The Federal Government of Nigeria has Approved the National Vehicle Identification Database. According to series of tweets by a presidential media aide, Tolu Ogunlesi, he said,
The Federal Government is automating the issuance process for Import Duty Exemption Certificates (IDEC). Currently, a manual process takes up to 60 days between the application for Import Duty Exemption, & approval. With the ongoing automation, the process will now take less than 7 days.
Nigeria issues tens of billions of Naira worth of Import Duty Exemptions annually, but because it’s a paper-based process, it is impossible to track these exemptions & to know, at any point in time, how much has been used or not used. The manual process also introduces room for corruption.
In the absence of an electronic database, paper certificates can be manipulated easily – forged, altered etc. It is also easy for recipients to enjoy exemptions in excess of approval. Now, the new will be online based and will be jointly managed by the ministry of finance and Nigeria Customs
The final approval to proceed with the automation of IDEC was granted at the Federal Executive Council Meeting on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday FEC approved a National Vehicle Identifications Database for Nigeria.
This is 2019, and Nigeria has never had a NATIONAL vehicle database—until now. At best you have State registers; Lagos has one. But nothing National. Which is a problem, you’ll agree.
In the absence of a National Vehicle Database, you can register a car in Gombe and register it again in Osun and then top it up with registration in Ebonyi. No way to confirm previous ownership/registration. That’s like a blank Cheque for car thieves.
The Vehicle Database will use the unique Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). Will contain info on Customs Duty payments, Change of Ownership, etc. Will have positive implications for everything from Security to Insurance to Road Safety.
At the moment the only way to know for sure if Customs Duty has been paid on a Car you’re using or want to buy is to go to a Customs office to check. (Forged papers are common). The new Nigeria online VIN Database will contain that information, straight from Nigeria Customs.
