FRSC Partners Tax Board on New Number Plates Compliance

Chinazor Megbolu |

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) is to partner with the Joint Tax Board towards enforcing motorists on new number plate compliance.

The two agencies said the enforcement will start January 1, 2020 adding that motorists with the old number plates will have to acquire the new ones even if the old ones are still good.

In a statement made available by FRSC’s spokesman, Bisi Kazeem, stressed the joint Tax Board agreed that with effect from January 1st, 2020, papers of vehicles with old number plates will not be renewed unless they comply to the new number plate so as to have their information captured in the NVIS database.

“Aggressive Awareness/ publicity campaigns in various languages will commence with immediate effect so as to acquaint the motoring public with this development before the January 1, 2020 old number plate enforcement date, “he said.

Kazeem maintained that though, the FRSC says the reason for this decision is not strictly for revenue generation, he stated it’s for safety purposes.

However, stakeholders who frowned at the move and action by both parties, stressed that motorists whose number plates are still readable, should not be forced to migrate.

According to them; “the argument by FRSC that forcing motorists to acquire the new number plate will enable data to be captured does not hold water because at the point of renewal of particulars, all relevant data can be captured without forcing motorists to acquire the new number plate”.

They noted that no aggressive awareness/publicity was done by the FRSC in various languages as earlier promised and called on the FRSC to stop the plan of forcing motorists to acquire new number plates.

They added that the move by FRSC and JTB is double taxation., that will cause unnecessary hardship on them.