Lagos Drivers' Certification Card and FRSC

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola last week launched the Driver Re-certification Card. The card - which will be issued by the Lagos State Drivers’ Institute - will be a pre-requisite for driving on Lagos roads for both commercial and private drivers. However, according to Mr Kayode Opeifa (Special Adviser on Transportation), the card is not a substitute for the national driving licence - administered by the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC). But as part of the scheme, commercial and professional drivers will need to undergo annual re-training at the Lagos State Drivers’ Institute.

Whilst Gov. Fashola should be commended for initiative, there are two issues with this project that concerns me. Firstly, why the need for annual re-training? For starters, Nigeria is the only place I’m aware of, where holders of a national drivers’ licence are required to undertake a re-certification training by a state government. Okay let’s even accept that every driver in Lagos needs to be re-trained, because it is no secret that majority of drivers’ licence holders in Nigeria never visited a test centre talk less sit a driving test. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they don’t know what the “highway code” looks like. But having said that, how many times do you really need to be trained? Is the Lagos state government saying that road traffic rules in Lagos are so dynamic that one needs to be trained annually? I find this laughable to say the least. In most parts of the world, drivers are usually required to undergo re-assessment when they reach the age of 70years. And this is quite understandable. The introduction of a ‘world-class’ training facility for drivers and at the same time subjecting them to annual training seems contradictory. If a driver a properly trained to international standard once, then we re-train annually. Already, there are sections of the society who are saying the annual re-training is just a money making exercise. But can you really blame such conspiracy theorists, when such a policy cannot in anyway be justified.

I do not blame Gov. Fashola for introducing an initiative that is a core responsibility of a federal agency. It is quite understandable that there are significant traffic issues in Lagos he needs to deal with. And it has become apparent that the FRSC is incompetent in this regard. However, the introduction of driver re-certification if not checked could create chaos in the system. This of course brings me to the second issue. What will happen, if other states decide to pursue the same agenda? Does that mean a commercial driver that travels interstate will have to undertake a “re-certification training” in every state of the federation? The fact remains that there is no legislation that compels any state to accept a drivers’ certificate issued by another state.

Whether the project succeeds or not, Gov. Fashola’s initiative has again exposed the ineptitude of the FRSC in discharging its statutory responsibilities. The failure of the FRSC in the area of driver and vehicular licensing cannot be overemphasised; hence Gov. Fashola’s re-certification scheme. One of the reasons why the FRSC was established was “ to design the driver’s license to be used by all vehicle operators and to determine from time to time, the requirement to be satisfied by an applicant for a driver’s license”. But unfortunately, applicants have to navigate through an arduous bureaucratic process that has almost entirely been hijacked by touts, fraudsters and corrupt government officials. For a paltry some of N5,000 you could have a licence delivered to your front door without undergoing any form of test or assessment. Whether an applicant is medically fit to drive a car is not even an issue. As a result, there are lots of drivers on our roads who lack understanding of basic road traffic rules. Some are even mentally deficient.

The Lagos project therefore calls into question the role of the FRSC in driver and vehicle licensing. According to Mr Wole Olaniran, the Zonal Commanding Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps Zone 2, “the initiative of the Lagos State government for the annual re-certification of drivers in the state, should be emulated by other states and the private sector”. He further added that Driver’s Recertification Card will help checkmate the issuance of fake national driver’s license and entrench sanity on Nigeria’s roads. But does it mean that the FRSC is now absolving itself from its statutory responsibilities? Yes I agree that card could help checkmate forgery, but what has been the FRSC effort at tackling forgery since its creation? What if the state is not blessed with a proactive Governor such as Fashola? I consider the statement of the Zonal Commander as an indictment of an agency that seems to have lost focus. Is he publicly calling for state governments and private sector to take over the functions of the FRSC? The fact that a state government re-certification card now takes precedence over the national drivers licence only makes a mockery of the federal government licensing scheme. What is the purpose of a FRSC national drivers’ license that you can “buy” for N5,000 when you still need to obtain a re-certification card before you can drive?

The efforts of the likes of Gov. Fashola should however be used to put pressure on the Federal govt to officially absolve itself from duties that are primary functions of a state government. The current situation is totally at odds with the principle of “federalism”. And in order to forestall chaos in the system, my advice to the government is, if the federal government still intends to be in control of vehicle and driver licensing, then it is imperative that the FRSC is strengthened to deliver on its responsibilities. An alternative is a review of the functions of the FRSC, with the aim of transferring vehicle and driver licensing to respective state governments, as it would be expected in a genuine federal system. This will however require changes to the legislation, which will compel state governments to accept drivers’ licence issued from other states. The FRSC should therefore be made to focus on road safety and development of appropriate driving standards.

Political Parties and Electoral Reform

The public reaction to the ruling of the elections petition tribunal sitting in Ogun State, in favour of the incumbent governor Gbenga Daniel was not surprising. The lopsidedness of our electoral system means that the odds are heavily stacked against any opposition. Our democratic system is one of the only few where an incumbent political party does not lose elections. The “absolute” power enjoyed by the incumbent, makes it virtually impossible for any opposition. In a situation where the President controls the electoral commission and law enforcement agents what can we expect? Even in cases where we have had election re-run as result of tribunal ruling, the incumbent still returns to power, even with larger votes! As seen recently in Ekiti State.

The public reaction to ruling against the opposition although expected, should however be treated with caution. As one would expect, the Action Congress (AC) supporters are always quick to point fingers at the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). When PDP win elections, we are constantly reminded of rigging, violence, intimidation etc. When an appeal is lost at the tribunal, the opposition is always quick to say that the Judges have been bribed. Yes I agree that some of that these things do happen, but the question is, does this make the opposition party a “saint”? Does it mean that opposition parties are not involved in rigging? Are we saying opposition parties have never offered bribes to tribunal judges or electoral commissioners? The fact remains that elections in Nigeria are won by the party with best “rigging” machinery. The difference between the incumbent and opposition is that, whilst the opposition employs the services of thugs, the incumbent uses the state apparatus (Police, Army etc). And from a layman’s perspective, a Policeman stuffing a ballot box is worse than a political thug intimidating voters. Also collating election results at the Police station is more serious than inclusion of fictitious names on the voters’ register. But really is one form of electoral fraud worse than another?

It was the same issue when the opposition party candidate in Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola was arrested and charged to court for forgery recently. The Inspector-General of Police alleged that the Police report tendered by Aregbesola is support of his appeal was indeed “forged”. As we will expect, the arrest was seen as another “government magic”. Many political and social commentators saw it as a ploy to suppress the opposition, but thank goodness that we are in democracy. The case is now in court, and it is up to the court to decide if the report was indeed forged. My argument on the issue has always been it is irrelevant if it took the Police twelve months to realise that the report was forged. The most important thing is to establish if it was forged or not. And if the report was forged, the Police have every right to charge him to court. An opposition that is engaged in forgery is no better than the incumbent that has rigged itself into power. We need to start calling a spade a spade, and not just an agricultural instrument.

I understand people’s frustration with the PDP. I agree that the PDP has offered us NOTHING for the last ten years since its being in power. But are the opposition parties any different. What is in the manifesto of AC, PPA, DPA, and ANPP? For me, the current group of political parties are no different from each other. Whilst they may have different names, their ideology and principle are all same – if any! These are parties founded on self-preservation and greed. The parties only provide a platform for people to seek political office, have a bite of the national cake and nothing more.

We have often criticised Former President Obasanjo and PDP for intimidating all the PDP presidential aspirants in 2007in order to pave way for Umar Yar’Adua. It is common knowledge that some of the former governors were even threatened with prosecution. However, how is that different from how Gov. Raji Fashola emerged? Was the imposition of Raji Fashola on AC candidates better than the intimidation of PDP presidential aspirants? Is that what we call democracy? The Fashola issue has however been swept under the carpet because of his popularity. However, if Umar Yar’Adua has also been performing, then how PDP conducted its Presidential primaries might also have been a “dead issue”.

My position is that the clamour for “genuine” electoral reform should be devoid of party partisanship. The interest of the nation should be of utmost importance. The current electoral system is not working, and voters are the biggest losers. Let’s not be deceived, even if an AC candidate becomes President in 2011 under the current system, the issues we have will still remain. Then it will be the PDP crying foul. The challenge with our electoral system is not about political parties. It is the system that has encouraged fraud, thuggery etc. Let’s continue to put pressure on the govt for a genuine electoral reform, instead of shouting AC/PDP or crying wolf. The Justice Uwais Panel report on Electoral Reform is a very comprehensive document. However, the govt has been “cherry picking” which aspect suits it most in order to further perpetuate itself in power. This approach cannot be right. Why can’t we have a healthy debate on the report has presented. I’m not canvassing for a total adoption of all its recommendations because some might not be practical. But the report represents a major starting point.