The Head of Administration and Human Resources, Federal Road Safety Commission, Ogun State Sector Command, Mr. Steve Ayodele, has said the commission will soon introduce card readers to detect fake driving licence.
He said this on Thursday at Kuto Motor Park, Abeokuta, during a sensitisation programme for commercial drivers in the state.
The FRSC organised it in partnership with CLEEN Foundation.
Ayodele said the card reader machine would be given to their officials carrying out routine check on roads, the police and in banks.
He said, “The FRSC will soon introduce a small machine that will detect fake driving licence.
“The machine is like the card reader used by the Independent National Electoral Commission during the 2015 general elections.
“It will soon be introduced. The machines would be given to our officials carrying out routine check on the road, law enforcement agencies, like the police and the banks. Once the driving licence is slotted into the machine, it will show whether it is fake or genuine.”
Ayodele, who advised the commercial drivers not to patronise touts when trying to procure their driving licence or renewing expired ones, said the official fee payable was N6,350.
He explained that in order to solve the bottlenecks associated with the procurement of driving licence in the state, four more centres would be opened soon.
The Research and Planning Officer, CLEEN Foundation, Mr. Raphael Mbaegbu, said the organisation was committed to stopping the corruption which had crept into the process of issuance of driving licence across the country, hence the need to sensitise motorists on doing what was right.
He said, “We have discovered there is a level of corruption in the issuance of the driving licence across the country.
“So, we have decided to organise this programme in conjunction with the FRSC to sensitise motorists who want to obtain driving licence or renew expired one, to follow the right channel. This is to ensure they do not patronise touts who will only get them fake driving licence.”
The reason why most people would get a fake driver’s licence is because the original is difficult to procure due to long wait times to enroll/apply for one, or due to cost, etc.
Now, the government would spend money on fake driver’s licence detectors and heavily penalize “offenders”. FRSC officials need to have their heads examined. Governments in Nigeria often cause pain rather than serve citizens.