What’s the true position? Who do we believe – the FRSC or the media? Yesterday, the online media reported that a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos had outlawed the new vehicle plate introduced by the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC). This morning, the newspapers lashed on it, majority of them picking the news from the bulletin of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the wire agency of the Nigerian government. The Guardian report, sourced from NAN, had the headline, ‘FRSC cannot impose new number plates on Motorists, says Court.” The story: ‘A FEDERAL High Court in Lagos on Wednesday held that it was unconstitutional for the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to impose new number plates on motorists in the country. ‘The judge, Justice James Tsoho, delivered the judgment following a suit by a lawyer, Emmanuel Ofoegbu, challenging the powers of FRSC to issue the new number plates. ‘Ofoegbu had challenged the power of the commission to impound vehicles of motorists who failed to acquire the new numbers. ‘Tsho held that it was unlawful for the respondent to impose the new number plates on motorists, where there was no existing law permitting same. ‘``The issue of redesigning new number plates by the respondent is not covered under the provisions of any law in Nigeria. ‘``The respondent cannot force Nigerians to acquire new number plates by impounding cars, without the backing of any legislation to that effect. ‘``I hold that the act of the respondent amounts to an arbitrary use of power, and is therefore illegal and unconstitutional. ‘``Judgment is, therefore, entered in favour of the plaintiff, and all the reliefs sought are hereby granted, I so hold,’’ he said.” That’s quite simple, you’ll say. Well, not exactly so. Reporting the same judgment on its website, FRSC says: ‘FRSC Has Statutory Powers on Number Plates – Court’ Its own story: ‘Contrary to media reports emanating from an earlier Federal High Court verdict sitting in Lagos, the Federal Road Safety Corps wishes to affirm that the court judgement did not vacate its statutory powers to design and produce the new number plate but stated that the Corps lacks statutory authority to fix deadline for the enforcement of the number plate. ‘Ruling on a suit instituted by one Emmanuel Ofoegbu that the FRSC has been threatening in the media to arrest all motorists including the plaintiff or impound his vehicle from 1st October,2013 or any other date for using vehicle number plates that are in accordance with the National Road Traffic Regulations 2004, the presiding Judge, Justice Tsoho ruled that the FRSC has powers to design and produce the number plate as a national policy but cautioned that the statutory powers of the FRSC does not cover setting deadlines for conversion to the newly designed plates. ‘However, in another verdict, Justice Tsoho had in case instituted by Brent Williams Limited against the FRSC, ruled that the Corps has statutory powers to determine the categories of number plates to be used by vehicles and enforce same. The court also ruled that by discharging their duties, members of the FRSC were not performing the duties of the Police but acting in line with the provisions of the FRSC Act 2007. The case was therefore dismissed in favour of the FRSC with a cost of N150,000.00 against the plaintiff. ‘When contacted, the Corps Legal Adviser, Assistant Corps Marshal George Olaniran commended the Lagos High Court for conceding that the FRSC has statutory powers to design and produce the number plate but that the Corps will appeal the court’s verdict on the FRSC powers to set deadline for a change over to the new number plate. ‘According to Olaniran, the FRSC does not set deadline for new number plate rather it is under the purview of the States through the Joint Tax Board to fix deadline for enforcement of the vehicle number plates.” It is important to stress that both NAN and FRSC are Nigerian government institutions. And both are reporting a court verdict differently and creating confusion for the public. Will someone please provide the real court judgment on this crucial matter?
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 10:40:46 +0000