By Francis Ogunbowale
On the 27th of June 2023, the sad news of the introduction of the annual renewal of the Proof of Ownership Certificate (POC) of vehicles filled the air.
The Perm Sec, Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, Engr Abdulhafiz Toriola allegedly dropped the bombshell at a Press Conference of the Joint Tax Board which comprised the Board of Internal Revenue of all the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), stated that Lagos State Government would start implementation on the 1st of July 2023 and that all motorists shall pay a mandatory levy of N1,000 annually, to renew the POC.
A cursory look at the policy will reveal that it is excessively harsh, unnecessarily severe, very draconian, and grossly against the public interest.
Three factors made the policy to be completely ill-timed. One, the news came at a time when citizens have just started to adjust to the painful effect of subsidy removal and the astronomical increase in the pump price of petroleum products.
Two, it was also a few days to salah, and the Muslim faithful who have planned to kill Sallah ram could not fulfill the sunnah.
Three, it came when there was a mad rush to buy and accumulate kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity before the July 1, 2023 deadline, when the electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOS) had planned to increase the current cost of N35 per 1 kWh to N100. Four, it was at a time when the Association of POS Operators announced an increase in the rate of withdrawal from N100 to N500, for transactions between N8,000 and N10,000.
Secondly, the one-week notice of implementation from 27th of June 2023 to 1st of July 2023 (just 5 days), was extremely short. After all, the policy that the Lagos State purportedly adopted was taken and included in the communique issued by the Joint Tax Board at the end of its Emergency Meeting, as far back as the 9th of May 2023.
Thirdly, the policy and the sudden implementation are capable of triggering a public outrage or a mass protest from citizens, especially civil servants, whose take-home- pay did not increase despite the high cost of living.
Fourthly, government, especially Lagos, did not take cognizance of the fact that the mass transportation system currently in place is not enough to accommodate a large number of workers who may want to drop their vehicles as a result of this punitive levy and still get easy public transport to and from work.
In order climes, citizens have the option of either to move around in cheap public busses, or surface or underground trains.
Fifthly, the policy is illegal in the sense that the law under which the Joint Tax Board purportedly derived its powers to introduce payment of annual POC renewal did not provide for any payment or verification of POC annually.
Section 73 of the National Road Traffic Regulation No. 101, Vol. 99, of 25th December 2012 (as amended), only provided that there shall be proof of ownership certificate for all registered vehicles and that a central database for vehicles and drivers for the federation shall be established and maintained.
The law does not provide that the proof of ownership certificate shall be renewed and payment made for it annually.
Sixthly, the policy is a form of multiple taxations in the sense that where payment had been made in a year and the information of the vehicle did not change in the vehicle license issued and stored in the Central Motor Registry (CMR) and similarly, the information in the driver’s license duly issued by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), then renewal and payment for POC annually will be grossly unnecessary and exploitative of the public.
It appears the main reason why the government wants to impose annual payment or renewal POC is to desperately increase the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the government, not minding the pains to the public. The following reasons given by the government to justify this draconian policy seem not to add up.
According to them, One, the policy will enhance transparency, security, and accountability within the transportation network; Two, it will streamline and enhance the process of vehicle ownership verification; Three, it will serve as official documentation for the legal owners of vehicles; Four, that it will ameliorate challenges encountered in ensuring safety and security of lives and property and Five, that it will provide immediate information about vehicle registration details including the names and addresses of vehicle owners.
To be candid, these reasons are very flimsy, inexcusable, very sterile, deceitful, and of no benefit to vehicle owners and drivers because there is adequate provision in place to ensure that all of these.
The truth is that one-off payment of POC with data carefully stored in computer hardware of the Ministry of Transport platform is capable of promoting transparency, security, and accountability desired within the transportation network.
Not only this but rather than overburden the vehicle owners with the additional annual payment of N1,000 across the board, the government should enhance the already existing vehicle ownership verification strategy by deploying a very simple technology and hardware, which Transport Officers can use to verify through mobile gadgets, as done in other climes.
There is nothing wrong in the official documentation of a legal owner of a vehicle through the issuance of custom papers and Vehicle licenses that usually contain particulars of both the owner and the vehicle.
The issuance of POC should not be an annual event and payment, except government deliberately wants to increase the internally generated revenue at all costs, not minding the needless pain to the citizens.
The citizens have suffered enough since the inauguration of this new government. Fuel subsidy has been removed without any palliative or review of take-home salary up till today.
If the government is truly poised to ensure the safety of property and the security of lives, it should focus more on the viability of the mandatory N5,000 minimum insurance payments and the repair of dilapidated roads across the country.
The economic loss resulting from these bad roads and the attendant daily criminal activities of banditry, kidnapping, and armed robbery, is very colossus and avoidable.
This new government should not give any impression that it has come to deceive and punish the masses. The pain is becoming too much.
Food is gradually disappearing from people’s homes because of high and unaffordable transportation costs. Citizens who can no longer get to work have either been sacked or have voluntarily disengaged themselves.
Thieves no longer come in the night but during the day to the house or at gridlock where they forcefully ask to be ‘appreciated’ failing which the victim is stripped of whatever value is on him or cause physical bodily injury to him or damage any item in his possession.
It is a bad omen for this new government to start having trust issues with the citizens at this crucial beginning. It will be recalled that a government that promised succour to citizens during the electioneering campaign suddenly turned round and dropped another bombshell that jolted the masses.
A vehicle owner in Nigeria currently pays about N70,000 to register a new vehicle at the Central Motor Registry (CMR) and obtain number plates, insurance certificates, vehicle licenses, roadworthiness, and the rest.
He renews the Vehicle Licence annually with not less than N5,000 depending on the type of vehicle, pays the mandatory minimum of N15,000 for the insurance renewal certificate, renews the roadworthy certificate, and pays for radio and television levies.
The citizens should no longer be overstretched with the additional imposition of an annual payment of POC renewal.
Written by one, *Francis Ogunbowale*
