THAT UNWARRANTED BAN ON CARS WITH FACTORY FITTED TINTED WINDOWS BY AN INEPT POLICE IG : Senate Moves to Unban Use of Tinted Glasses

A bill seeking to stop the Nigeria Police, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and other security agencies from harassing people who use vehicles with factory fitted tinted glasses will go through second reading on the floor of the Senate tomorrow.

The sponsor of the bill, Senator Ita Enang (Akwa Ibom North East), said initiating the bill had become imperative in view of the incessant harassment of motorists who use tinted glasses, saying if the security agencies do not want Nigerians to use vehicles with tinted glasses, the best they can do is to completely prohibit the entry of such vehicles into the country.

According to Enang, it falls short of reason to ask persons who buy tinted glasses to go and remove them when it is common knowledge that the factory which produced such vehicles do not exist in Nigeria.
He also faulted the move by the police to compel people to obtain permit before they can use their vehicles with tinted glasses.

Enang, who is the Chairman, Rules and Business in the Senate, added that whereas the police always claimed that obtaining permission for the use of tinted glasses was free, such claim existed only on the pages of newspapers as persons who sought such permission reported that they were given various charges ranging from N10,000 and above.

He also queried the custody of the charges for tinted glasses’ permit, wondering who are the custodians of the money and the treasury where the money is kept as he, insisted that it was wrong for the police authorities to perpetrate the attitude of exploiting Nigerians without any legal basis.

There has been a running battle between motorists and the Nigeria Police over the use of vehicles with tinted glasses in Nigeria since 2008 resulting in a continuous clampdown on the former over the development.

The clampdown followed the ban placed on it with effect from February 28, 2011, with claims that the use of heavily filmed cars are prohibited.

The ban affects service chiefs, judges of all cadres, ministers, senators, inspector general of police, diplomats as well as police commissioners.

Only the president, vice-president, governors, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Deputy Senate President and the majority leader are allowed to use tinted glasses in the country.

The police said the need to ban the use of tinted glasses in the country had become necessary in view of the increasing state of insecurity in the country.