The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Usman Baba, has said that vehicles with factory-fitted tinted glasses are exempted from the ban placed on the issuance of permits to vehicles with tinted glasses, as it is not directed at them.
This is coming after the IGP had last month announced the suspension of issuance of tinted glass permits and Spy number plates in the country, with immediate effect.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the Inspector General of Police made the clarification during a brief virtual media interaction with some journalists on Tuesday, July 14, 2021.
READ: Lagos Govt debunks new charges for number plates and vehicle registration
What the Inspector General of Police is saying
Baba said that the decision was taken to stop the abuses associated with the use of tinted glasses and SPY number plates by unauthorised members of the public, adding that some mischievous persons had capitalised on the license to commit heinous crimes.
The police boss acknowledged the complaint that his men were taking advantage of the directive on the tinted glass permits to harass innocent car owners with factory-fitted tinted glasses.
He announced that an enforcement mechanism that would enforce the standardised process of issuance of SPY number plates and permit for tinted glasses would be implemented across the country.
READ: Vehicle License Plate: Status symbol and national security implications
Baba said that the police would collaborate with the management of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to firm up an arrangement aimed at observing all necessary regulations before such permits were issued.
He said, “Yes, we understand that there are usually issues with policies and their implementations. The directive on tinted glass is not about the factory-fitted ones but those that are artificially made to cover the whole screen.
If you look at the vehicles with factory-fitted tinted glasses, you can still see through them and if there is any need for the driver to open the doors of such vehicles, the security officers will know.
READ: Tinted windows: A quest for privacy and our collective need to be safe
Those that are not factory-fitted are completely covered so that no one knows who or what they carry. Those are the ones the ban is targeted at.’’
Baba also stated that several individuals had of late turned the use of SPY number plates and tinted glasses into a status symbol and had fraudulently obtained such.
What you should know
It can be recalled that while giving the order on June 7, 2020, for the suspension of issuance of tinted glasses and Spy number plates, the IGP noted that they were part of measures being put in place by the Federal Government to curtail the worsening security challenges across the country.
Former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, had in February 1991 promulgated a decree prohibiting the tinting and use of cars with tinted glasses.
Babangida said that the decree was to protect society from insecurity and it was known as the Motor Vehicles (Prohibition of Tinted Glass) Act, 1991, made up of only six sections.
This is good news. This seems to imply that factory fitted tinted glasses do not need the permit. I hope this stays valid