By Austine Uche-Ejeke
For the last past 13 years it’s been hectic and herculean for me to procure the National Driver’s License without passing through some sort of horrendous stress.
First experience was sometimes in 2004. I paid for the licence and could not collect it until after more than one year!
After going to Road Safety Office in Ojudu Berger, in Lagos State, several times without success, I had to confront Jonas Agwu, one-time Public Relations Officer of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) through his email address I got from his Sunday column with the SUN Newspaper. He invited me to his office after several exchanges of mails and text messages. I threatened to use the media to expose the FRSC Safety for collecting money from Nigerians without issuing them license. He pleaded with me to have patience as he would personally handle it and ensure that I got my driver’s licence. And true to his promise, two months later he called me to his office to personally pick the licence!
Fast forward to 2010. I paid again and for about 18 months I didn’t get the licence. I got in touch with Kayode Olagunju through Facebook as he is on my list and we belong to the same club ARSENAL that has not won any trophy for the past 10 years! I have never seen a fervent Gunner like Kayode Olagunju!
He referred me to some top-ranking officers at the same Ojudu office by giving me their phone numbers. They called me to their office and pleaded that I should have patience as they were going to sort it out. Unlike the first case, I was not invited for capturing upon the fact that I paid the stipulated amount at the designated bank.
One of the officers gave me the name of the personnel to meet at their Ojudu office. It took them three months to fish out my file and undertake capturing. Eventually, I took delivery of the licence. In the course of my frequent visit to the Road Safety office were other gory stories of hapless Nigerians who have paid for their licence but have not been issued. There were cases of those whose licence have been delayed for one to two years!
You can imagine my heart beat when about a month ago I remembered that my driver’s licence will expire on October 16, my birthday!
Luckily for me about a fortnight ago I gave a woman a ride to Lagos and in the course of discussion somebody introduced her as a Road Safety personnel. So today I went to their office in Ojodu and was told that total cost is fifteen thousand naira (N15k) for 5 years licence. Official cost for a five-year driver’s licence is about N10,800. They included Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) fee and other sundry fees like cost of browsing to confirm payment! Meanwhile, the VIO test was just administration of questions that applicants are expected to answer and immediately it is marked and result shown to the applicants! And the receipt issued by VIO bore Five Hundred naira only (N500).
Surprisingly, capturing was done today and temporary licence given that will last for two months! The whole exercise did not last more than two hours! Even as you move from one office to the other for capturing and other documentation was the unbridled solicitation for bribe, “Egunje” and all kinds of gratifications that one wonders if the staff of FRSC are not being paid salary. At the capturing section the officer demanded money for the purchase of their hand sanitizer. While the person that recorded and issued temporary licence demanded for lunch money as his right!
After everything, my contact asked, “How was the whole experience today like?” I had to narrate my life story of my bitter experience in procuring a driver’s license.
One wonders when our country will graduate to when Nigerians will conveniently sit at the comfort of their homes, fill forms of their expired licence, pay and collect the licence within seven days instead of subjecting Nigerians to this terrible experience before they could get driver’s license!
**Austine Uche-Ejeke, publisher and editor-in-chief Agenda Community Newspaper and public affairs analyst wrote vide eaustineuche@yahoo.com
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