By Nana Musa
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun has said that the registration of all vehicles in Nigeria under the National Vehicle Registry (VREG) would help the government to mobilise more revenues.
He said this during the zonal Sensitisation Seminar on VREG in Abuja on Monday, themed Strengthening Policy Collaboration for Impactful Economic Revitalisation.
VREG is platform connected to multiple global Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) databases and vehicle history repositories for real-time international interconnectivity and robust curation and storage of vehicular data of all vehicles entering into the country.
Edun said that it would help fight motor vehicle-related crimes that has been sustained over the years due to absence of a centralised platform for national vehicular information.
Nigeria is reportedly the largest importer of vehicles in Africa with an additional 15 million vehicles operational in the country.
“This huge vacuum had sustained the menaces of customs duty evasion, paucity of data for vehicular policy formulation, nationwide vehicle administration for revenue leakages, vehicle theft, and vehicle-related crimes.
“Also, challenges in road traffic regulation enforcement, limited access to credit facilities and ineffective vehicle insurance coverage & monitoring and evaluation,” the minister said.
Edun said that the VREG has brought about real-time dynamic information exchange among relevant stakeholders, leading to the optimization and plugging of revenue leakages associated with vehicle importation, vehicle insurance administration and motor vehicle administration.
He said VREG was introduced by the past administration to provide insightful data analytics for policy formulation and implementation, mechanisms for the mitigation of revenue leakages from tax evasion and other vehicle administration inefficiencies.
Also, revolutionisation of vehicle insurance administration for increased revenue generation and compliance, improved access to credit facilities through vehicle utilisation, and the reduction of vehicle theft and vehicle-related crimes.
Edun told the participants that in furtherance to the accomplishment of VREG’s objectives.
“Some of the critical next steps for VREG include the completion of technical integrations with the Central Motor Registry (CMR) of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), and the National Vehicle Information System (NVIS) of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).
“Also, strengthening of the collaborative efforts with the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), and the Joint Tax Board (JTB),” he said.
The minister said that since the emergence of VREG in 2021, several benefits of the registry has been achieved through utilisation as a tool to mitigate the evasion of customs duty administration, payment and drive operational efficiency in motor vehicle administration across the state lines.
Permanent secretary in the ministry of finance, Mr. Okokon Udo called for the promotion of stakeholders’ synergy which he said is required to actualise the objectives of VREG towards the realisation of the collective benefits.
Udo, who was represented by the Director Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit in the ministry Mr Sule Tegina, urged the attendees whom were drawn from participating agencies of government to be fully involved.
“I urge you to make progressive contributions and suggestions to the discussions at this seminar which will enhance effective and efficient service delivery, our economy, and ultimately, a better Nigeria for us all,” he said.
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