The Federal Government has started to implement the new increased rates for vehicle number plates and driving licence in the country.
Joint Tax Board (JTB) had during its 147th meeting held in Kaduna on March 25, reviewed the price of vehicle number plates and driving licences in Nigeria.
JTB had put the cost of standard private and commercial number plates at N18,750 against the old rate of N12,500.
It put the rate for fancy number plates for 200,000 from the old rate of N80, 000, motorcycle number plates N5,000 from N3,000 and articulated number plates (three plates) N30,000 from N20,000.
Series number plate also was revised to N50,000 from N40,000 while the government fancy number plates N20,000 from the old N15,000 rate.
Driving licence (three years) was raised to N10,000 from N6,000, excluding bank charges; licence for five years is N15,000 from N10,000 while motorcycle/tricycle driving licence (three years) goes for N5,000 from N3,000 while the one for five years attracts N8,000 from N5,000.
Since that meeting in March the new prices have not been implement, however, in a letter JTB titled ‘Implementation of the revised rates for vehicles number plates and driver’s licence in Nigeria’ and dated July 30, 2021 and signed by the board secretary, Obomeghfe Nana-Aisha, it directed various federal and state agencies to commence the implementation of the rates.
“You may wish to recall that at the 147th meeting of the Joint Tax Board held in Kaduna, Kaduna State on March 25, 2021, the board approved revised rates for the sale of vehicle number plates and driving licence in line with the recommendations of Appraisal and Technical Committee of the JTB.
“In the light of the foregoing, we wish to inform you that the Chairman, JTB, has approved Thursday, August 1, 2021, as the commencement date for the implementation of the new rates,” the letter read.
JTB was established by section 86 (1) of the Personal Income Tax Act cap. P8 LFN 2004 and its members include the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service as the chairman of the board; one member from each state and representatives of the Federal Road Safety Commission; Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission; Federal Capital Territory Administration; Federal Ministry of Finance; and Federal Inland Revenue Service.
Meanwhile, the FRSC has denied being responsible for the new rates, as being circulated on social media handles.
FRSC Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, said that the agency was not a revenue generating agency.
He equally said that the claim that the standard number plate was N55, 000, was incorrect.