Court bars FRSC from impounding vehicles with faded number plates, penalising owners

The Federal High Court in Lagos, South-west Nigeria, has barred the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) from impounding vehicles with faded number plates or imposing penalties on their owners.

According to TheCable newspaper, the judge, Akintayo Aluko, handed down the decision in a suit filed against the FRSC by Chinwike Ezebube, a lawyer.

The lawyer, in the suit filed on 13 February 2024, as the sole designer and producer of number plates in Nigeria, bears full responsibility for their durability. Consequently, the agency cannot justifiably impose penalties on vehicle owners for issues arising from the substandard quality of the number plates.

The judge agreed with the plaintiff in his judgement delivered on Friday (17 January).

He held that “while the defendant cannot criminalise the use of faded vehicle number plates, the plaintiff has a duty to approach the defendant for a replacement of his faded vehicle number plate upon payment of the requisite fees for that purpose.”

He added, “By way of conclusion, I hold the view that the defendant cannot criminalise the use of faded vehicle number plate and has no power to impose a fine on the plaintiff for using faded vehicle number plate or impound the plaintiff’s vehicle on such grounds without the order of a court of competent jurisdiction.”

He also restrained the FRSC from declaring it an offence to drive with a faded vehicle number plate.

“An order of the honourable court restricting the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), from imposing any fine or punishment on the plaintiff for driving with a faded vehicle number plate is granted.

Plaintiff’s case

Mr Ezebube had asked the court to determine “whether the defendant, pursuant to Section 5 (g) and Section 10 (3)(f) of the Federal Road Safety Commission Act 2007 being the sole designer and producer of vehicle number plates in Nigeria, is not absolutely responsible for the quality and durability of the vehicle number plates as are produced by it?”

He also urged the court to determine if the defendant (FRSC) can make it an offence and impose a penalty against him or other Nigerians for driving a vehicle with faded vehicle number plates due to poor quality production as designed and produced by the defendant?”

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He prayed the court to order the FRSC to replace faded number plates at no cost due to their poor quality manufacturing.

FRSC’s lawyer, B.O Nnamani, opposed the suit in a counter-affidavit, urging the court to dismiss

The court upheld the plaintiff’s case in its Friday’s judgement.