The Joint Tax Board (JTB) has explained that the ongoing aggressive enforcement on Number Plates (NP) for motorcycles and Tricycles became necessary as a result of security considerations, not revenue generation as widely misunderstood by Operators.
According to the Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, the JTB made this known at its 144th meeting held in Abuja, on Monday with the theme; ” Stakeholders Collaboration in Expanding the Tax Base Leveraging on Existing Database “.
In his brief but lucid presentation, the Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi made it categorically clear that vehicle registration is a critical security requirement and should not be viewed as a revenue oriented gesture.
According to the Corps Marshal, “The provision of the law is clear on this, as such, all vehicles irrespective of their categories must be registered before operating on the road and the operators of such vehicles must also be licensed to drive before they mount the wheels”
” Vehicle registration is a critical security requirement that must not be viewed as a means of generating revenue alone. Revenue generation is an important factor in national development but the security of lives and properties is more important than expanding the revenue base.
There is no vehicle that is fully registered in Nigeria starting from Customs duties to vehicle registration that if stolen, cannot be retrieved at the point of registration through the instrumentalities of the National Vehicle Identification Scheme (NVIS) portal. This makes the registration very imperative and beneficial not only in the area of national security but also for the good of the vehicle owners.
