Vehicle Inspection Officers at Asokoro, Abuja – Nigeria’s capital – have been found to be involved in corrupt practices against the dictates of their jobs, according to an investigation by SaharaReporters.
On Tuesday afternoon, the team led by a senior official popularly known as Dodo, flagged down a Honda saloon car with registration number UND 672 CX few meters away from the busy AYA roundabout in Asokoro and asked the driver to pull over by the side of the road.
Our correspondent, who witnessed the scene, observed that after inspecting the vehicle’s documents and discovering that everything was up-to-date and valid, the VIO personnel carefully looked around the car to ensure they found an offence upon which to nail the owner of the car.
Upon seeing that one of the back tyres of the car had worn out and not fit for travel, the officials immediately impounded the vehicle and drove it to their office.
Our correspondent, who trailed the team to their Asokoro office, saw how owners of impounded vehicles at the facility tried frantically to get their automobiles released by pleading with Dodo and his men to accept amounts they could afford.
Owner of the Honda car was eventually asked to pay N4,500 after a long process of negotiation with the officials.
The middle-aged man was later allowed to leave with his vehicle without being mandated to fix the terribly bad tyre that poses a great threat to his life including that of other road users.
While still at the Asokoro VIO office, our correspondent observed how owners of impounded vehicles especially those unfit to be on Nigerian roads were forced to pay between N5,000 to N20,000 before being released to go.
Findings by SaharaReporters discovered that the fraudulent scheme had been a regular feature at this place for sometime.
The officials have practically left their statutory responsibilities of ensuring the road worthiness of vehicles to making a goldmine out of unsuspecting members of the public they blackmail with the slightest opportunity to milk.
