I recently had cause to visit the VIO’s (Vehicle Inspection Office), office in Mabushi Abuja. I had gone to collect my permanent driver’s licence, the temporary one which I had been given when I applied for a renewal when I came home in February had expired in April. I was told to come back for the permanent one as soon as the temporary licence expired, ad so as soon as I returned home in early May, I skipped along to the VIO office for collection. I was rudely told, ‘your licence is not ready, please “check back” later’, and when I innocently asked when I got an even ‘ruder’ ‘I don’t know, just keep checking’. And I check back I did, on about three other occasions all with the same rude reception. Come on, if you are not happy doing your job, do not take it out on the general public, who you are being paid to attend to. I am still yet to get my permanent licence; anyway as long as I am not arrested for using the temporary one, I don’t have a problem.
Anyway, the crappy service at the Abuja VIO office was the not the reason why I decided to come out of my tiredness/laziness induced hiatus, well technically, it is, sort of. So while I was waiting to be rudely told ‘your licence is not ready, keep checking’, some other drivers who were lucky enough found their permanent driver’s licence amongst those that were ready. Lucky them, right? Wrong!!! These lucky few were told that without their receipt for the e-coding, they were not going to get their permanent licence, and guess what, their temporary licence had already been collected, so I am sure you know that means they no longer had any licence, permanent or temporary.
What this e-coding that we were made to pay for was meant is what I don’t know, but it was one of the requirements for renewing my licence so I happily paid the requested 1000 Naira. Nigerians typically don’t keep receipts, and so you can imagine the shock on most people’s faces when they were told that without that little yellow paper, they were not going to get their licences. And so they either had to take the risk of being arrested without a licence or just pay the 1000 Naira again, your guess is as good as mine, everyone went for the later. You can imagine the amount of money this people are fraudulently raking in. Let us do the maths, lets assume everyday in all the thirty six states plus the FCT, 250 people renew their licences, 250 people in the 37 locations gives you 9,250 paying 1000 Naira and that sums up to a hefty sum of 9,250,000 Naira, WOW!! Fast forward to four months later and those 250 people have to pay 1000 Naira ‘only’ again, WOW!!!!!!
To be honest I knew I had to come back with my receipt when coming to get my driver’s licence, not because I was instructed to come back with it, it was in the process of clarifying a clerical error that I got to know. I misplaced my receipt and so I came prepared with a thousand naira to pay all over again, I didn’t mind, I was at fault. But imagine the shock on the faces of the other applicants when they were rudely told ‘no receipt, no licence’. No one had told the applicant that they had to bring the receipt when coming to get their driver’s licence, we all know Nigerians don’t have a culture of keeping receipt, and in my opinion these officials were banking on this, to line their pocket with ill gotten wealth.
I raised a valid point, but I was quickly shouted down by these corrupt officials. I saw the officer, issuing new receipts to applicants and noticed that even after giving the applicant their receipt, they had two duplicate copies left. So I suggested that they bring out these duplicate copies to confirm who had paid and who had not paid for the e-coding. I was rudely told that the duplicates do not remain with them but were submitted to their 'oga at the top'. I asked who the ogas were, maybe we would be able to get the duplicate from them, but no one could give me a cogent answer as to who this oga was or where to find him.
What’s mypoint in all this? You cant expect Nigeria to change if you indulge in all these corrupt practices. You have no right insulting our corrupt leader if you are as corrupt as they are, the difference between you two being the magnitude and the publicity. Anyway there is no need flogging the corruption issue, I just have some suggestions to make on how to avoid all these hassle.
· For the VIO officials, they should try to make these duplicates easily accessible and they should have them properly labelled according to the dates within which they were used.
· Just like banks, despite having these duplicate copies, they should have a register where those that have paid can register their receipt, so that in the event that the duplicate is missing or that the applicant misplaced his receipt, the name can be cross checked in the register.
· The officials should let applicants know that they have to come back with this receipt when they return for their permanent driver’s licence.
· There should be some sort of avenue for applicants to report corrupt officials and officials who are too frustrated to do the job they are being paid to.
· My fellow Nigerians/applicants, until you have fully received the service you paid for, do not do away with the receipt, it is very important, sometimes you even have to keep it long after you have received full value for your money. Where it is possible please make a photocopy.
Enough is enough, this has to stop, these corrupt officials cant keep lining their pockets with our hard earned money.
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| Image from Integrity Nigeria Website |
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