The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has announced that it would
begin to confiscate vehicles with expired or substandard tyres.
According
to Boboye Oyeyemi, the Corps Marshal of the agency, the measure became
necessary to curb incessant road accidents usually caused by poor tyre
usage in vehicles.
“What we’re going to commence immediately is
that any vehicle that has expired tyres or substandard tyres, we’re
going to impound the vehicles,” Mr. Oyeyemi said. “Enough is enough to
this. All the crises we’re talking about from February this year to
April, they were all tyre-related.
“After impounding it (the
vehicle), we’ll ask the owner to go and replace it with a genuine one.
The passengers we’ll arrange for their continuous journey so as to
reduce the pains. But I will not allow an expired tyre fitted on a
vehicle to continue the journey,” Mr. Oyeyemi said.
He also
decried the lack of tyre manufacturing companies in the country and
appealed to appropriate authorities to do their utmost best in ensuring
that the situation is addressed.
“It’s not a problem that started
today, we’ve been raising this alarm since Dunlop and Michelin shut
down in Nigeria and relocated,” the FRSC boss said.
“So it’s a
result of this that led to over 250 different distorted substandard
tyres in the country today and we appeal to Manufacturers Association of
Nigeria and Nigerian Association of Chamber of Commerce Industry Mines
and Agriculture to do their very best in looking into this and see how
tyre manufacturing plants can be brought into life.
He spoke at a Stakeholders’ forum in Abuja.