The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Delta command says no fewer than 4,651 permanent driver’s licences have not been collected.

Muftau Irekeola, the Edo sector commander, disclosed this in an interview on Wednesday in Asaba.

Mr Irekeola said as of December 2023, the total number of uncollected driver’s licences stood at 3,953, adding that since the commencement of 2024, about 23,513 have been produced.

He added that only about 18,962 permanent driver’s licences have been collected since the beginning of the year.

The sector commander frowned at motorists who processed their driver’s licences and never bothered to go back to collect them.

”In spite of the efforts of the staff of the drivers’ licence centre reaching out to the owners through their next of kin, the owners still do not go to pick up their driver’s licence.

”Some just get comfortable with the temporary driver’s licence issued to them, while most people don’t just create time out of their busy schedule to pick up their driver’s licence,” Mr Irekeola said.

He also said that driving in the country required a valid licence. He warned that driving without a licence endangered the lives of road users and constituted traffic infraction.

”Whoever is driving on the road without a driver’s licence and an accident occurs and peradventures there is loss of life, such a person will be tried in court as a murderer instead of manslaughter.

”If they have a driver’s licence and it is expired, they will not be treated as murder because he or she has undergone a driver’s test and has a driver’s licence even though it has expired.

”The command wants drivers with temporary licences to collect their permanent driver’s licence at the motor licencing office where they had their biometric captured,” Mr Irekeola said.

The sector commander said the command would be collaborating soon with the board of internal revenue on “operation show your licence” to check drivers’ driving without a licence in Asaba.

(NAN)