The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Lagos State will on Monday commence Operation Show Your Driver’s Licence and Vehicle licence phase II in the state.

This disclosure was made on Sunday by the Lagos State Sector Commander of FRSC, Corps Commander, Olusegun Ogungbemide.

Ogungbemide decried the high rate of permanent driver’s licence unpicked in all driver’s licence stations in the state.

According to him, the first phase of the special patrol tagged “Operation Show your driver’s licence” showed that some motorists still drive without their valid driver’s licence while some don’t have at all.

“With the recent increase in vehicular movement as a result of Ember months, there is need for all drivers to be handy with their Driver’s licence and valid vehicle papers as the command begins Operation Show Your Driver’s Licence and Vehicle licence”.

The operation he stated will start on Monday 4th to Sunday 10th October,  2021 simultaneously in all the Commands in Lagos State.

He reiterated that  all vehicles impounded will not be released until they show evidence of having the documents.”

He said according to National Road Traffic Regulations (NRTR)  2021, Regulation 67(1) “Any person driving a vehicle on any public road shall be in possession of an original driver’s licence but where the person is in possession of the photocopy of the original driver’s licence,  he shall within 24 hours produce the original driver’s license to the appropriate authority if demanded”

Regulation (2) also stated that “Any person who contravene the provision of regulation 67(1) of these regulation commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of #10,000.00 or to a term of 1 year imprisonment or to both”.

“For motorists who drives without vehicle license, he stressed that Regulation 67(3) states that “Any person driving a vehicle must be in possession of at least the photocopy of the vehicle particulars, and the original shall be provided to the appropriate authority within 24 hours if demanded” while Regulations 67(4) “Any person who contravene the provisions of regulation 67(3) commits an offence and shall be liable to a fine of #3,000 or 6 months imprisonment or to both”

The sector commander cautioned all road users to ensure they obtain all necessary documents that qualified them to use the road. “A situation where drivers of vehicles, tricycle and Bike riders ply the road without licence is no more acceptable”.

Prince Ade Ajayi Foundation, (PAAF) Centre for Constitutional Literacy and Civic Education is set to launch the translations of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution in Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo languages to promote national orientation, unity and integration.

Prince Ade Ajayi, President of PAAF stated this at the weekend while addressing newsmen in Lagos adding that a book titled ‘I love Nigeria my country’ will also be launched.

He said the translation took six years to be completed, stressing that it would be launched at a National Dialogue on Nigeria Stakeholders unity forum on November 25.

He said the book is born out of a deep-rooted  love for the Nigerian nation that it echoes an unquenchable thirst to equip every Nigerian with a knowledge of the nation’s history.

“It is a succinct rendition of our past, present and a glorious future, for without an accurate knowledge of the past, one cannot begin the arduous task of shaping the future,” he said.

On the introduction of the constitution translation in three languages he said of the 4000 Nigerians randomly sampled in urban areas, over 80 percent had never seen or read in whole or part, a soft or hard copy of the 1999 constitution.

Of those who had, according to him more than half could not recall what they had read, adding that the statistics in rural areas are abysmal, largely due to poor literacy levels.

“Asked why they had never read the constitution, many in urban areas retorted that they were not lawyers, or that it hadn’t crossed their minds to do so. Many added that they had no idea where they could get one or that could even access one.

“We believe that the first step in national orientation is adequate civil education. This cannot take place where the citizens do not have access to the one document that can most wholesomely inform them, we therefore make available the 1999 constitution in English, translate to indigenous languages (Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba  and also create audio versions for the unlettered,” he said.

On the reasons for the translation, he said to make the constitution easily accessible to everyone, particularly those who are able to read and understand in their indigenous languages, but not necessarily in English language.

Other reasons  is to trigger national orientation and reorientation and also to increase awareness amongst the citizenry about their rights, responsibilities and obligations to the various governments and the nation.

Hon. Segun Olulade, former member of the  Lagos state House of Assembly stated that he decided to identify with the project in view of the unity of the country.

“The constitution that is been translated today shows that this foundation would be a readymade tool for the freedom of every Nigerians for justice, unity fairness and equity of our country. We need to understand our constitution,” he said.

Besides,  Barrister Alex Ogedengbe, stated that the project will be a wakeup call for every Nigerians, if they can read to know their right and know what to do as par election.

“I went to statistics to look at the percentage voting in America they have 93.3 percent of their eligible voters that voted in the last election. In Nigeria, I look at the last election we have 33.4 percent voted. In order words the people that did not vote won the elections. Over there every citizen believe that they must do their own civic right to choose the leader they like or to vote out the person they don’t want, but in Nigeria, I believe that the elite will sit down in the house  watching the TV and allow the illiterate that does not have or know anything about the constitution to go and choose the leaders that will rule over everybody.

National President of Nigeria Union of  Local Government Employees(NULGE), Comrade Ambali Olatunji, has indicted state governors as major contributors to rate of insecurity and poverty in the country.

He said  in Akure, the Ondo State capital, on Sunday that state governors hijacked all financial resources of local governments leaving them with nothing to create jobs for the citizenry at the grassroots.

Ambali said it  was abuse of power for governors to be collecting rates through promulgation of Land Use tax, using the state Houses Assembly as tools to perpetrate the act.

He faulted the claims of governors that local governments could not afford to pay workers’ salaries, saying the state governors deliberately impoverished the local government by cornering internally generated revenue and allocation accruing to them from the Federation Account through securing  fake  Joint Account

Ambali said: “As at today, you can no longer move from one state to another without initially asking if you will get home safely. Insecurity in the South, East, West and North. This is not the Nigeria of our dream. We are bedeviled by abject poverty, joblessness, hopelessness, threat to the nationhood.

“Everybody now result to ethnic agitation. We have come this far because Nigeria is no longer working. The nation has failed the masses. At 61, Nigeria has abandon her constitutional role in guarantee security and peace in the country.

“This can be traced to the systematic decay and destruction at the local government level. Local government system is the most strategic, most relevant, most popular and most acceptable tier of government in the country.

“As at today, you can no longer see visibly local government performing her role. This is not deliberate, it is as a result of force seizure of local government allocations by political state activists and denial of Nigerian people to freely choose their own leaders at the local government level.

“It can be traced to use of instrumentality of law to coner the internally generated revenue of local government. We you look at our constitution, under residual list, the  collective use of local government revenue are clearly itemized.

“But as today, we’ve seen governors using State Houses of Assembly as a lacuna to promulgate illegally, supplus at the state that are contrary and contradictory to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We need a politically-free and financially dependent local government administration. The local government has been raped over time; it has witnessed systematic destruction as a result of misrule and stealing of local government funds, thereby militating against progressive development at the grassroots level.

He suggested that all states electoral bodies should be scrapped because none among them had ever conducted a free, fair and acceptable poll,while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should take over conduct of local councils elections.

“State is autonomous, why is  INEC conducting election their elections? House of Representatives members and senators are coming from local government, why is INEC conducting their elections?  Why is INEC conducting governorship election and House of Assembly election. Are they not free?

“So, if we are talking about that,why must we change the goal pole? We are saying we have three tiers of government, we should allow INEC to conduct election that will be credible, transparent and acceptable in Nigeria. Let us give Nigerian people the right to choose their leaders from their grassroots, let us allow governance inclusiveness.

“This(SIEC) is a corrupt agency that has not  been performing, thereby denying Nigerians the opportunity to fully choose their leader and what is d implication? If you allow governors to appoint their cronies to be in charge of local governments in  Nigeria, it shows that such leader will not be accountable to the peoples because who pays the piper, dictate the tune  .

“That is why NULGE is saying it should be scraped and  the Independent National Electoral Commission should conduct election in all the 774 local governments. Until we get to this level, Nigeria will continue to witness what it is witnessing today.” Ambali said.