The police must channel their energy into what truly matters and counts. A despicable tinted glass permits policy only serves to further taint the already sullied image of a contemptible police force.
For weeks on end, public discourse in Nigeria has been dominated by the enforcement of the tinted glass act by the Nigerian police. The police had stated that all motorists whose vehicles are tinted must obtain a permit. One of the reasons given for this decision is that it will help curb crime, as criminals often use vehicles with tinted glass to carry out their nefarious and heinous activities. This reason is not only flawed but nonsensical.
This policy seeks to further strain much-tried and long-suffering Nigerians who are already grappling with severe economic hardship and a crippling cost-of-living crisis. Since assuming office, the aggressive neoliberal economic policies of the President Bola Tinubu government, which have seen subsidies removed from petrol and electricity, and the devaluation of the naira, have decimated the purchasing power of people, eroded their disposable income and plunged hundreds of millions into poverty and in turn caused the economy to tank.
It is amid this parlous and precarious state of the nation, which has ostensibly left the nation’s economy in doldrums, that the inspector general of police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, felt imposing an unreasonable, inconsiderate and punitive levy of N14,200 for tinted glass was a wise and laudable move. Even more disconcerting, if not amusing, is the insecurity justification given for the policy. How will having a policy that mandates tinted glass permits for vehicles address insecurity and criminality in the country? If tinted windows are a security risk, how does securing a “permit”, which is essentially making a routine payment, mitigate that risk?
This makes the excuse of insecurity illogical and fraudulent. Criminals will have no problem paying for the permit despite the requirements of NIN, BVN and biometric capture and use the permit to commit a crime. This leaves innocent Nigerians at the mercy of presumptuous and overbearing police officers and inadvertently aids criminals, whose nefarious activities the policy was designed to thwart.
In saner and developed climes, like the United Kingdom, motorists do not pay for tinted glass.
The front windows and windscreen must be 70 per cent visible, which is the case with factory-fitted windscreens of the cars imported into Nigeria. The UK fine kicks in there if the glass is too dark. I’m our IGP can learn a thing or two from this global best practice.
The tinted glass permits imbroglio is just another plot to squeeze struggling Nigerians and pry out of their hand what little they have for sustenance. Thankfully, respite came to Nigerians through the judiciary. The police on Wednesday announced that they will be suspending the enforcement of the tinted glass permit temporarily. The announcement was sequel to a ruling of the federal high court sitting in Warri, Delta state, which ordered the NPF and the inspector-general of police (IGP) to suspend the enforcement, maintain the status quo and respect ongoing judicial processes until the case is further heard.
The police claimed that no clear court order currently prohibits the enforcement of the Motor Vehicles (Prohibition of Tinted Glass) Act, 1991 by the Police, disclosing that the decision to suspend enforcement was taken in the interest of the public and out of regard for the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) which had previously vowed to challenge the enforcement of the permit in court. Whether the decision of the police to shelve the enforcement of the Act was prompted by court order or by overriding public interest is immaterial. The most important thing is that it has suspended the enforcement of the abhorrent act.
Also, the police have no business with revenue generation. It is not set up to make money for the government but to ensure the safety and security of citizens. To protect the people and their worldly possessions. In a country dealing with a deepening security crisis, shouldn’t the priority of the police be to address this existential crisis? The police, who should be the main line of defence and the first point of call for people living in areas ravaged by violent attacks and killings, have largely abandoned their primary duties. They have become nothing more than bodyguards to VIPs. This has forced the military to take up the responsibilities of the police.
The police should not abandon their core mandate and primary responsibility of protecting Nigerians, which they are disturbingly currently failing at, and allow themselves to be co-opted into the repulsive agenda of burdening Nigerians with inappropriate and distasteful financial demands that do not serve their interests and only make their lives harder. The IGP and his men must channel their energy into what truly matters and counts. A despicable tinted glass permits policy only serves to further taint the already battered image of a contemptible police force.
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