The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Police Affairs, Dr. Nasir Sani- Gwarzo has said that the Central Motor Registry was designed to ensure the protection of Nigerians by the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, from criminals and challenges of stolen vehicles.
Sani-Gwarzo, who spoke during a two-day stakeholders conference on Improving Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, for the Ministry, with the theme, ‘Strategies at Enhancing Internally Generated Revenue’, in Abuja, said that the Registry “is a lifetime guarantee” that would protect the citizens and their property whenever there are issues of armed robbery, kidnapping, and theft by criminals in the country.
He said: “If you are to purchase a car in Nigeria today, you are most likely to buy an imported used car which many do not know their origin and challenges attached to it. Nigeria as a member of the Interpol system, you can log in and register the identity of the vehicle, and the history and antecedent of the vehicle would be revealed.
“If anything happens in another country where it was registered, the Nigeria Police will protect you as you have done the needful. That is the essence of the certificate of registration.”
The permanent secretary further stated in a statement issued by the Ministry’s Deputy Director of Press, Bolaji Kazeem, that the automation of police specialized services such as character certificate, motor vehicle registration, and others had made service delivery seamless.
“We do not want a situation where you are coming from Maiduguri, Sokoto, Port Harcourt or Lagos to Abuja, Headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force, to apply for the Police Character Certificate and Motor Vehicle Registration.
“We want it to be a seamless process, do it online, provide the information and pay a token at your home (desktop/laptops) and get quality service that would make life easier for everybody and also guarantee that police can continue to provide more services without making excuses of no funds from the government,” he added.
Sani-Gwarzo reiterated that the scheme was not introduced as a profit-making venture but to improve the quality of services and operations of the Police Force, adding that it was not peculiar to Nigeria as it is practiced in America and Europe.
The Permanent Secretary said the conference was organized to acquaint the participants to improve their level of contributions to the internally general revenue and brainstorm on challenges.
Earlier, the Director of Finance and Accounts in the Ministry, Mrs. Bakre Juliana Modupe, revealed that the budget every year always record deficit, and as a result, President Bola Tinubu mandated every officer involved in revenue generation in the ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, to be up and doing, in order to improve the revenue of the entire federation.