Drivers of illegal tinted vehicles will face jail time or a fine of N50,000

Senate yesterday approved a legislation prescribing six months jail for anyone caught driving vehicles with tinted glass illegal. The offender may pay a N50,000 fine in lieu of imprisonment. This is contained in the Bill for an Act to amend the Motor Vehicle (Prohibition of tinted glass) Act aimed at checking indiscriminate use of tinted glass. The new legislation seeks essentially, “to amend the extant law in order to check indiscriminate use of tinted glass vehicles which beat security checks and carry out nefarious activities.” The amendment was done following the spate of reactions from Nigerians on the recent announcement by the police of their intention to arrest and prosecute those driving vehicles with tinted glass . Senate acknowledged that the police were not trying to introduce a new law, but was merely trying to enforce an already existing regulation 66 (2) of the National Traffic Regulations of 1997 and the Motor Vehicles (Prohibition of tinted glass) Act. The bill, among other provisions, requests buyers of imported vehicles with tinted, shaded, coloured, darkened or treated glass to change them to transparent ones within 14 days from the date of arrival in Nigeria or date of purchase. In the alternative, it demands that buyers of such vehicles should request for a permit for the use of such tinted glass vehicles from the Office of the Inspector-General of Police, anywhere in the country, within 90 days of importing the vehicle. It is also an offence for anyone to procure tinted glass on vehicles brought into the country with transparent glass, otherwise than in accordance of the provisions of the Act. An individual who bought a tinted glass vehicle without changing it to transparent glass within 14 days, according to the bill, shall be liable to N2, 000 fine or be jailed for six months, or to both. The bill also said that an individual who failed to seek registration for permit shall upon conviction be liable to a fine of N50, 000 or to a six-month imprisonment or both.Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who chaired the session, commended his colleagues for passing the bill, noting that tinted glass vehicles were constituting security challenges and that their continued usage could cause accidents. “We have done the right thing by passing the bill.” Ekweremadu noted