Ogun State Govt. Warns Road Officers From Loosening Vehicle Number Plates, Describes Act As Illegal

The acts of loosening of vehicle number plates by road Officers has been described as illegal and not an enforcement instrument for road safety measures.

This was brought to the fore by the Commissioner for Transportation in Ogun State, Engr. Olugbenga Dairo, in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in his office at Oke-Mosan Abeokuta, saying, loosening of vehicles number plates, rough handling of Drivers by transport officers were not part of the instruments of enforcement for traffic compliance.

The Commissioner clarified this act as illegal while responding on the operational style of the Ministry of Transportation.

"The Ministry of Transportation in Ogun State is saddled with the responsibilities of formulating policies which includes the formulation of the State Strategic Transportation Master Plan STMP, in collaboration with United Kingdom Foreign and Common Wealth Development Organisation (UKFCDO) as well as Experts from Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) in 2021, comprises of rails, roads, airport, sea port, dry port and other forms of transportation.

           “Enforcement is carried out by Traffic and Compliance Enforcement Corps (TRACE), Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO)  which are under our Ministry, and there are rules that guides this enforcement. There is no law that permits any road traffic agency to loose any vehicle number plates. So loosening of vehicle number plates is not an enforcement instrument, it is therefore illegal," he said.

The Governor’s aide added that issuance of charge sheets, ticket fines are instruments to road traffic compliance as backed by Law, this instruments could also be disputed by any driver in the case of disagreement, by filing a court case in such regards, while advising road Transport Officers to be cautious in their discharge of duties. He warned against other acts like, removing of vehicle keys, jumping at the front of moving vehicles for road checks, which he described as being dangerous as it was not safe for Officers.

 “Let me also add that there is no law in Nigeria that supports any Officers, be it FRSC, Police, TRACE, VIO, Parking Management Services, Amotekun  to collect illegal money, loose vehicle number plates or remove any vehicles key, rough-handle drivers on the account of traffic offence, except where criminal offence is discovered", he said.