VIO enforcement power clipped as Appeal Court upholds judgment stopping outfit from vehicle impoundment

The Department of Road Traffic Services (DRTS), popularly known as the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO), has vowed to challenge the Court of Appeal judgment that barred its officials from stopping motorists, impounding vehicles, or imposing fines on erring road users within the Federal Capital Territory.

The Acting Director of DRTS, Deborah Osho, who spoke in an exclusive phone interview on Thursday, lamented what she described as rising “lawlessness” across Abuja since the initial High Court ruling that curtailed the agency’s enforcement powers.

Earlier on Thursday, the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, upheld the October 16, 2024 judgment of the Federal High Court, which ruled that VIO officials had no constitutional authority to harass, stop, or penalise motorists.

A three-member panel of the appellate court, in a unanimous decision led by Justice Oyejoju Oyewumi, dismissed the VIO’s appeal for lacking merit, insisting there was no justification to set aside the earlier ruling.

Reacting to the development, Osho expressed deep concern over what she called the deteriorating state of compliance on Abuja roads.

“We will certainly appeal,” she said. “As a correspondent, do you see what is happening in the city right now? Don’t you see how dirty the city is? I don’t know why we Nigerians don’t like to be corrected.”

She cited Airport Road as an example, saying motorists have increasingly converted the route into a one-way path, emboldened by the recent restriction on VIO enforcement.

“You cannot enforce, you cannot impound, and even if you issue tickets, they won’t come to pay. What do you want us to do? The thing is not funny,” she lamented.

Osho further disclosed that despite adopting non-intrusive methods of enforcement, such as issuing automated tickets, motorists currently owe the agency more than N409 million in unpaid fines.

She stressed that effective traffic coordination would remain impossible without stronger enforcement mechanisms.

According to her, “We don’t even impound like that. What we do is, if you commit an offence, whether you take the ticket or go away, you are already captured, and your bill will be sent to you.”

The DRTS is expected to file a fresh appeal to the Supreme Court in the coming days as the legal tussle over road traffic enforcement in the FCT intensifies.

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