LITTLE by little, we will get there. With the will and determination to be like progressive countries of the world, it is assured that Nigeria will get it right, and bet it — technology, yes, information technology — is the vehicle that will get us there.

I am talking about the phenomenon of e-government, whereby services that governments nationwide render to the people are being automated. One such is the motor vehicle administration system, which in Lagos, as in many other states, is now automated.

Before the automation, the system was so porous that people who had nothing to do with it, those we call touts, plugged into the system and made away with billions of naira over the years that should accrue to government.

There are thousands of people who operate in the motor vehicle licensing system; they register vehicles, do insurance, and “help”people obtain driver’s licenses. In the process they built houses and lived and are still living very well from a system that does not know them, officially.

On many occasions, innocent vehicle owners have been arrested by the Police for possessing fake registration papers, no fault of theirs, but these operators. Now, with automation of the system, the average motorist can be rest assured that his vehicle papers are genuine.

In Lagos where I live, you get an SMS from the Vehicle License Registration Agency (VLRA) informing you that the details of your vehicle has been received and stored, and further, that you will receive a reminder about a month to its expiry.

And the reminder comes. This is good, as it enables citizens who wish to be law abiding to stay within the law by promptly renewing their vehicle papers. After renewal, VLRA acknowledges by SMS. Even the insurance renewal is done by PIN, delivered through a scratch card. Good, good.

The downside to this service from Lagos Auto-Reg is that it charges A whopping N200 for SMS alert. HA! All of N200 for just two SMS in one year — one reminder, and the other an acknowledgment!!! This is extortion writ large, and from where I stand, is simply indefensible. In a country where bulk SMS is as low as N3, why is Lagos Auto-Reg charging N200 for just two SMS?

As we go along and our democracy matures more, perhaps one day taxation will ecome an electin issue in this country as it is in others. Beginning January, we started paying more for fuel, food, drinks, and every other thing. PAYE is there, for those of us who draw salaries, while majority of us who don’t get electricity have already started paying more.

Those using pre-paid meters are already complaining that the card runs out faster than before. In the schools, the teachers are getting wiser daily, asking th children to bring in anything from toilet roll to broom, and at end of term, asking them to pay as much as N2,000 for end-of-term party.

At the party, each child gets a plate of rice, a piece of meat or fish as big as the child’s thumb, a bottle of mineral drink (som schools in the suburbs give a bottle to two children) and then a souvenir valued at N300, all for N2,000.

What have we become as a nation? The truth is that government leads the way in extorting the people, and the people simply take their lead. That is why governance in Nigeria has become one self-serving circle of extortion, powered bu intractable corruption.

Let Auto-reg revise the SMS charge downwards to N20, and show the way out of governance by extortion.