The Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr Boboye Oyeyemi, has said that the corps will introduce the use of National Identity Number (NIN) information for vehicle registration by the first quarter of 2021.

Oyeyemi disclosed this when he featured on a News Forum in Abuja on Friday.

 The corps marshal said that the essence of the NIN was to enhance road safety through the use of technology. He also said that from December, drivers license would no longer be issued without the NIN information.

 “I must commend the government. With the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), now we have one national database, one identity. You cannot use double identity now.

 “You know before some people have about five different identities but now you are forced to pick one. Once you pick one with NIMC that is what you will be using because it is now going to be as from next month (December). It is going to be compulsory.

“Now if you want to renew your driver’s license or you want to obtain a fresh driver license, you must provide your NIN. NIN is the first thing and with that, no biometrics will be done again, they will import it from NIMC.

 “So I am talking about using technology now to enhance security so with this I think we make progress, we are really on course.”

According to the FRSC boss, only the Vehicles Inspection Office (VIO) were authorised to test applicants before a prescribed fees could be paid to the state government through their internal revenue service. He added that the VIO would, in turn, refer applicants for capturing which would be transferred to the database of the country.

 “Now a lot of things have been occurring, you cannot get a licence by proxy, anybody that does not go for the physical capture for the first issuance of a licence is not a genuine license, it is fake.

 “I am happy. When I came on board, I came on board in 2014, the first thing we did was to establish a verification portal. Where the portal was done, all those with fake licenses disappeared, they now had to go and do a new one.

 “A fake license is N25, 000 to N30, 000, while the original license is N6, 350 but I won’t blame them, it is the ‘bigmanism’, people are not ready to follow the process and along the line too this NIN information for drivers licence the same thing will come on board before the end of first quarter next year for vehicle registration.

 “If you want to register your vehicle, it is going to be compulsory for you to provide your NIN. These are parts of the security checks. So once you provide your NIN, it makes the matter to be simpler.’’

 He urged the country to take a cue from China and other developed countries that made use of technology to fight crime.

 He applauded the security agencies for making use of their unrestricted access to the database in checking corrupt practices in the system.