Owing to the growing rate at which tricycle and motorcycle operators mistake Riders Permit issued in their respective states for the National Drivers License (NDL), the Federal Road Safety Corps has clarified that they are two different documents and permit can never be used in the place of the NDL.
According to the Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, the NDL is a national security document that embodies drivers information as contained in the national drivers database.
Kazeem added that all over the world, Drivers License is the only document that gives a trained, qualified and certified driver the right to drive on the road and Nigeria, having successfully acceded to the six United Nations Conventions cannot operate in contrast to global best practice in that regard.
He said the idea behind NDL is to ensure that every driver on the road have their information captured in the database, for the enhancement of security of all road users and for intelligence gathering among the law enforcement agencies. The relevance of the document not only as a means of identification cannot be overemphasized.
The Corps Marshal, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi has therefore cautioned all operators who patronise drivers permit as an alternative for the national drivers license to desist from such henceforth to avoid arrest and penalties.
This platform, he said, is to sensitise all motorcycle and tricycle operators who hitherto did not know the difference between the NDL and the Drivers Permit to ensure that they go ahead to procure their licenses as violators will be penalised.
