Top newspaper report-Tinted vehicle glasses: The controversy continues .

Since the announcement by the Inspector General of the Nigeria Police, Muhammed Abubakar, that vehicles bearing darkened or tinted glasses are banned from Nigerian roads, there have been a lot of grumbling and arguments between the populace and the police over the propriety of the ban, especially as it affects factory tinted cars.

The Police High command had observed that ban on cars, whether manually or factory tinted would help reduce the incessant cases of criminal acts which currently pervade the country. The statement from the police had read “It is with concern that the police acknowledges the unnecessary controversies that have trailed the recent Inspector-General of Police (IP’s) announcement on the ban on the indiscriminate use of tinted glasses on vehicles plying Nigeria roads.

“The Force has

observed that one of the issues that have generated so much contention and sometimes endless arguments between Police officers enforcing the ban on the one hand, and motorists on the other hand, is the contention by some vehicle owners that there is no valid law restricting the use of tinted vehicle glasses in Nigeria.”

But people who claim to be aware of the legal restriction argue that because the tints on their glasses were ‘factory-fitted’, they were under no legal obligation to obtain a permit. Yet, others hinge their arguments and objections on the fact that their car tints are not as dark as others and thus, should be excused from the requirements of obtaining permits.

While some of these arguments may sound persuasive or even plausible, they are, unfortunately, devoid of any known legal foundation. Nigeria laws are unequivocal in their restrictions on the use of tinted vehicle glasses. For instance, regulation 66(2) of the National Road Traffic Regulations (1997) provides that: “All glasses fitted to a vehicle shall be clear and transparent to enable persons outside the vehicle see whoever is inside the vehicle and the glasses shall in no way be tinted except as may be approved by the Inspector-General of Police for security reasons.”

However, it will appear that the most comprehensive legislation on the use of tinted car glasses in Nigeria is the Motor Vehicles (Prohibition of Tinted Glass) Act, CAP M21 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (Formerly Decree No. 6 of 1991).

According to Section 1 (1) of this Act, except with the permission of the “appropriate authority” and for a “good cause”, “no person shall cause any glass fitted to a vehicle to be tinted, shaded, colored lightly or thickly, darkened or treated in any way so as to render obscure or invisible persons or objects inside the car”.

Under the Act, it is also an offense to aid, counsel or procure the commission of the offense. From the reading of the law, it is clear that the law made no distinction between manually fitted tints and factory fitted tints.

Since the announcement, Nigerians have voiced their minds on the issue, with most respondents claiming that though the law may cover or restrict manually tinted cars, the ban on factory tints is unreasonable and ill thought.

Samuel Umana, a banker, responding to the ban on tinted cars said, “The Police have started again. Instead of them to find new techniques to combat the increasing crime rate in the country, now they are going about making laws that would harass mostly helpless road users. The ban on factory tinted cars is wrong. For instance, my car is factory tinted, do I now go and remove all the glasses and fix new ones? They also asked us to collect permits by writing to the IGP, but we all know the bureaucratic delays associated with such. Won’t I use my car again until he approves my application?”

For Mrs Grace Raji, a contractor, the ban is only a way to divert attention from the burning security issues on ground. “This is another ploy to divert attention from the general insecurity in the land. Is this the time for the police to be running around pursuing road users with tinted windows? We all know that they will take this one seriously because it affects helpless Nigerians. Will the IGP be on the highway to control his men who will allow the rich man with tinted glasses without permit to pass because he ‘gifted’ the highway policemen some cash and the average road user who has no money for tips, or do we all apply for permits which will eventually be abused by Nigerians and the Police Force?”, she submitted.

As regards permits, the police, also in its statement, had quoted that “for purposes of the law, such permit can only be issued on health or security grounds. Owners of vehicles with tinted glasses are therefore mandated by law to seek the authorization of the IGP before deploying such vehicles on our roads, whether such vehicles came with factory tints or whether the tints were manually fitted. However, by the operation of Section 3 of the Act, such persons, importer or buyer, have 14 days grace, from the date of the purchase of the car or the date of arrival of the car in Nigeria (whichever is applicable) to either remove the tinted glasses or obtain the tinted glass permit.

“Persons convicted for committing offenses under this Law are liable to a fine of N2,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both fine and imprisonment. Where the offense is committed by a corporate body, the Police may by the operation of Section 4(2) of the Act, proceed against its director, proprietor, manager, or other senior officers of the organization”.

But the announcement of this ban in 2013 was not the first time it would be made. In 2011, the Federal Government barred the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), ministers and service chiefs from using vehicles with tint glasses. Only the President, Vice-President, Senate President, deputy Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker and Governors were allowed to use vehicles with tinted glasses.

The then Minister of Police Affairs, Humphrey Abah, who made the pronouncement, said from Monday, February 28, 2011, owners of tinted glass vehicles would be made to remove them by policemen on the spot, stressing that CAP M21, Motor vehicle prohibiting tinted glass Act, forbade the use of heavily filmed cars.

He stated that the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and Road Traffic Service personnel would assist the police to enforce the law, adding that cars with factory-fitted tinted glasses were exempted from the directive.

Since factory tints were exempted then Nigerians seemed to feel that the new outright ban on all tints was therefore illegal and an agenda of the Nigeria Police. They said that the Police’s claim that its decision to ban tinted glasses on the roads would not ultimately serve the common good of all Nigeria. Those who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune were doubtful that the Police’s intelligence reports and empirical statistics indicating that majority of crimes relating to terrorism, suicide bombing, kidnapping, gun-running, human trafficking, armed robbery and other related offenses are committed with the use of vehicles with tinted glasses do not exactly hold any water.

The good news however is that “the law authorizes the appropriate authority (in this case the IGP) to issue tinted permits to Nigeria on health and security grounds if they are so qualified. Persons desirous of obtaining tinted glass authorization are advised to follow the following steps; write a formal application to the IGP for the use of factory tinted glasses, stating the reason for use, bearing in mind that approval of such application is predicated on health or security reasons only”, the Police had said.

However, this move seems not to have impressed Nigerians.

For Tsado Abubakar, an electrical engineer, the ban was a revelation that the Police Force was short of ideas on how to combat crime. He said, “what concerns tinted glasses with security? I may understand the ban on manually filmed glasses which has been banned for a long time but factory tints is unreasonable. Infact, most crimes are committed on motorbikes (Okada) than with actual cars. Why not ban Okada outright too and also the importation of Okada spare parts. This would reduce crime too. For me it just shows that our security apparatus lacks creative ideas to combat today’s crimes. And they are lucky Nigerians are people who do not speak for themselves because this outright ban should be rejected”.