The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has commenced a special operation to eliminate fake number plates across Nigeria, following concerns over their use in criminal activities.
The Lagos State Sector Commander of the FRSC, Kehinde Hamzat, disclosed this during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, February 7, 2025.
Hamzat revealed that many of these fake number plates carry the tags of respected institutions, including the Presidency, Nigerian Youth Council (NYC), and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), to evade scrutiny by law enforcement agencies.
“We think that most of these number plates are labelled Presidency, NYC, NANS, and some others, knowing fully well that these are established institutions that law enforcement agents probably wouldn’t want to disturb,” Hamzat said.
According to him, most of these plates are not registered in the Nigerian vehicle registration database, making it difficult to track vehicles used for illegal activities.
“If you check these numbers on the database, you’ll discover they are not anywhere. So when they misbehave, you start tracing the vehicle you can’t identify. We are trying to pick as many of them as possible to investigate and prosecute them appropriately,” he added.
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As part of this effort, FRSC Corps Marshal Malam Shehu Mohammed recently directed officers to arrest and impound vehicles associated with NANS structures.
However, the NANS leadership has pushed back, threatening to shut down FRSC offices nationwide if the agency enforces the directive.
Despite this, the FRSC insists it will not back down, stating that NANS’ threats will not deter them from clamping down on fake number plates.
The operation is part of the FRSC’s commitment to maintaining the integrity of the National Vehicle Identification Scheme (NVIS) and ensuring that all vehicles on Nigerian roads are properly registered and accounted for.