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The Administration of the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) was restructured for improved performance on Road Tax Laws and Motor Vehicle Administration for improved revenue and safety returns on 13th May, 2013.

Vehicle Inspection is a procedure mandated by the national or Sub-national government in many countries, in which a vehicle is expected to ensure that it conforms to regulation governing safety, emission or both. The aim of Vehicle Inspection, whether the vehicle is a Public Service Vehicle, Commercial Vehicle, or Private, is to find out whether the vehicle is mechanically sound as the Law requires. Roadworthiness inspection and examination ensure that major safety items, e.g. (Tyre, brake, steering, suspension system, seat belt, lamp and reflection, windscreen, wiper, emission and chassis are examined to ensure they meet the prescribed safety standard.

Permit me at this point to give this panel brief information of our functions which includes the following:

  1. Testing and inspection of vehicles involved in Road traffic accidents and production of crash inspection reports.
  2. Road Traffic Accident inspection.
  3. Conducting periodic road checks on vehicles to ascertain their extent of roadworthiness, the status of the particulars of the vehicles and drivers license and also verify weight.
  4. Traffic management, Monitoring and control.
  5. Testing of Applicants for drivers’ license.
  6. Organizing Public enlightment on road safety.
  7. Controlling and certification of driving schools across the state.
  8. Ensuring driver’s compliance to road traffic laws and regulations.
  9. To check excess/careless driving habits of motorists.
  10. To impound any rickety vehicles plying our highways.
  11. To curb/check over speeding.
  12. To ensure that only vehicle with relevant driving documents are allowed to ply our roads.
  13. Inspection of vehicles for issuance of roadworthiness certificates. Once in a year for private cars and twice yearly for commercial vehicles.
  14. Collaborating with the Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Federal Road Safety for issuance of driver’s licence.

 

OPERATIONAL POLICY

Since 1972, Oyo State relies on the old western state traffic acts and regulations for performance of its statutory functions. Some of these road traffic acts, regulations and fines attached in case of violation are archaic and are not suitable to handle traffic challenges of the present days. But in 2013, when the Executive Governor restructured the administration of VIO in the state, a bill to amend the old law was drafted for upward review of fines and fees by this department and forwarded over to the Ministry of Justice for moderation and was passed to the State House of Assembly for consideration. It is still unbelievable that the bill has not been passed into law till today. However, the department could not make any substantial improvement on the revenue due to limitations in penalty which provides a fine of one hundred pounds (£100) under the old traffic law part V, section 19 sub-section 1. For the purpose of explanation, attached as annexure e 1 is a copy of the proposed reviewed traffic laws prepared in 2013 for your comprehension. This is one of the reasons why the revenue generated in this sub-head is low.   

 

 

STAFF STRENGTH:

This is another vital instrument that could be used as a positive catalyst to generate high road tax revenue if the department has adequate number of staff to operate for optimum revenue generation. But presently, the Vehicle Inspection Department is operating with staff strength of seventy-seven (77) personnel comprising twenty-four (24) professional Vehicle Inspection Officers and fifty-three (53) supportive staff drawn from either administration or finance department. The organogram of this department looks thus:   

In order to perform effectively and justify the revenue target set for this department, the issue of staff strength has to be urgently given utmost priority. At least, there should be minimum of one hundred and fifty (150) and maximum of two hundred and fifty (250) staff to serve in the department.

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OPERATIONAL/COMMAND OFFICES

At present, the Department has ten (10) operational command offices covering all the thirty-three (33) Local Government Areas. Ibadan alone has Four (4) zonal command offices in (i) Army officer’s mess area which we referred to as Iwo Road office (ii) OYSTROMA’s yard Eleyele (iii) Idi-Ayunre and (iv) Moniya. The offices at Idi-Ayunre and Moniya operates right in the premises of Oluyole and Akinyele Local Governments. The remaining six (6) zonal command offices are located in (i) Oyo (ii) Ogbomoso (iii) Iseyin (iv) Saki (v) Kisi and (vi) Eruwa/Igboora apart from the state headquarter which is in the secretariat. The commanding offices are located as follows:

 

  1. Eleyele Testing/Vehicle Inspection Station at the former SE yard Eleyele
  2. Iwo-Road Testing/Vehicle Inspection Station at Idi-Ape Area
  3. Moniya Testing/Vehicle Inspection Station at the premises of Akinyele Local Government
  4. Idi-Ayunre Testing/Vehicle Inspection Station at Oluyole Local Government
  5. Oyo Testinssg/Vehicle Inspection Station along Oyo/Iseyin road
  6. Ogbomoso Testing/Vehicle Inspection Station along old Oko road
  7. Iseyin/Okeho Testing/Vehicle Inspection Station along Iseyin/Okeho road
  8. Saki Testing/Vehicle Inspection Station along Saki/Oje-owode road
  9. Kisi Testing/Vehicle Inspection Station at Kisi/Igbeti road
  10. Eruwa Testing/Vehicle Inspection Station along Old Eruwa road

 

The ten zonal offices mentioned above are not adequate to cover the revenue driven areas, especially in Ibadan where we have just only four (4) zones, Efforts should be mounted forward to create at least four (4) additional offices in Ibadan in places such as Omi-Adio area, Lalupon/Olodo area, Egbeda area and Olorunsogo/Olomi area. I have a strong conviction that if these offices are created quickly they will no doubt be a source to increase revenue in the state.

OPERATIONAL VEHICLES

This is one of the major constraints the Department is presently experiencing. This is a serious challenge causing hindrance on the revenue drive, enforcement and safety responsibilities. Except, the three (3) Toyota Hilux P/up Vans purchased for the department in November, 2012 by His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Oyo State, Senator Isiaq Abiola Ajimobi. So far, the Department depended on rickety and unroadworthy vehicles purchased as far back as 15 to 20 years ago in all our zonal command offices outside Ibadan (I cannot lay my hands on their records and date of purchase because I met them even when I got employed into the service). The department has no single towing or recovery vehicle (either light or heavy-duty) to function in-case we have to tow break-down vehicles in the course of performing our statutory functions.

REVENUE

Road transportation is the hub and major means of transportation of goods and services in Nigeria. It is important that the prominence of the road transportation mode over other modes has made the Nigeria economy a “ROAD-DRIVEN ECONOMY”.  Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) are instrumental to its management, they oversee roadworthiness/fitness of vehicles which eventually help to reduce accident as well as serving to generate revenue for the government. It is therefore not a gainsaying that VIO amidst the top in the class of revenue agencies that generate more revenue into the government purse. The following fees are collectible revenues which this department have been enforcing but collected either by the Accountant-General’s Office (AG) or the Board of Internal Revenue (BIR);

  1. Enforcement on fees accruable from vehicle inspection testing and certification (Roadworthiness) – (BIR).
  2. Fines accruable from impounded vehicles and motorcycles – (AG).
  3. Fees accruable from accident inspections – (AG).
  4. Fees collected from registration of private driving schools’ operators – (AG).
  5. Annual renewal fees generated from registration of private driving schools operators – (AG).
  6. Annual renewal fees generated from Heavy-duty trucks and permit to operate Okada motorcycles – (AG).
  7. Fees collected from registration of Car-Hire Services – (AG).

 

  The following revenue head/sub-head are detailed alone to guide the panel on how this department generate revenue into the coffers of the State Government

  1.  402/0051 – Accident Inspection Fees

Under this sub-head, we have no control as to the amount of revenue generated in this sub-head. The reason is that the constitution permit only The Nigerian Police to report cases of road traffic accident for inspection and not so much can be generated in this regard. If the Police refused to report any traffic accident we cannot force them. Secondly, it is also an area where our primary statutory responsibility lies in ensuring safer motoring.

2.  402/0052 – Impounded Towed Vehicle Fees

Under this head, the revenue generated by this department is from vehicles and drivers that violate one, two or more traffic offences and the penalty on fine charged is paid directly by the vehicle owners themselves after we have given them the offences chart as attached along-with. I wish to remind the Panel that I have mentioned in the above submission that Oyo State still relying on obsolete traffic charges but it is on our initiative to prepare the present chart which we used in compiling traffic charges in collaboration with the Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) sometimes in 2013 because we want our revenue to jerk up. What we have done is illegal in the sense that the traffic chart has not been approved as a law but we want to charge in conformity with what is obtainable elsewhere. In some cases, some traffic offenders who know their rights always charge us for litigations in the court of law. The bulk of our direct revenue comes from this sub-head.

3.  402/0053/0054/0055 – Form, Registration and Annual Renewal of Private Driving Schools.

At present, we have forty-six (46) registered private driving schools operating in Oyo State while seven (7) driving schools have not cleared their registrations. The fee charge to obtain registration form was formally one thousand naira (₦1,000) which was increased to five thousand naira (₦5,000) in 2014. While the fees for registration and annual renewal is ten thousand naira (₦10, 000) respectively. The establishment of private driving schools has not become popular in Oyo State and as such, substantive revenue cannot for now be generated through it.

4.  402/0057 – Fees for Heavy-duty vehicle permit.

The fee accruable under this revenue head was revenue generated from heavy-duty vehicles permits.

This figure could be higher than this if our department has heavy-duty towing/recovery vehicles for operations.

5.  402/0058/0058A/0058B  – Form, Registration and Annual Renewal for Car-Hire Services.

The Car-Hire services is not a popular business in Oyo State as major hotels in Oyo State do not operate them and as such revenue generated in this regards is very low.

6.  402/0061 – Motorcycles Permit Fees (Okada)

SECURITY PERSONNEL AND FENCING OF PREMISES

Our zonal command offices, especially those in Iseyin/Okeho, Kishi, Ogbomoso, Saki and Eruwa have their premises unfenced. The inadequate security personnel is a serious security challenge on the custody of impounded vehicles in our care, this constraints has limited the number of vehicles we can impound daily. Some of the Police station where we could keep the impounded vehicles for safety are not tolerating us any longer as they claimed that it is the instruction of the Commissioner of Police that they should stop keeping vehicles in their stations. To this end, the department will require an approximate figure of forty-eight (48) guards. There is also an urgent need to complete the fencing of our premises.

INSURANCE WELFARE

Among the staff, it is evident that they have a sense of insecurity, this is borne out of the fact that the public have hostile attitude to them. Besides, the hazards that confront them on the job are such that reduced their zeal and moral for the job.

As at 2012, the nominal roll of staff of this department was eighty-three (83) we have lost six (6) of our members while in active service due either to assassination, sudden death, permanent disabilities, assassination threats, spiritual attacks, bullying and vehicles running over some of them. To compound this sense of insecurity is that whenever the officers are faced with any difficulties, hardly do they receive any intervention or assistance from the Government, yet our commitment to our duties has not in any way diminished.

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