By Abdu Labaran Malumfashi
Nigerians should brace up for another regime of hardship as the Federal Board of Internal Revenue (FBIR) in collaboration with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) plans to increase the cost of number plates and vehicles papers.
For sure, the relevant agencies and the irrelevant ones, but officially assigned to road work or patrol, would cash in on the new unpopular policy for their bosses and themselves. The new policy for the not connected Nigerian would mean additional means of extorting them.
The FBIR, the Vehicle Inspection Officer (VIO),the Police, the states road agencies and many others would welcome the policy as another means of getting along or in the Hausa language parlance of ‘samun alheri’ (getting extra (illegal) money)).
The new increase in the costs, coming after the recent hike in the price of a litre of petroleum, would automatically signpost another rise in the cost of all commodities and services in the country, as transporters would be forced to make a (obviously disproportionate) upward review of their charges.
Already, motor vehicles are threatening to be a luxury to all but the governments at the Villa and the various Government Houses in the states, the top government officials, the top political appointees, the very big politicians, the ultra rich business moguls, the top employees of the private companies and the rich business people in the country. The new policy, and further hostile policies, would concretise the status of motor vehicles, as a luxury in Nigeria that only those who could afford it can afford it.
So too is electricity in the country. It is another luxury in Nigeria only afforded by the above mentioned personalities. Even those whose tariff was doubled, and were moved to the so called band A, do not get the ‘at least 20 hours per day’ the Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu boasted that 40% of Nigeria was getting daily. He said so in a statement reviewing the activities of his ministry during the one year administration in the country.
The FBIR guided forced review of the drivers license and papers of vehicles, would unfortunately be a backhanded opportunity for sackings or transfers for the several officially and unofficially assigned road and Police officers, who may be so greedy or not fast enough, to recognise a superior or an important person traveling on road incognito, in the country.
In many instances, the Police assume the role of FRSC and Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) put together, stopping vehicles on the road and asking for ‘particulars’ and, or, road-worthiness of vehicles. Anyone unlucky not to be with any of the ‘demanded’ paper or their vehicle is, according to the road ‘official’, not road worthy, automatically becomes at the mercy of the ‘interrogator’, who would mention a price that MUST be given to him there and then. Otherwise, it would be a one way drive to the Police station, where the victim may be there for a long time until he pays or bailed out by someone else.
A longtime ago, I and my wife were stopped by the Police along Kaduna-Abuja road. When we stopped, three Policemen came to our car and, after looking at us attentively, asked for my particulars. I produced them, and to the best of my knowledge whatever they wanted me to give to them were up to date. When they discovered the correctness of ALL the particulars, they demanded to see my fair extinguisher and my reflector stopper. They also looked at the tires on the vehicle, as if inspecting the road worthiness of the vehicle. Everything was in good shape, as the car was then a brand newly bought Honda Accord, popularly known as ‘Honda Hala’.
Apparently satisfied that everything was in order, the Policemen still walked away with the papers of my car, ignoring me where I parked to attend to another vehicle. When I requested for the papers, one of them told me to see the ‘oga’, who was sitting under the shade of a tree some meters away from the road. The oga sent me back to his people to ‘sort it out between’ ourselves.
Realising that they wanted to extort money from me at all cost, I called a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP) who was based at the Police Force Headquarters. Luckily for me, he instantly answered my phone cheerfully, and asked me what the matter was. When I narrated everything that transpired between me and “your people on my way to Abuja”, he asked me to give the phone to the leader of the team, and I hastily complied. After that, the team leader questioned me what I had told ‘Oga at the headquarters. Before I could answer him, he added in pidgin English, and I quote, “No be dem send us out?” I retorted that, he should direct the question to the DIG, not to me, collected my particulars and drove away without further ado.
The charity feeding Foundations and individuals have got a further reason to redouble their good deeds in FEEDING the needy in the country, wherever they may be. The time definitely calls for them to do so. The environment is not friendly, but hard, harsh and severe, to the needy in Nigeria.
May God make us survive and persevere in the unfriendly environment we found ourselves in Nigeria.
Malam Malumfashi wrote from Katsina.