The Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC) has been given the brief to impound vehicles without official Customs papers.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Jonathan gave the directive at their meeting on Wednesday.
FRSC Corps-Marshal, Osita Chidoka, made it known to journalists that the FRSC would no longer allow motorists to go and obtain the right customs paper but would first impound the vehicle until suitable information on how the vehicle got into the country is obtained.
He said: “People come to us and present their custom duty paper and we register. But now we are no longer taking that paper, we are now linked with the custom clearance platform. So the data of all the cars that are validly entered into the country through the customs system is already domicled in our system. So when we enter your chasis number and that car does not come up into the system then we have to get you to get a genuine customs papers because what they carry our fake papers.”
“We have been able to do that for the insurance industry. If you notice now if you register your car with the new number plate they will tell you to bring your e-policy because all the insurance companies are required to update their policy to a database while we verify it. So any car that carries the new number plate, that goes through registration has valid insurance. That is what we want to do with the customs license. Initially our plans was when we see your papers and there not correct we ask you to go back to customs but with the feedback from Mr. President today, that is not enough. We need to hold that car, investigate how it entered into the country without going through the normal process. So we will modify the process to include the customs in that process”.