By Ochereome Nnanna
THE  term, “beauty of democracy” is an understatement when you consider the impetus the National Assembly has provided the ordinary citizen to start understanding the convoluted nature of government in Nigeria.

Our long history of military rule actually retarded the civic processes to the extent that even many of those in government did not know or understand what was going on in government. As a result so many governmental agencies were created to duplicate the functions of government organs already in existence.

The ongoing probes in the House of Representatives and the Senate on the bid by the Federal Roads Safety Commission, FRSC, to issue new vehicle number plates and driver’s licence were already reaching resolution point when on March 28, 2012, the Nigeria Police put in an appearance at the public hearing of the Senate Committee on Federal Character and Intergovernmental Affairs. They came to remind the nation that the Constitution and other laws have long vested the Force with the power to maintain the central database for crime control, including that of vehicle licences.

Speaking on behalf of the Police Force, Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Information and Communication Technology, ICT, Mr Olajide Akano, told the hearing point-blank that the law did not empower the FRSC to register vehicles. On the other hand, the Corps Marshall of the FRSC, Mr Osita Chidoka, insisted his Commission had the right under the law to do so.

To disentangle this issue let us look at the laws in question. The FRSC was set up in 1988 under Decree Number 45 of that year. In 2007, the National Assembly repealed the laws made by the military and enacted the FRSC Act, empowering it with maintenance of safety in the highways and educating the people on the safe use of our motorways. The Nigeria Police Force is a creation of the Constitution (Section 214 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999) to be the sole police force in the federation charged with the maintenance of internal securing of lives and property and of law and order.

Under this constitutional charge, several laws of the country emphasise the powers of the Police on this matter. Specifically, Section 30 (e) of the Police Act and Regulations gives the Motor Traffic Division of the Police the power to maintain vehicle traffic statistics.

Also the Road Traffic Act Cap 548 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria empowers the Inspector General of Police as the Central Registrar of Vehicles to maintain the central registry of vehicle licences, including renewals whenever they are affected by the licencing authorities.

Neither the Police nor the FRSC, to the best of my knowledge, is empowered to issue licences or or renew same. It is the Motor Licencing Authorities, MLAs, that were empowered by the National Road Traffic Regulation, NRTR, 2004 to register vehicles. The work of the Police is simply to maintain a central database for the entire nation.

The powers granted the Police under the Police Act led to the establishment of the Central Motor Registration, CMR, in 1958.

Police now claims (even though not many members of the public seem to know about it) that the CMR has been digitalised since 2011 into a Biometric Central Motor Registration, BCMR, thus making it possible for an officer using a handheld device to within a few seconds verify the authenticity of vehicle particulars.

Nobody will dispute the fact that the Nigeria Police has often given Nigerians reason to worry about the ways their operatives sometimes go about their duties.

This was perhaps what necessitated the establishment of the FRSC to take away some of the workload of the Police. At the same time, it is also often noted that Nigeria has not been fair to its Police Force in terms of equipment, motivation and funding.

Whatever be the case, the Police clearly hold the ace to maintain the central database as far as the enabling laws are concerned. Where there is a clash with FRSC perhaps as a result of duplication of functions, the Police still have the ace because you cannot compare a constitutionally created body with one created by an act of parliament.

Besides, the Police is the only federal agency that has the duty to go in search of missing or stolen vehicles. The FRSC never gets involved in that. Nobody calls the FRSC when his car gets stolen. The Police are the only law enforcement agency that can enter anywhere to confront anyone in its duties of enforcing the law and safeguarding the lives and property of citizens. It makes sense that such a body must have the crime database, including the registry of vehicles and licences primarily at its fingertips.

Even in other parts of the world it is the Police Force that maintain the crime database and make it available to any other agency needing it for law enforcement.

When the Police made their appearance at the Senate hearing they assured that the BCMR digital technology they have embraced will be in a position to address any problem associated with number plates and driver licences.

In fact, they demonstrated the handheld device they are going to use in conducting the checks, claiming that with the elimination of manual paper checks, the issue of corruption will be drastically cut down.

My only worry, however, is that the Police are coming forward with their disclosure of the existence of the BCMR now it seemed the FRSC was going to take away their powers over the custodianship of the central database.

How come that a biometric technology for the registration of motor vehicles was put into effect since 2011 without so much as the public being made to know about it? I for one have never been stopped by any policeman seeking to check my particulars with a handheld technology neither have I heard about it before.

Note must be taken of the determination by the Police never to “abdicate its responsibility to any other agency”. The lawmakers must ensure this matter is conclusively settled to avoid situations where the Police and FRSC personnel will be clashing while on duty.