The Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC in Kaduna State says driver’s licence ought to be ready within 60 days of submission of application. The Sector Commander in the state, Mr Frances Udoma, however, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that factors like double application, misinformation and renewal while existing one had not expired may cause a delay.

Udoma made the clarification in Kaduna while reacting to complaints from members of the public on the difficulties and delays in obtaining drivers licence. He said:

“Once a driver’s information is captured, it is uploaded in FRSC data base at the headquarters in Abuja where a computer will process them. “Now what happens is, if the computer detects multiple applications by an individual, it will automatically turn the application down.

“When any of these happens, the computer would not give feedback, because your data is not in the data base. “The only feedback you get is when your licence is ready, the computer would notify you via text message to go and pick up your licence,” he said.

The sector commander advised all drivers that applied for licence and were captured for more than two months, but did not receive text messages, to visit any nearest licence centre for collection. He said there were more than 3,671 unclaimed driver’s licence in Kaduna centre alone.

“This could be either because the owner’s number is not reachable or some changed their phone numbers while others could be dead,” he added.

On fake driver’s licence, Udoma said drivers could check the status of their licence through text message by sending NDL space STATUS space licence number to 33811. Some of the drivers had told NAN that they passed through a lot of difficulties in getting a driver’s licence. One of them, Sa’adatu Musa , said it took her more than four months, from registering with a driving school to obtaining driving certificate and other processes, before she was captured.

Musa, however, said that she had yet to receive her driver’s licence, adding that the temporary one issued to her in November 2016 had since expired. Another driver, Mr Luka William, said after going through the processes of obtaining the driving certificate, he had yet to get clearance from KASTELEA.

“Without clearance from KASTELEA, I will not be captured for the licence,” William said.

Editor’s Note:

I don’t think I believe any of this excuses cuz I applied for a license and got it more than a year to the date I applied. And guess what, the license will even expire in less than 2 years to the day I collected it. This is indeed pathetic.

So after 2 years, I will start a process if renewal again. And FYI, renewal is even worst that picking up a new one cuz I met one guy when I went to collect my own license at Sura – Obalende, Lagos and he told me he is doing renewal and is more than a year and half and he hasn’t collected it. I weep for my dear country.