Thursday, March 28, 2024

EDITORIAL: The ‘No Inspection, No Certificate of Roadworthiness’ policy in Lagos

Uba Group

Lagos State Government announced in November 2021 that as part of the reforms in the transportation sub-sector, it would commence the ‘No Inspection, No Certificate of Roadworthiness’ policy by January 2022. This, it claimed, was to “improve safety on all roads across the metropolis.”

Commissioner for Transportation, Frederic Oladeinde, who disclosed this at a meeting held at the Vehicle Inspection Service Headquarters, Ojodu, added that the rule was made to curb and reduce to the barest minimum accident rate which had spiked in recent times.

Oladeinde averred that the forum was convened to collate and incorporate suggestions on the new policy before its commencement. He explained that the State Government was desirous of ensuring that only roadworthy vehicles ply the network of roads in Lagos to reduce gridlocks often caused by broken down vehicles, thereby improving the safety of lives and property.

The forum had in attendance transport unions and other stakeholders in the transport industry, but certainly not private vehicle owners. At least no mention of their presence was made in all the reports about the engagement.

The Director, Vehicle Inspection Service, Akin-George Fashola, at the interactive session, explained that the earlier arrangement whereby Certificate of Roadworthiness was usually issued along with a Referral Note directing vehicle owners to visit the Lagos Computerised Vehicle Inspection Centre for inspection would no longer hold.

“PA policy of which implementation comes with groaning, lamentation, criticisms and all manners of inconveniences is patently anti-people and should, therefore, pass as a candidate for immediate review

He explained that it was discovered that vehicle owners do not take their cars for inspection within the stipulated period of 30 days after receiving the Certificate of Roadworthiness, pointing out that such acts put the state in a precarious situation in terms of unforeseen eventualities.

According to Fashola, the new rule will now compel vehicle owners to go through inspection at any of the LACVIS centres on the expiration of vehicles particulars before a Certificate of Roadworthiness is issued.

In his words, “In the event that the vehicle did not pass the Minimum Safety Standard Text (MSST), a period of 30 days will be given for the vehicle to be fixed and thereafter return for a repetition of the MSST at no additional cost before the Certificate of Road Roadworthiness is issued”, he explained.

The Director further stated that the LACVIS test has been categorised into both Public and Private, assuring that the 30 LACVIS centres located across the state were fully functional and capable of handling all categories of vehicles and also have the capacity to accommodate the new policy, just as standard requirements will not be compromised.

While noting that mobile services are available for large fleet vehicle owners, Fashola insisted that no vehicle will be certified roadworthy if the owners fail to present their vehicles for inspection to identify any faults for corrective measures. He assured that VIS personnel would be deployed to garages to help create awareness before the new policy kicks off.

As for the Lagos State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Olusegun Ogungbemide, he urged transport workers and stakeholders to comply with the new directive. He stressed that the new measures were solely for the safety and protection of lives and that strict adherence will be beneficial to all and sundry.

Apparently, the new policy has taken off and it has exposed the hollowness of the policy.

Last week, a viral video of a female vehicle owner dominated various social media platforms where she could be heard lamenting the untold hardship private vehicle owners were facing in a bid to get their vehicles certified roadworthy and be free from harassment and intimidation by law enforcement agents.

The video shot on top of the Bridge linking Cele Bus Stop with Lawanson across the ever busy Oshodi – Apapa Expressway, had hundreds of cars queued on the bridge and running almost five hundred metres as far as the camera could catch.
That was the ‘on the spot report’ from one out of the 30 centres across the state. Only God knows what is happening in the other centres.
We hold that the policy was ill-conceived and also not properly thought through to ensure that all forms of inconveniences that would be associated with it are reduced to the barest minimum.

If it was discovered that vehicle owners don’t honour the 30 days grace given to them to return for inspection, instead of prescribing “No Inspection, No Certificate”, one would have thought that imposing a fine on the defaulting owner and communicating the same to him via his or her contact mobile number which all vehicle owners are made to supply, would remedy the situation.

Also, assuming but not conceding that the State Government does not have the money to pay for the calls to the defaulting individuals, it can factor such costs into the charges that the owner would eventually be made to pay.

As it is now, it would seem as if the main objective of the new policy is to generate revenue for the government and not so much as to ensure the safety of commuters plying the highways in the state on a daily basis.

We think that all policies of the government must have a human face and come with fewer hitches as possible. A policy of which implementation comes with groaning, lamentation, criticisms and all manners of inconveniences is patently anti-people and should, therefore, pass as a candidate for immediate review.

The process that forces, or put it in another way, makes it compulsory, as it were, for individuals to leave their homes by as early as 5:00 a.m with the sole aim of securing a vantage position on the queue for an auto inspection that will probably not start until 8:00 am in the earliest, being resumption time for all civil servants, and for which a departure time to enable one go about other daily plans is unknown, is completely untidy and need an urgent review.

Like the female recorder of the video lamented, the question been asked by an impatient public is why focus so much attention on private vehicles while those that are used for conveying the larger number of the commuting public that are manifestly rickety in nature and posing greater risk and danger to the people are largely ignored?

For a policy to be considered successful and well-thought-out, it must be able to achieve its targeted goals and objectives with very minimal or no constraints to the people, that is allowing for the fact that no system is perfect.

We call on the Lagos State Government to rethink its policy of “No Test, No Certificate” of roadworthiness. Make your service to the people elicit applause and not groaning, lamentations and sharp criticisms.

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