The Lagos State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Kehinde Hamzat, has revealed that many fake number plates used for criminal activities in Nigeria are linked to respected institutions such as the presidency, the Nigerian Youth Council (NYC), and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).
Hamzat made this known while speaking on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, on Friday, February 7, 2025. He stated that criminals exploit these institutional tags to evade law enforcement.
“We think that most of these number plates are labelled ‘Presidency,’ ‘NYC,’ ‘NANS,’ and some others, knowing fully well that these are established institutions that law enforcement agents probably wouldn’t want to disturb,” he said.
“We now discover that they use these plates to perpetuate evils, and it’s becoming a security threat to the country.
If you check these numbers on the database, you’ll discover they are nowhere to be found. So when they misbehave, tracing the vehicle becomes impossible.”
To address this issue, the FRSC has launched a nationwide special operation to identify and remove fake number plates. Hamzat confirmed that the agency is actively working to arrest offenders and uphold the integrity of the National Vehicle Identification Scheme (NVIS).
The FRSC’s Corps Marshal, Malam Shehu Mohammed, recently instructed officers to impound vehicles associated with NANS. However, in response, NANS leadership has threatened to shut down FRSC offices across the country if the directive is enforced.
