One tollgate too many, By Wole Olaoye

There is no prize for guessing why all uniformed government agencies want to maintain a presence on the road. It is an unofficial toll gate. In some parts of the country, you have as many as four checkpoints per local government. Commercial vehicle operators would tell you the financial implication of driving through each checkpoint. 

If President Tinubu is to wind up on the positive side of history, the various measures his government is taking now to lighten the economic burden of lowly placed Nigerians must succeed. Hence, the ongoing efforts to harmonise taxation in such a way that the current regime of multiple taxations (including ad hoc unreceipted levies collected on the highway by local government thugs) must be a thing of the past.

One major aspect of the proposed tax reform bills before the National Assembly is the exclusion of those earning less than one million naira per annum from taxation. Nigerians have overwhelmingly endorsed this aspect of the proposed legislation in order to let the poor breathe.

But it seems the new thinking of reducing the people’s burden has not permeated the generality of top operatives of the government, who still function in a carryover of the traditional practice of each agency levying the people under one guise or the other to generate funds, which constitute their own gravy train.

IG’s PREROGATIVE?

Every Inspector General of Police has always come with one scheme or the other to generate funds outside the federal budget appropriation, which the Police big wigs then deploy in whatever direction they deem fit. 

At a time in this country, the Police criminalised the issue of tinted glass on vehicles. I remember the harrowing experience of negotiating how to get the tinted glass permit from the police headquarters. It was an ordeal but it was clear that some people were smiling to the bank. 

When it seemed that the tinted glass ruse had been sucked to a pulp, another IG came and introduced what he called a computerised tinted glass permit to replace the old one. We went through the rigmarole all over again, parted with some money and shrugged.

But those were, with hindsight, relatively buoyant days when the naira still exchanged at N280 to a dollar. Now that the naira is lying prostrate and the economic downturn has negatively affected the populace to the extent that most people are going about with very short fuses, any government agency that resorts to the old trick of creating another avenue for milking the old cow, runs the risk of making enemies for the government.

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Nigerians had heard those words before. They know it is but a ploy for the police to return to the road blocks where the real action is. The motoring public know how the game works — create an excuse for reinstalling the usual police checkpoints all over the federation. Anyone in doubt about what usually transpires at those road blocks should check YouTube for all sorts of exposés.

The government cannot harmonise taxes and reduce the number of levies that business people pay on the one hand, while the Police are levying their own taxes in the name of a computerised Central Motor Registry certificate on the other. Unless there is a disconnect, the Police falcon must yield to the Tinubu falconer.

CMR Bogey 

A press release issued in the name of IGP Egbetokun last year stated that the police were poised to start the enforcement of the digitalised Central Motor Registry (e-CMR), specifically on the 29th of July, 2024, to rejuvenate and digitalise the motor vehicle registration system. It described the e-CMR as an advanced, real-time online repository of motor vehicle data, designed to support police investigations, operational activities, and combat vehicle-related crimes, including terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and armed robbery. Each motorist is expected to cough up N5,375 (five thousand, three hundred and seventy-five naira) for the e-CMR.

Nigerians had heard those words before. They know it is but a ploy for the police to return to the road blocks where the real action is. The motoring public know how the game works — create an excuse for reinstalling the usual police checkpoints all over the federation. Anyone in doubt about what usually transpires at those road blocks should check YouTube for all sorts of exposés.

The Nigerian Bar Association Section on Public Interest and Development Law immediately sued Inspector General Kayode Egbetokun over the directive on the issuance of the Central Motor Information System for vehicle owners across the country.

The plaintiffs contended that no provisions under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Police Act, or any other law gives the Nigeria Police Force, under the command and authority of the IG, the right, power, or authority to maintain a motor registry or issue certificates of identification or proof/evidence of ownership called the Central Motor Registry Information System Certificate (or in any other name called) to Nigerians.

They also held that the Nigeria Police Force was not a revenue-generating agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria and as such, lacked the right to fix and collect fees for the issuance of the Central Motor Registry Information System Certificate from Nigerians.

There is no prize for guessing why all uniformed government agencies want to maintain a presence on the road. It is an unofficial tollgate. In some parts of the country, you have as many as four checkpoints per local government. Commercial vehicle operators would tell you the financial implication of driving through each checkpoint. 

The IGP is not alone in this sneaky business of trying to smuggle in legislation into the public sphere without going through the constitutional route of the National Assembly. For too long, government appointees have become islands of legislation on their own. Many have got away with corralling billions of naira into their private coffers without reference to any higher authority.

If the Police just concentrate on doing their statutory duties well, the society will cooperate with them. But when they keep looking for windows of opportunity to return to road blocks or arrest people for not having some phoney documents, the gulf between them and the society they are sworn to protect widens. 

Anyone familiar with Abuja roads will testify that the VIO had become a menace in the city until recently when a court order forced them to return to their offices. Still, once in a while in the outskirts, you still find a few VIOs trying to fleece commercial motorists. But for their greedy quest for extra money, VIOs can do all their duties from their offices without stepping on the road.

NBA

The intervention of the Nigerian Bar Association led to the suspension of the planned enforcement of the CMR. in a statement, ACP Adejobi said IGP Egbetokun had ordered an immediate suspension of the proposed enforcement of the e-CMR, adding that this was aimed at giving ample opportunity for mass enlightenment and education of all citizens and residents on the process, benefits and effectiveness in solving the challenge of vehicle related crimes, and protection of individual and corporate vehicle ownership.

But the truth is that the IGP had no business whatsoever imposing his unilateral tax on Nigerians. As noted by Daily Trust: 

“By law, the police lack the authority to keep a central database for vehicle registration in the country. They should use registration documents available with relevant agencies to combat the incidence of car theft. The NBA-SPIDEL made a case where, in its submission, it reminded the IGP that the NPF is not a revenue generating institution. If the police have challenges of underfunding, citizens should not be subjected to multiple taxations to provide operational funds for the NPF. While we encourage the NBA-SPIDEL to remain proactive in intervening for Nigerians in matters that infringe upon their collective rights, Daily Trust calls on the IGP to discard the e-CMR policy and look elsewhere to bridge funding deficit.”

The IGP is not alone in this sneaky business of trying to smuggle in legislation into the public sphere without going through the constitutional route of the National Assembly. For too long, government appointees have become islands of legislation on their own. Many have got away with corralling billions of naira into their private coffers without reference to any higher authority. Now that the Tinubu administration is harmonising taxes to reduce the burden on the common man, the police are on their own if they think they can smuggle in a new levy through the back door.

We already have too many unofficial ‘toll gates’ as it is. One more will break the camel’s back.

Wole Olaoye is a public relations consultant and veteran journalist. He can be reached on [email protected]. Twitter: @wole_olaoye; Instagram: woleola2021