In its effort to create a conducive and stress-free atmosphere for the processing and production of driver’s license, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) under the leadership of the Corps Marshal Shehu Mohammed has commissioned its first mini print farm in Lagos, the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP) can report.
The event, which coincides with the celebration of the 37th anniversary of the Corps, marks a landmark achievement in the annals of the Corps’ history, and had in attendance top government functionaries including Corps Marshal Shehu Mohammed, mni. FCA, FCTI, CPFA ably represented by Assistant Corps Marshal Godwin O. Omiko, ACM Motor Vehicle Administration; Permanent Secretary, Motor Vehicle Administration Agency, Mr Abdul-Rasheed Muri-Okunola; Engineer Kayode Oladosu, who represented the Director, Vehicle Inspection Service, Engr. Akin George Fashola; Assistant Corps Marshal Adeoye A. Irelewuyi, Zonal Commanding Officer, RS2 Lagos; Assistant Corps Marshal Olusegun Adeola Ogungbemide mni, FISPON, FNASA, anipr, ACM Public Education Officer; Corps Commander, National Driver’s Licence, CC Ann Oladayo-Odeleye; Corps Commander Print Farm Kado Abuja, CC Remaliah Haggai, who delivered the Vote of thanks at the end of proceeding; Corps Commander Kehinde G. Hamzat, Sector Commander RS2. 1 Lagos State Command; Deputy Corps Commander Olawale Kareem, DCC, Mini Print Farm, Lagos.
In his address, and speaking through his representative, ACM Godwin Omiko, Corps Marshal Mohammed went down memorylane, tracing the achievements of the Corps since inception, and acknowledging the efforts of stakeholders, successive governments and the general public in sustaining the Road Safety legacy, with special emphasis to the creation of the print farm.
He noted that while the Corps maintains a central data base, the print farms have to be strategically located to enable speedy processing and production for those in Lagos and environs. The database remains intact, but for printing purposes and convenience of distribution, all applicants from the southwest will be printed at the mini print farm in Lagos.
“The reason behind having a mini plant was conceived some years ago, 2011 to be precise, when it was rampant and very easy for somebody to abandon his driver license here in Lagos State and go to Ogun State to acquire another one.
“So there was the need to streamline the process and making sure that an applicant is only entitled to one driver license.
“And by 2014, we now have the main print farm, which is there in Kado. Now, the essence of this print farm is, as I said earlier, to ensure that those biometric investigations are done, and to revalidate our driver license for national security and for expository with other nations. We have had this, and of course, not without challenges, as we all know,” he said.
While acknowledging that there were challenges, he noted that the team, led by Corps Marshal Mohammed, were able to resolve all, ensuring that all the backlog of driver licenses are sorted out, and part if the resolution is the activation of the Lagos print farm, which is the third in the series.
He added: “The Lagos mini print farm has the capacity of producing 1,800 cards per hour.
Meaning that in a day, full capacity of six hours working, we are having 9,000 cards on a daily basis. To put this together, I believe that in the next couple of months, the backlogs of cards per hour for Lagos State and its environment will definitely be a thing of the past, and we expect that the general public should have their drivers licence in a record time.
“Most of the drivers’ licences that have been produced have also dispatched to the various states internal revenue services. So, as we speak, about 270,000 of these drivers’ licenses are lying in these offices across the nation without been collected by their owners,” he said informing that with the new print farm coming on board, more cards will be injected into the system.”
He therefore, appealed to the general public to go to their various states, internal revenue services, or FRSC offices, where they applied because a lot are lying there uncollected, noting that FRSC is not directly involved in the distribution of licences after production.
“All licences are presently at the point of application,” he concluded while frowning at the fact that a humongous 270,000 licences are lying uncollected.
The essence is to ensure that every man or woman driving on Nigerian road is properly licensed, and also receive their cards in record time.
In his brief remarks, Mr. Rasheed Muri-Okunola, the Permanent Secretary, Motor Vehicle Administration Agency, thanked the FRSC boss for the laudable initiative centered on solving problems.
“It’s a brilliant initiative. It’s a welcome idea. We hope, like they’ve all said, we hope the backlog and the many problems we’ve been having in the past will come to an end. I can’t wait to see your print farm.
“I was here when you first commissioned and so we think and hope, since it’s going to start running now, all those problems of going to Abuja, waiting for Abuja to give us our driver’s license and all that will end starting from today. So, the clients and the customers that have applied and are waiting, there’s good news for you. You’ll be getting your driver’s license in record time, as stated. We welcome you all to Lagos, the Special status by bringing a print farm here, you look forward to enjoying it,” Muri-Okunola stated.
Another stakeholder in the project, who represented SW Global Limited, Mr Hassan Ozigi, also hailed the initiative, acknowledging the efforts the MVA and CITOS teams have put in place to get it working.
Also speaking, the Director of Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS), Engineer Akin George Fashola, represented by Engineer Oladosu Kayode, appreciated the FRSC for the initiative, and acknowledged that it would eliminate a lot of bottlenecks in receiving processed licences.
“Once it is processed here, of course the same printing will be carried out here. So in no time, we will get this driver’s licence,” he said pledging more cooperation.
Earlier in her welcome address, Corp Commander Ann Oladayo-Odeleye, in charge of the National Drivers License, Abuja, had narrated how far the Lagos project has gone, saying every issue of the past has come to an end with the mini-print farm activation.
