The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) will earn at least N59 billion from the new mandatory vehicle registration which will be enforced from July 29, 2024.
Olumuyiwa Adejobi, police spokesman, announced over the weekend that all vehicles in Nigeria have just 14 days to register at the newly-introduced digitalised Central Motor Registration (e-CMR).
He said in a press release on Saturday that the move was part of the efforts of Kayode Egbetokun, inspector-general of police (IGP), to enhance the security of lives and property and significantly boost the nation’s safety.
“The e-CMR is an advanced, real-time online repository of motor vehicle data, designed to support police investigations, operational activities, and combat vehicle-related crimes, including terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and armed robbery.”
The police spokesperson asked vehicle owners and users to obtain the digitalised CMR certificate online at cmris.npf.gov.ng.
BusinessDay registered a Toyota vehicle seamlessly on the portal but paid the sum of N5,375. While N5,000 was for the police, the N375 was for the value-added tax (VAT).
There are 11.8 million vehicles in Nigeria. When all the vehicles, as mandated by the Nigeria Police Force, are registered on the portal by July 29, the security institution will have grossed N59 billion (N5,000 X 11.8 million vehicles).
It was not clear whether all vehicles were required to pay the same fee, as BusinessDay found from other registrants that they paid the same fee (N5,000).
“Following the directives of the IGP, services such as change of ownership, change of license number, change of engine, and change of chassis/body would become seamless as the e-CMR system would ensure the validation of vehicle genuineness and ownership, enhancing the ability to track and recover stolen vehicles effectively, and preventing the purchase of stolen vehicles by innocent buyers,” the spokesman noted.
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Ude Mba, Lagos-based security analyst, said it is an excellent move that will help bolster security in Africa’s most populous nation.
“I think this is an excellent move that will help to protect all the parties involved. What we are now asking is that money realised from the registration should be properly accounted for and utilised for the common good,” he noted.
The NPF has received humongous budgets in recent times, though security analysts say it is not enough. The body got N455 billion in 2021, N559 billion in 2022, N838 billion in 2023, and N969.6 billion in 2024 as annual budgets.
Insecurity has worsened even with these huge budgets. In 2023, over 3,600 Nigerians were kidnapped, the highest in the country’s history, according to ACLED, a global conflicts reporter.
SBM Intelligence, a research firm, said about 3,620 people were abducted in 582 kidnap-related incidents in Nigeria and at least N5 billion ($6,410,256 as of 30 June 2023) were reported as ransom demands between July 2022 and June 2023.
The report noted that verified ransom payouts amounted to N302 million ($387,179), or six percent of what was demanded.
“Nigeria faces security crises across all six geopolitical zones, including
Boko Haram, bandit groups, criminal youth gangs, sea piracy and armed
separatists’ agitation,” SBM Intelligence said.
“The country’s security threats vary and overlap. The Boko Haram insurgency is expanding westwards, and the Indigenous
Peoples of Biafra’s agitation is becoming more dangerous. Ransom payment has become
the dominant motivation for kidnapping due to Nigeria’s struggling economy, rising inflation
and high unemployment rates.”
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