From Ben Dunno, Warri
The National President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Comrade (Dr) Kehinde Prince Taiga, has urged the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Olukayode Egbetokun, to ensure a drastic reduction in the cost of obtaining the digitalised Central Motor Registry Information System, otherwise known as e-CMR. He insisted that the prevailing hardship in the country must be taken into consideration.
Although the Force Headquarters announced the suspension of the 24 July 2024 deadline to obtain the e-CMR certificate yesterday – following the public outcry that greeted its announcement last week – to allow for more public sensitisation, Taiga noted that it was insensitive and the height of exploitation to have pegged the cost at close to N6,000.
He explained that there was no moral justification for the huge sum the police are demanding for the issuance of the certificate, adding that it amounted to overburdening the masses with such a bogus amount to process just one document when it cost about N35,000 to perfect all the vehicle documentation that the police had been checking all these years.
While commending IGP Egbetokun for listening to the voice of reason by suspending the deadline, the CDHR President urged the police boss to cut down the cost to make it affordable for the masses, who are currently struggling to survive the current economic hardship. He added that the police would take advantage of this to extort them more at the various checkpoints.
Read also: IGP Egbetokun suspends implementation of e-CMR for motorists
“I am using this medium to applaud IGP Egbetokun for listening to the criticisms on the deadline for e-CMR and announcing the suspension to enable sufficient sensitisation on it. But while at that, the IG should consider a drastic cost reduction as the current amount of N5,375 is too outrageous and very insensitive to the current reality the masses are experiencing in the country.”
“On average, it costs about N35,000 to process all the required vehicle particulars that the police have been checking all these years, so it makes no logical sense to impose such a huge amount for only one document the police are authorising as an addition. This is not just ridiculous but insensitive and the height of exploitation of the overburdened masses.”
“The IGP should realise that if the cost is too high and the majority of the people cannot afford it, it would open another avenue of extortion of motorists by policemen on the highways,” he said, adding that this would mean inflicting further hardship on motorists, as they may be forced to cough out between N50,000 to N80,000 to get their vehicles released at any checkpoints they are impounded at over e-CMR immediately after the deadline.
Also reacting to the issue of police extortion, the CDHR President noted that despite all the campaigns and warnings against this corrupt act, it has continued unabated on major highways across the country, especially in the southern part of the country, where policemen seem to be getting away with their atrocities.
He called on the IGP to devise another method of checking the excesses of his men and officers on the highways, especially now that all Nigerians are contending with the reality of a very harsh economic situation.