For the third time at least, a Nigerian court has ruled against the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) from arresting and confiscating vehicles on the road.

VIO is a state-level agency monitoring the health of vehicles by certifying them as road-worthy, issuing hackney permits, providing vehicle licences, and testing and training driver’s licence applicants.

On Wednesday, Justice Evelyn Maha of the Abuja Federal High Court prohibited the Directorate of Road Traffic Services, also known as VIO, from operating at checkpoints to check motorists, arrest or impose a fine on them for whatever infractions.

Abubakar Marshal, a human rights lawyer, instituted the case. He sued VIO as the fourth respondent while the agency’s director of road transport, both the area commander and the team leader at Jabi, and the FCT minister were the other respondents in the case.

“The actions of the first to fourth respondents, under the control of the fifth respondent, are not empowered by any law or statute to stop, impound, or confiscate the vehicles of motorists or impose fines on them,” the judge declared.

However, it was not the first court to issue a similar judgement against VIOs as many Nigerians complained about the duplication of road traffic enforcement bodies.

DELTA VIO BANNED

On March 12, 2021, the Court of Appeal, a court of superior court of record, decided on a similar case originally initiated by Kunle Edun, a Delta State-based public interest figure. The case was marked CA/B/333/2017.

A three-man panel of the appellate in Asaba collectively affirmed an earlier judgement of the Delta State High Court that VIO had no lawful mandate to operate on the road.

The case began at the high court and it was decidedly resolved in favour of Edun. But the agency and the state government went ahead to appeal the judgment.

“You don’t inspect vehicles on the road; you inspect vehicles at your workshop or office, and the best time to do that is during annual vehicle licence renewal,” a statement Edun ascribed to the high court judge in an interview with The Punch said.

In a copy of the judgment seen by FIJ, the appellate court ruled in part, “It would be absurd and completely illegal to impound a private motor vehicle for not having or carrying (a) hackney licence.”

ENUGU VIO BANNED

John Nwobodo, a legal practitioner based in Enugu State, also obtained a judgment against the VIO in the state for operating and impounding vehicles on the road on December 21, 2022.

The state high court pronounced the activities of the state VIO officers on public roads illegal and unconstitutional, further adding to the judicial orders prohibiting the enforcement of vehicle roadworthiness and other matters by such an agency and extorting money from citizens in the process.

In particular, the court granted “an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Vehicle Inspection Officers from being on the public highway of Enugu State in relation to enforcement of motor vehicle particulars under the Road Traffic Law, cap. 137, Volume V, Revised Laws of Enugu State 2004”.

CITIZENS’ REACTIONS

Despite these separate orders, VIOs continue to operate on the road particularly targeting private vehicles even in the states where there are subsisting court orders against such an enforcement strategy.

Because of this trajectory of non-compliance, some citizens seemed not to be hopeful that this latest order would cause a change.

@oneblacklawyer wrote on X, “There was an earlier judgment in this regard by the Court of Appeal, if I am correct, which they have blatantly flouted till date. It is sad seeing government officers show so much disdain for the law.”

@SmilingGeorge24 also commented, “We have never had issues with court pronouncements…it has always been [about] obeying these pronouncements. VIO will still not obey and nothing will happen.”

Another X user wrote, “Is it not the same way road safety officers who were barred from stopping motorists on state roads, making it mandatory that scope of operation is federal roads but what happened they still stop people anywhere they like despite stealing the work of vehicles inspection from VIO.”

The previous comment reflects the confusion some Nigerians still have about the responsibilities of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and VIO. Nigerians remain unsure which outfit is empowered to seize vehicles or impose fines.