencies claim the measures are for security purposes. No wonder, when the police introduced the Police BCMR and claimed it was to counter insecurity and terrorism in the country; it was greeted with nostalgia. In fact, many Nigerians queried if the new scheme is not a duplication of the FRSC scheme? The Nigerian senate had in July 2012, directed the Police to suspend the Biometric Central Motor Registry (BCMR) system and to also discontinue collecting the N3,500 fee charged for the service. The Senate resolved that the BCMR was a duplication of the on-going vehicle owners’ biometric data scheme, introduced by the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC). But the police on September 9, 2013 announced a reintroduction of the scheme, claiming it is to compliment the effort of the FRSC in crime fighting. Apart from the driver’s licence, vehicle licence and insurance papers, a motorist is also required to carry a “Proof of Ownership certificate” a “Tinted Glass Permit”; and now, a police biometric. The question is why would Nigerians revolt against a policy that is designed to tackle the insecurity in the country which has become a source of worry to the country? The answer is simple. Motorists are expected to pay N3,500 to register their vehicles under the system, while owners of tricycles and motorcycles would pay N1,500 for the registration. Imagine if there are 17 million vehicles in the country. The police will be raking in billions of naira. “If it is not N30,000 for number plate, it will be N3,500 for police biometric registration. There is another N2,000 for VIO e-coding. Whereas we still have water, waste and electricity bills to foot. How much do I collect as salary? If I am paying government all this money, what is the government giving me in return?” A motorist complained. Majority of Nigerian are not happy with the current announcement of the new police biometric registration of the Police Force Headquarters for all the vehicles playing Nigerian Roads. Many have said that it is just a plan by the Nigerian Police Force to extort money from motorists and that since they claim that it is necessary then one should be done in place of the other. Within the week, the police force public relations officer Mr. Frank Mba at a news briefing in Abuja disclosed that the new digital biometric system introduced by the Nigeria police is an automobile owner’s personal data for vehicles proper identification and protection of the interest of the owners. Mr. Mba said the new system is targeted at effectively combating the contemporary security challenges bordering on terrorism, high incidence of car theft, kidnapping and other criminal activities. Under this system, hand-held machine would be used to verify the particulars of vehicles, rather than manual checking. The system is designed for forensic analysis where fingerprints could be matched or verified against registered fingerprints collected during the registration Nigeria Police Force will from September 16, change the process of vehicle registration from the analogue Central Motor Registry to a digital Biometric Central Motor Registration system. He also stressed that the database would be made available to other sister security agencies, “We are going to make the database open to our sister agencies. If for example other security organisations want to carry investigation and they needed to get information from our database, we will make the information available to them,’’ According to him, the new system is capable of capturing 20 million fingerprints per second, an equivalent of two million people at 10 prints per person and that the registration under the BCMR could be done at designated banks, online and police commands across the nation. He said that motorists were expected to pay N3,500 to register their vehicles under the system, while owners of tricycles and motorcycles would pay N1,500 for the registration. In answer to questions, the spokesman said that the BCMR was not a duplication of the registration being done by the FRSC but complementing the commission. But some Nigerians disagree with this, Mr Fidelis Nnadi, the executive director of the Accident prevention and Rescue Initiative, an NGO in the FCT stated that the whole thing about biometric registration is all about data, “What they are talking about is date, both the FRSC and the Police want date of vehicles and their owner and if they are saying that they will be sharing this information why don’t they just forfeit one for the other? Why do they have to task Nigerians separate payment for the same thing? I do not see the purpose of this”. Another motorist, Alihu Yusuf, stated that this was pure exploitation, “I don’t see how this is different from the one that the FRSC is supposed to start. Why will they keep exploiting Nigerians. We are suffering in this country and both the police and the FRSC are just concerned of is taking the little that the poor man has. After we pay 15,000 for FRSC then we go and pay 3500for the police one. One agency should be in charge of this vehicle registration. Before you know it, VIO will come up with their own biometric registration and say that we should comply”. Garba Sani is also a car owner and said that it they were not going about it the right way , “I know that they are trying to make things good but they should also put into consideration what Nigerians are gong through. If you manage to get a car you have to pay and register differently for the police and the FRSC. And knowing our Nigerian way these processes are not going to be easy where you just walk in and leave within 30 minutes. So it is not fair, if they have to make up pay then they should do it in such a way that the same place you do registration for the FRSC should also be where you can do the police biometric registration”. The biometric driver’s license registration by the FRSC has been going on for a while now and the trend used by government agencies id the use of biometric capture, even INEC and the population census is towing the same biometric line. It would seem that gradually Nigeria is moving into a new age of data collation. The deadline for the registration, Mba said that no time frame would be given for now and that the police had begun aggressive sensitisation on the need for motorists to migrate from the analogue CMR to the BCMR. As at Thursday, the police had begun to conduct meetings with stakeholder, associations and transport unions in the transport sector to ensure that the new registration goes on without a hitch. he JTB also announced that the cost of the new number plates would be N6,000 while that of motor cycle operators would be N3,000. For number plates, Standard Motor Vehicle, will cost N15,000; Articulated Vehicles, N20,000; Out of Series, N40,000; Fancy, N15,000; and Dealer, N30,000. Soon after the price list was made public, there were floods of complaints especially about the standard vehicle number plate which was increased from N5,000 to N15,000. The complaints were also provoked by the August 31, 2012 deadline fixed for the acquisition of the new biometric number plates and driver’s licence. Following the waves of complaints generated by the new scheme, the House of Representatives and the Senate were forced to look into the matter. The legislators ordered the FRSC to stay action on the implementation of the scheme and later advised that the deadline be extended. The FRSC agreed and the deadline was extended to September 30, 2013. But as the deadline draw closer by the day, the complaints did not subside. Motorists in Lagos, Abuja and other cities complained of facing many challenges in obtaining the new number plates and driver’s licence. There were many complaints about the requirements for the online registration system, especially the data capturing part which can only be done at the Vehicle Inspection (VIO) Office. A visitor to the police BCMR Facebook page, wrote, “Where is the synergy in government? Why must the Identity card management commission capture bio-data, the Nigerian immigration office, INEC, the federal road safety corps and now the police- Can’t this information be transferred after confirmation to save cost? If the federal road safety is the issuer of licence why must the police keep the data? If the data must be kept by the police why not the police collaborate with the federal road safety to make it a one stop visit to ensure compliance? Inefficiency of our system is obvious! The federal road safety should rather be collapsed into the police and the data transfer will then be automatic!” Another visitor, Tony Umaru wrote, “This is absolute nonsense, very soon Fire Brigade will launch digital fire extinguishers that will come with bio-metric chip that will capture your data followed by Civil defense corp creating another data base for offenders with the same details you give the Police, FRSC, VIO, Customs, NPC, Banks, Immigration Passport office etc. Why can’t all this data bases be centralized? Airport security is yet to create theirs oh, Prisons too in case u enter prison, Hospitals have individual data bases, and every bank has its own”. While Onabajo Ademolu also commented, “Why must we pay for this registration? This is an indication that Nigeria is nothing but a jungle where anything goes. Tasking and milking the masses has become order of the numerous local, state and federal agencies.” Another Facebook user with the name Arise Nigeria said, “Why can’t there be a one stop portal where this information can be assessed by any agency in need of them. Inefficiency of our system is obvious! If they are having problems, the FRSC should rather be collapsed into the police and the data transfer will then be automatic!” he said. Another Facebook user, Tunji Orokunle, said the police were only adding to the hardship faced by many Nigerians as a result of the development. He said, “We have already registered with the FRSC. What is the need for duplication of processes? Why not liaise with the FRSC to obtain drivers’ details for the same purpose? More importantly, why should I have to pay to register my vehicle? Is this not another money-making venture for the notoriously corrupt Police Force? If the police cannot find a solution to the hunger of the poverty stricken Nigerians, why be part of the problem?” One Aishat Odeh says she is convinced that the idea behind the initiative is for the purpose of generating revenue. “The police are just being jealous of the FRSC and Vehicle Inspection Office in the states due to the fact that they are making money from it. They now decide to introduce their own scheme to extort money from the people,” she said.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 13:26:51 +0000
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