Mr Hyginus Omeje, the Lagos State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has disclosed that 56, 767 driving licences were yet to be collected by their owners.
Omeje who disclosed this on Saturday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) urged the owners of the licences to collect them as the command would soon embark on “Operation Show Your Driving Licence.’’
He added that the corps would embark on the mission across all units of the command.
“We are embarking on this assignment so that motorists will come to our office to collect their driving’ licences.
“We have no backlog of new driving licences in Lagos State.
“There are 56,767 licenses yet to be collected by their owners.
“We have sent SMS to their owners that their licences are ready for collection but they ignored responding to our our messages,’’ the FRSC boss said.
Omeje frowned at the attitude of some road users driving without valid licences saying that such licences remained the only certification to drive on the road.
According to him, the fine for a driver driving without a valid licence is N10, 000 and the offender must produce the licence within 24 hours.
Omeje said that if after 24 hours such offender could not produce a valid licence, the vehicle of such offender would be impounded.
He said that in such situation, it would be assumed that the driver was not licensed to drive.
Omeje said that the corps was not interested in the fines or depriving anyone the comfort of his vehicle, but advised motorists to do the right thing and be safety conscious.
He, however, revealed that between Feb. 26 and March 2, no fewer than 4, 644 licenses were collected by the applicants.