About 8,000 driving licences are ready for collection by the applicants who had applied for licences since last year at the office of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Dugbe, Ibadan.

These applicants are advised to check at the FRSC office to pick up their licences.

However, persons with old driving licences have been urged to go through the same process applicable to new applicants to ensure  that their names are registered  in the FRSC database.

CEOAfrica investigation shows that lots of Nigerian drivers are often arrested by the FRSC for various offences, one of which is the issue of expired driving licence, or unavailability of driving licence, or possession of fake driving licence.

This issue prompted CEOAfrica reporter to investigate some of the officials of the FRSC and the monitoring licensing authority on the official N6,350 charged for a new licence, as most Nigerians claimed to have been charged more than that for procuring a driving licence.

 The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not mandated to speak on the issue, said, “There are other charges which are not included in the official N6,350 such as vehicle inspection charge, photocopies and the likes.”

When asked who has the sole right to issue the driving licence, our source said, “It’s the FRSC but the joint task force has the responsibility of checking and arresting defaulters. This taskforce is made up of the FRSC, representing the federal government, and the board of internal revenue, representing the state and the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO).

He or she also advised that applicant should apply through the monitoring licensing authority to avoid the issue of fake driving licence, which is usually the case when touts are patronised.

On the issue of how to secure a genuine licence, the applicant must attend a registered and accredited driving school, among these are Able Driving School and Success Driving School, after which the applicant gets a medical fitness certificate, obtain a form from the MLA (Motor Licensing Authority) and a payment slip which will be filled and taken to the VIO for further processing; the form and a teller of the official N6,350 paid into the official account with six passports will be submitted, according to our source.

“The applicant then goes for capturing after which he or she is issued a temporary driving licence that will expire in 60 days; by then the permanent licence would have been out," he or she said.