...how govt. agents swindle many of millions by the day.
There is a massive fraud scheme currently going on within the Lagos state government.
And investigations revealed that the practice rakes in millions of naira by the day for the perpetrators.
The main victims of the scheme are Drivers.
The agents of extortion are identified as enforcers operating under the emblem of Vehicle Inspection Unit – VIO.
The agency is an arm of the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation..
It is a traffic offence monitoring unit.
Strangely, when supposed defaulters are caught, the ‘officers’ in charge appends fines way beyond stipulations on their charge sheets.
Ironically the excessive fines are appended on the same charge sheets that bear the normal fixtures.
The highest fine for any offender apprehended by the V.I.O is pegged at Five Thousand Naira.
The minimum stipulation made on offenders by V.I.O officers is Ten thousand Naira.
The same offence does not attract equal fines- the stipulation is left at the whim of the issuing officer.
most times the high rate is as result of need to meet ‘specified’ target by the officers involved.
Informants divulged the units earn commission on the volume of ‘earnings’ they make for the agency with their work.
And with all their offences bearing added directive of ‘impound vehicle’, the officers have veritable premise to carry out their illegal acts.
According to a source ‘this development provides good platform for the agency to make good money everyday, many people do not want their car impounded for too long, so they most times prefer to quickly pay the fine than fight the system...’
Among the offences that attract the highest fines on their duty list are Driving with a forged Drivers License, Driving without a Drivers License, Driving Commercial Vehicle without a certificate of road worthiness, Driving with forged vehicle particulars, Driving a motorcycle without a riders card and others. They all attract five thousand naira.
Unlike that of related law enforcement agency, Federal Road Safety Corp, offenders pay V.I.O fines at only one bank- Fidelity.
And according to informed sources the bank appears far from capable of judiciously executing this task.
Payees are mostly told servers are down- and refer to other branches where they are mostly told to come back for ‘testament’ of payment the next day.
Most payees end up parading the bank complexes for two to three days before getting the document.
This development adds up another fee for the offender- the car which is immediately seized till the fine is paid is adjudged accruing demurrage the next morning of the incident. The charge sheet originally bears twenty four hours of grace.
The fee for the demurrage which ranges, based on the type of vehicle, is paid directly to individuals’ in charge.
This development was confirmed by an undercover reporter.
Investigations further revealed that the bulk of their victims are ‘arrested’ on the premise of forged Drivers License.
This development was confirmed by one of the V.I.O operatives based on a curious background ‘we know the Drivers License that didn’t come through us and one of the factors to look for it whether it was issued in Lagos or not!’
Aside the alleged tell tale sign of outside of Lagos State issuance, operatives spoken to could not make categorical claim on other factors that help to determine a fake Driver’s license.
The offence which eight out of every ten motorist flag down commits – based on V.I.O statistics- is determined by operatives by merely looking at the License!
On the issue of issuing fines beyond stipulated fee, the operatives all claimed that it is the norms!
Sources claimed that the special attention on Drivers License and issuance outside Lagos State is the fall out of the successful squashing of Lagos State Government’s move to produce Driver’s license by FRSC.
‘During the period of the brouhaha, most of the states agents moved to other states to manufacture their licenses- and some claimed the tagging of Licenses from outside Lagos by the state V.I.O as forged is a coercive measure to get agents to come patronize it’ a source analyzed.
whether there is a direct link between the Office of the Governor and issuing of target to V.I.O officers on the field we are yet to ascertain
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