The Senate on Wednesday ordered the Federal Road Safety Commission to stop the issuance of new vehicle number plates and driver’s licence.
The order follows the adoption of a motion on the new number and driver’s licence sponsored by Senator Dahiru Kuta of Niger State and 19 others.
The senators described the new move to issue new number plates and driver’s licence as illegal, with Kuta adding: “The commission was not established principally as a revenue generating agency for states or Federal Government.”
Kuta said the new driver’s licence, launched in 2011 “is now issued for N6,000 as against the N3,000 while the new number plates have suddenly jumped from N5,000 to an astronomical N15,000.”
Senator Smart Adeyemi said the cost of the new number plates is too exorbitant for motorists and is illegal.
Adeyemi, from Kogi State, said: “FRSC has abandoned its mandate.
“It was established to ensure safety on highways, but what the FRSC is trying to do now is to render other government agencies redundant.”
The President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, said: “Let them not impose additional expenditure on the people and their primary objective was not to generate revenue.”