Anambra State Government has discovered a factory at Nnewi where counterfeit vehicle number plates are allegedly being manufactured and sold to an unsuspecting public.
This act is said to be inimical to proper licensing by the Federal Road Safety Corps and the Anambra State Government.
Further investigations revealed that the said fake vehicle number plate production plant has been in existence for many years, dishing out number plates not captured in the government’s database and this trend has culminated into government losing huge sums of money to the cartels.
Chairman of the Anambra State Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Richard Madiebo, who spoke with our correspondent in his office at the Revenue House Awka about the development, said upon assumption of office, he discovered that it has been the practice over the years.
He however maintained that the state government was working with security operatives and relevant federal government agencies to check the menace.
Madiebo said such areas would generate huge revenue for the state, adding that government will ensure that vehicle owners got the right licensed plate number plates
Madiebo equally stated that apart from revenue generation, genuine licensed number plates guaranteed security because it would help to know number of cars and how many of them use Anambra roads.
He said it is advisable to obtain vehicle number plates from various accredited motor licensing offices instead of patronising quacks and racketeers.
The revenue boss said to obtain genuine licensed number plates cost about N18, 750, but people would prefer to purchase counterfeit vehicle papers at the rate of N3000 or N4000 and would not be captured in the official database of both the Federal Road Safety Corps and the State Internal Revenue Service.
He intimated that government is currently making efforts to sanitise the licensing regime in the state, adding that by 31st December, 2022, government targets to hit at least 40 billion naira revenue base even as government is determined to reduce leakages to the barest minimum.
