Nigerians eager to process their driving licence within record time may wait for long as there seems to be no clear headway on resolving the problem of long wait for collection of processed licences.
Contrary to ease of doing business and the prevailing executive order of the presidency, investigations by Business Hilights showed that currently, it takes an average of eight months for anybody to logically follow the processing of a genuine Drivers’ licence at any of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) offices.
Besides, the real cause of the delay is that FRSC has only one printing centre in Abuja which cannot serve the demand surge across the nation.
A senior Road Marshal who spoke to our correspondent in Lagos on grounds of anonymity said “Whatever our bosses tell you and Nigerians on the delay without mentioning the issue of having only one print for licences in Abuja for the federation is incomplete truth”.
“We have been telling government that this idea of printing only in Abuja is the cause of the delays, but government kept telling the Service that there is no money.
Continuing, he averred that “ordinarily, states like Lagos, Kano and Rivers are supposed to be printing centres. In fact, every of the six geo-political zones should be printing for their zones. This is the only way people will not waste as much as five to 10 months waiting for a licence that will expire in three or five years”.
But throughout his explanations on the matter on a Radio programme monitored in Lagos on Tuesday, the Corps Marshal, Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi skipped the issue of having only one printing machine and centre in Abuja from where thousands of drivers’ licences used in Nigeria are produced.
Rather, he was quick to blame states’ Vehicle Administration Authorities who are part of the arrangements in the issuance of Drivers’ Licence, saying the undue delays and bureaucracy caused by states agencies in handing over printed cards to seekers is the reason.
Corps Marshal Oyeyemi, further assures the motoring public of the Corps’ commitment to continually meet the demands of the applicants despite the fact that it is not the duty of the FRSC to distribute such licences.
Earlier, the Corps Public Education Officer, Mr. Bisi Kazeem, said after investigation it was discovered that most of the licences had been dispatched from the print farm and ready for collection at centres of actual capture.
Kazeem claimed that “While some do not actually check, some are told at the points that they are not ready and therefore resign to fate”.
Business Hilights findings showed that many applicants who are currently driving with printouts which have only two months life span go for renewals which are usually done on the photocopied printout by just stamping another two months extension and signing it.
This stamping and signing in some cases, are done up to three times pending when the licence will drop from Abuja.
Further investigations show that it was due to the tortuous process of getting genuine licence that FRSC officials on highway also ask of licence immediately a motorist is flagged down.
