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(John Adiele) Hello my highly esteemed readers, it’s good to be here again. My reason for touching on this topic is based on the need to highlight this concern given the severe molestation faced by motorists in Nigeria, especially in Lagos by our road regulation agencies such as the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Vehicles Inspection Service (VIS), traffic police and even local government council officials to some extent.
The big question is: What are the required vehicle particulars required to drive freely on our roads?
The Nigerian roads are one of the most volatile on the world. Besides its deplorable state, one would also have to contend with officials of road regulation agencies who, on daily basis, pray and hope that motorists do not have the right papers to cover their vehicles or are unfortunate enough to have expired papers or documents at their disposal while on the road. This might be as a result of not being able to monitor the papers to know when they might have expired or better still, for new drivers who do not have an idea at to what documents are required by the law to drive on Nigerian roads.
To clear the air and also educate new drivers in order not to fall victims of these ever-anticipating officials, the following documents are required to drive on Nigerian roads without any form of molestation.
1. NATIONAL DRIVERS LICENCE
This is the first and most important document required by the Nigerian law if you must be on the road. Getting the licence from the FRSC or VIS means that you must have passed the requirements and have been declared mentally and physically stable to be able to drive on Nigerian roads .To qualify for this licence, you must be at least 18 years of age and would have undergone series of tests to accompany this.
2. NATIONAL CERTIFICATE OF ROAD WORTHINESS
After the drivers licence, the next important document required to drive on Nigerian roads without any form of molestation is the national certificate of road worthiness . This certificate is to indicate that your vehicle has passed all the criteria required to be on the road as regards safety and all its measures. To get this, an inspection would have been carried out on your vehicle by Vehicles Inspection Officers (VIOs) to ascertain this. Be sure to keep your vehicles in top shape in order to scale this hurdle.
3. VEHICLE REGISTRATION (FOR PRIVATE CARS)
The vehicle registration is a document that clearly indicates that a car has been duly registered under the Nigerian law and, as such, complies with the various regulations guiding this act.
4. MOTOR VEHICLE INSURANCE
This is a very integral document required by the Nigerian law to drive on Nigerian roads. Be it a third party insurance or comprehensive, it is mandatory to have your car insured before hitting the road to avoid any form of embarrassment from the various agencies that patrol our roads.
Getting a good car insurance is very important, especially in in the event of unforeseen circumstances which might occur.
FOR COMMERCIAL VEHICLES
For commercial vehicles, the requirements are slightly different from what is obtainable for private vehicles. The following items are also required for commercial vehicles to ply the roads without any form of molestation.
1. COMMERCIAL VEHICLE LICENCE
The commercial vehicle licence is issued to commercial vehicles to freely go about and do their businesses within the country. Like the hackney permit ,no inspection is required before issuance of this document.
2. HACKNEY PERMIT
The hackney permit is another document that is required to drive freely on Nigerian roads and particularly on Lagos roads without any form of harassment. The hackney permit is simply a licence for vehicles below a certain weight category to carry goods within a state . This documents should be issued to you at the point of registering your vehicle and does not require any form of inspection whatsoever.
3. LAGOS STATE DRIVERS’ INSTITUTE (LASDRI) CARD
For residents of Lagos, aside obtaining the drivers licence, there is also a need to be certified by LASDRI for commercial vehicle drivers, pick-up owners and company vehicles’ drivers. This only applies to Lagos and not the entire country. So, if you are new to Lagos and wish to take up a job as a commercial vehicle driver, company vehicle driver or you own a pick-up, please do visit the Lagos State Drivers Institute to obtain your LASDRI card and save yourself any form of embarrassment and extortion on the road.
Having these documents in your car is very ideal in ensuring that you don’t fall victim of any sort of extortion on the road . At the same time, being able to renew these documents whenever they expire remain key to being free from all forms of harassment on our roads. To our new drivers, please ensure that your documents are in place before hitting the road.
John Adiele, Guest columnist, blogger at Automotive Hub. He can be reached on
+2348184688283 | +2348184688283 | johnadiele15@gmail.com |http://johnyblogscar.com | http://tech4rum.com
