Business
FRSC Reacts To Vehicle Number Plate Judgement
The Federal Road Safety
Commission (FRSC) has said that the Federal High Court in Lagos did not wrest its power to design and produce new vehicle number plates.
The agency made the claim in a statement, issued by FRSC Public Education Officer, Mr Jonas Agwu, in Abuja in reaction to the Wednesday court verdict on the matter.
The court, presided over by Justice James Tsoho, had declared that the new number plates introduced by the commission were unconstitutional and as such could not be imposed on vehicle owners. “The issue of redesigning new number plates by the respondent is not covered under the provision of any law in Nigeria.
“The respondent cannot force Nigerians to acquire the new number plates by impounding cars without the backing of any legislation to that effect,’’ the judge said.
Agwu, however, said that the court only ruled that the commission lacked statutory authority to fix a deadline for the enforcement of the use of the new number plate.
“Justice Tsoho ruled that the FRSC has powers to design and produce the number plate as a national policy.
“The judge cautioned that the statutory powers of the FRSC does not cover setting deadlines for conversion to the newly designed plates,’’ the statement quoted Agwu as saying.
The statement said that the commission would appeal against the verdict.
It said FRSC did not set the deadline for the use of the new number plate but the states, through their Joint Tax Board, fixed the deadline.
The Joint Board had set June 30 as deadline for vehicle owners to change the old number plate to the new number plate or have their vehicles impounded.