DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ONLINE MOTOR VEHICLE LICENSING SYSTEM
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Traffic
laws and regulations in Nigeria were inherited from colonial administration.
The
first Edith is the 1920 Road Traffic Ordinance of
Lagos Colony and Southern Protectorate of Nigeria which was applied to the
operations of all motor vehicles until the country was demarcated into regions
(Northern, Western and Eastern). Thereafter, each region was empowered to
promulgate its traffic regulations.
Before 1939, vehicle inspection was
carried out by the Directorate of works, while Motor Licensing was supervised
by the Motor Licensing office under finance. As a result of critical issue with
the colonial regiment of England during the world war, the Inspector General of
Police was mandated to undertake the responsibility of vehicle inspection as
well as motor licensing until the 1958 constitution of Nigeria which conferred
powers on regional (state) government to create their own traffic laws.
On 1st January 1949, the road Traffic
Act was promulgated which is available to the Road Traffic Act chapter 548 Laws
of the Federation of Nigeria (1990). It is this Act (1949) that gave birth to
Vehicle Inspection Office. Vehicle registration is the process of adding a vehicle
to the motor vehicle register and issuing it with registration plates. Vehicle
licensing is the payment of a fee for the use of motor vehicle on public roads.
When the fee is paid, you receive a label indicating the expiry date of the
license. This label must be displayed on the vehicle.
In Nigeria, there are
three arms of government agencies that are responsible for automobile
licensing, registration and control. They are Federal Road Safety Commission
(FRSC), the state Vehicle Inspection Officer (VIO) and the state Board of
Internal Revenue (BIR). The usual practice is for an owner to visit these three
arms for the necessary payment, data collection and issuance of necessary
documents and materials such as plate numbers. The state
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board of internal
revenue collects fees for new automobile licenses and registration from owners
through a designated bank. They may request more documents such as custom
papers, purchase receipt, or a change of owner certificate on automobile.
Every automobile within
the nation must be registered under a state and a local government before a
license plate is issued. Nigerian automobile registration plates often have the
state written at the top and have a group of three letters at the right hand
side, indicating the district of registration followed by their main town to
aid in tracing and identifying location. License plates serve to help law
enforcement, motor vehicle authorities and others identify a vehicle while
simultaneously indicating that the registrant has paid the proper registration
fee and taxes on the automobile. License plates also offer information such as
the weight class, the country, state and local government in which the vehicle
is registered, use restrictions (private or commercial) and the age and engine
capacity. In addition, some license plates show whether the owner of the
vehicle is a member of special organization or group such as the police force,
custom and the federal road safety commission. Moreover proof of ownership
certificates are issued to owners of automobiles on payment of certain fee by
the board.
Apart from other
advantages, this will now replace the manual process of registering vehicle,
issuing during licensing, renewing expired licenses, as well changing of
ownership of the vehicle. Since the computerize mode of operation is flexible
and accurate record keeping assured, it will give the management of the motor
licensing authority enough time for planning and decision making rather than
being immersed in the detail of routing function (manual work).
This is necessary since
the control of any establishment alternatively lies in the hand of management.
Also, the computerized operations of the licensing authority will ensure a very
fast retrieval of necessary information about (e.g.) vehicle information to the
police in terms of urgent need like during that of road accident.
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In this research work, interaction will
be created on the computerization and implementation of motor vehicle licensing
authority at the three level organization; vehicle inspection officer, (VIO),
Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the Board of Internal revenue, which
are required to monitor the processes that are involved starting from the exact
date of motor vehicle is registered, licensed, renewed, etc.
In the early 80s, the vehicle licensing
system then was that each vehicle was licensed based on the local government
issuing the licenses. For instance, a vehicle licensed from Ikorodu could bear
(LAG 28 IKD) as plate number. Later with the formation of the Federal Road
Safety Commission (FRSC) in February 18, 1988, many procedures were changed,
the plate number format and their various slogans. Also it was made
constitutional under the motor vehicle administration as a Residual issue under
the 1999 Nigerian constitution that a person seeking for vehicle licensing must
first possess the National driving license.
Motor vehicle administration is a
composite process and revolves around the management and the control of motor
licensing including driving and other related licenses which include the
following matters:
1.
Issuance
and renewal of:
-
Motor
vehicle licenses
-
Local
driving license
-
Learners
permit
-
Certificate
of Roadworthiness of all licenses issued
2.
Registration
of vehicle
3.
Preparing
and keeping of statutory Registers of all licenses issued.
4. Collection
of fees emanating from its operation and payment of same into the appropriate
subhead of the state government’s accou
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Motor vehicle licensing
system on the other hand is a phenomenon that is still estranged to the Nigerian
terrains. Though many western countries e.g. United States of America and some
Asian countries have implemented online licensing in one form or the other; it
is yet to gain popularity in this part of the world. The obvious merit of
online motor vehicle licensing system prompted this research project to see
ways of integrating our vehicle licensing to the internet for speed,
efficiency, reliability and customer satisfaction.
In a highly populated country such as
Nigeria, where a number of car owners increases yearly, and the registration of
motor vehicle is a slow process and sometimes in the sense of it a difficult
task. This is true in the sense that motor vehicle licensing authority/ system
attend to thousands of cars per year; thereby keeping records of license and
their registrations manually was a tedious work. It resulted in files
containing records of application being misplaced, damaged or misfiled due to
the way the manual method of writing these records. Also writing records of
applicants in books affected the span of the record materials, and since the
continue use and re-use of these booklets everyday might lead to wear and tear
which eventually led to loss of important information.
1.2
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
The
basic problems facing motor vehicle licensing are: lack of proper security in
the
system that creates avenue for fraud and
manipulation of stored data in the system, lack of proper, accurate and concise
information about the vehicle owner, poor performance of the system during
information retrieval due to inefficient storage of data, lack of proper and
accurate record keeping of stored information and finally lack of review
process: this is a situation where there is no avenue created for review. This
hinders adequate maintenance of the system.
1.3
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The
aims of this study are:
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v To
develop software that will link by computerization all the procedures of motor
vehicle licensing system in motor license authority (that is, to have a
centralized system).
v To improve the
system performance and efficiency.
v To
enhance the database for proper information and record keeping.
v To
provide a reliable security access in order to avoid tempering with stored
data.
v To
provide a means of accessibility in case of accident and emergency.
v To
enhance speedy recovery of stolen vehicles
1.4
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The
significance of this study is to serve better than the existing system, enhance
database
and improve
effectiveness, efficiency and security of the system. Also to give appropriate
attention and quick access to prospective application. It is also intended that
the study will assist in the development of a new and hopefully better computer
aided system.
1.5
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The
research work is restricted to motor vehicle licensing procedure that can take
place in
the motor
licensing office. This procedure involves an individual registering to obtain
vehicle
license if the
client meets up with the procedure.
1.6
PROJECT REPORT ORGANIZATION
This research
work has five
distinct chapters. Chapter
one contains introduction,
background of the
study, statement of problem, objectives of the study, significance of the study
and the scope of the study. Chapter two is the review of related literature,
while chapter three is the system analysis and design. Chapter four presents
the system implementation with choice of programming language and the system
requirements. Chapter five contains summary, recommendations and conclusion.
There is also bibliography and appendix.