The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) is to immediately begin impounding vehicles found with substandard tyres, the Corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi, said yesterday.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ forum on tyres in Abuja yesterday, Oyeyemi said any motorist found with substandard tyres would not be given the option of a fine, rather, he would use that money to buy a new tyre and fix it before the vehicle is released.
He said between February and April this year, most auto crashes were caused by tyre related problems.
The Corps Marshal said since Dunlop and Michelin tyre manufacturers closed business in Nigeria, over 250 different types of substandard tyres had been imported into the country.
He urged the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and other agencies to bring in tyre manufacturing plants to produce standardised tyres, saying, Nigeria is too big not to have such plants.
Oyeyemi said the economic crunch in the country should not be a reason for motorists to risk their lives with substandard tyres. He said investigations had been concluded on accidents that claimed the lives of secondary school students along the Lagos/Ibadan expressway and the report would soon be released.
The Acting Director General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr. Paul Angya, said the federal government might consider reducing duty fees and tariff on tyres to make them more affordable.
He said SON was working hard to stop the importation of substandard tyres, adding that Michelin and Dunlop left the country because people preferred used and expired tyres to new ones.
