April 1: Abuja motorists date with controversial ‘encoding system’

But no sooner had the DTRS gone public with the proposed encoding of vehicle particulars than it began to generate controversy among motorists. Mohammed Tanko, a motorist who lives in Kado estate, complained to Sunday Trust that, “the plan by the VIO is clearly not realistic for a number of reasons. For instance, it does […]

But no sooner had the DTRS gone public with the proposed encoding of vehicle particulars than it began to generate controversy among motorists.

Mohammed Tanko, a motorist who lives in Kado estate, complained to Sunday Trust that, “the plan by the VIO is clearly not realistic for a number of reasons. For instance, it does not take into consideration those who live in neighboring states. I can tell you that the majority of those who work in Abuja either live in Niger state or Nasarawa state where such policy is not in place. So, this clearly will create a lot of problems for them.”

Another commuter, Adebayo Bisiriyu, a taxi driver, who lives in Mararaba, Nasarawa State, but plies the streets of Abuja, complained that the April 1, deadline set for its enforcement is not practical. According to the 38-year-old commercial driver, “this is the second time I will be hearing this kind of thing and I am sure there are several drivers like me who are not aware of this directive. My advice to them is that they should embark on more publicity to sensitize Nigerians to this move but certainly, the deadline is too short.”

But apparently reacting to the wave of controversy and criticisms dogging the proposed encoding system, the Head of Public Enlightenment, FCT Directorate of Road Traffic Services, DTRS, Vivian Uttah, explained to this medium that “the encoding is just part of what we call the electronic device for motorists who drive around without authentic vehicle particulars. Encoding is just to enable us impute the data of the motorist into our own computer system so that it will comply with our own system which we would use during the enforcement. It is all about electronic enforcement, which means using the electronic device to apprehend defaulters. In the past, we used to check vehicle documents manually.

“It is a global trend because it is what obtains in other developed countries of the world. Abuja, as the nation’s capital city, cannot be left out in this trend of catching up with the rest of the world. And we cannot get there if we don’t start practicing these things that obtain in the developed world. We are even looking foward to the use of the CCTV to apprehend road traffic violators. So, for this reason, we have started using the electronic device to enforce and apprehend drivers who drive vehicles without proper vehicle particulars.”

Speaking further on the modus operandi of the proposed system, Uttah said “As vehicles ply the road, a robot would be placed by the side of the road and it will be able to detect fifteen meters away, if your vehicle documents are not up to date, and this means that not all vehicles will be apprehended. Only those who default and those whose vehicle documents have expired will be apprehended which will ease traffic congestion on the roads. At the same time, it reduces conflict between road traffic officers and the motoring public. Encoding your vehicle documents cost just N2,000 and this will enable us to fix a micro chip on the plate number of your vehicles. It is the micro chips that actually enables us to detect your vehicle data whenever we place our robots on the kerbs by the road. So the micro chips actually cost N2,000. Driver’s licenses, too, will have micro chips which will detect if your license has expired or not.”

But an official of the VIO who spoke to Sunday Trust on condition of anonymity, expressed skepticism about the feasibility of the proposed move. According to him, “presently, there is an air of uncertainty over the entire exercise because I can tell you that even there has not been any concluded arrangements with the I. T. company that will handle the entire exercise. So it is all just not feasible.’

Also speaking in the same line of thought, an officer with the DTRS who does not want his name in print, explained to this medium that, “the future of this encoding system is very bleak because Nigeria is not yet ripe for this technological innovation. Even if we succeed in launching the exercise, maintenance might be a problem such that the entire system will collapse in a few months.”

But apparently in response to skeptics, Uttah said that, “there is nothing like resolving any crisis. The fact that you ply the streets of Abuja makes it possible to get your vehicle documents encoded also. So, nobody is exempted. It is only those who live in states far from the FCT. But even for those who live far away, they can encode their documents if they come to the FCT often. For instance, those who live in Mararaba but ply the streets of the FCT on a daily basis will have to encode their vehicle particulars too.

Enforcement is supposed to start on April 1, but we are having a change of mind because we feel we should extend it a little bit, but tentatively, it could be around August. I cannot just give you a certain date for the enforcement.”