The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) is targeting N59 billion through the registration of at least 11.8 million vehicles under its Central Motor Registry Information System (CMRIS), The Nation reports.
The move, would enable the NPF to address its inadequate budgetary allocation, which also affected its crime-fighting efforts over the years.
While the NPF charges N5,000 for each registration under the scheme, data from the National Bureau for Statistics (2018) showed that there are 11.8 million vehicles in Nigeria, of which 39 per cent (4.6 million) were privately owned, 56 per cent (6.7 million) were commercial vehicles, 1.1 per cent (135,000) were government vehicles, and 0.4 per cent (5,834) were owned by diplomats.
According to Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO) Olumuyiwa Adejobi, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), said the newly-introduced proactive innovation for tackling car theft and vehicle-related crimes was gradually gaining ground.
It has been fantastic. We have an increase in application and registration on a daily basis. It has been embraced by Nigerians because they are convinced that it comes with a lot of benefits for safety, protection, and curbing vehicle-related crimes.
“Individuals, associations, groups, and corporate firms have keyed into it. The CMRIS is a laudable project that will help us all,” Adejobi said.
Last year, the NPF began sensitising the public on the new application, which it referred to as digitalised Central Motor Registry Information System (CMRIS) for seamless management of information on every motor vehicle and its ownership.
Adejobi explained that the introduction of the CMRIS followed the inauguration of the rejuvenated CMR Unit and kick-off of the first phase of Stolen Vehicle Report Portal.
The police spokesman said the old manual method of mandatory vehicle registration, which was introduced about seven decades ago, was fraught with challenges and inadequacies.
He said the CMRIS would address such challenges and ensure faster pace of identifying vehicles used in criminal activities for prompt recovery of stolen vehicles among other advantages.
“If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility,” Adejobi said.
