FRSC Blames IT for Hiccups in Processing Driver’s License

Osita Chidoka, Corp Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) has blamed the lapse in  the information technology system used by the agency for the slow processing of vehicle registration and driver’s license in the country.

Chidoka, who spoke as a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast show, said “the driver’s license has a lot of dependencies and those dependencies are impacting gravely on implementation”.

He added that “ it is a huge IT project where we want to capture the data, finger prints, face and demographic data of an individual and send it over through the network to the central data base” noting that “it is done over the network and anytime you have a network failure, the process stalls”.

He also blamed the shutdown of the system after the “National Assembly issue” but was quick to add that “we have managed to restart the whole back end”.

He revealed that the organization has introduced and is implementing the use of fiber cables in the driver’s license offices across the nation to serve as a support system for the network when it eventually has problems.

He berated the use of fake driver’s license in the country and warned those involved in issuing it to desist from the act or face the full wrath of the law.

Chidoka further revealed that “it is now possible to verify Nigeria’s license” abroad noting that a Swiss-Nigerian citizen, who was in possession of a fake license was sentenced to three months imprisonment without an option of fine in Switzerland.

He however assured that proliferation of driver’s license was only “possible with the old one” insisting that “it is not possible with the new one”.

He said the new one will not be easily obtained except through the legal and legitimate way.

Chidoka confirmed that the deadline for the switch to the new system is yet to be known but promised that the Joint Tax Board (JTB) will “in the next few days come out with a clear indication of the new time to cut over to the new system” assuring that “that will reduce the pressure”.

While confirming the security measure the new number plates come with, he mentioned a procedure to use in confirming which number plate was allocated to an individual.

“If you have a laser light, you can just take it to the license, you will see written on the license sheeting….. there are some not visible to the physical eyes that are engraved on the license” adding that “if you go to your phone now and send an SMS to 33810 and type Verify Plate No (one word) space, the new number, then the data will come back to you immediately on which number has been allocated to which vehicle”. For example VerifyKSF90AA to 33810.