MOT Certificate: There Was Never A Plan By The Authorities To Test Vehicles

The MOT test – or Ministry of Transport test – is an annual test carried out on vehicles to verify if a vehicle is safe, road-worthy and does not pose a threat to the environment.

This test is especially mandatory for cars older than 3 years from purchase date ( that is, for vehicles that were bought brand new).

Read more about the MOT in our previous post.

However, we noticed something of a concern.

Without physically examining their vehicles, vehicle owners in Nigeria are issued with MOT certificates. The MOT certificate is an endorsement by the issuing authority that the vehicle that it was issued to is safe, roadworthy and does not pose a threat to the environment.

The Vehicle Inspection Office Driver and Vehicle Licensing Administration (VIO-DVLA) – a Directorate under the Ministry of Transportation – is the institution with the statutory responsibility to examine cars and issue MOT certificates to deserving vehicle owners.

However, the process involved in obtaining an MOT certificates in Nigeria – as highlighted on their website – does not include physical examination of vehicles. In other words, no matter how scrappy and “unroad-worthy” a vehicle is, the VIO-DVLA can still issue it with a road-worthy certificate.

See the process involved in obtaining an MOT certificate on their website:

http://www.viodvla.com/help/index.php?how-to=How-to-get-your-vehicle-MOT

Screenshot of the Website of The VIO – the agency in charge of issuing the MOT Certificate.

How then are vehicles given a clean bill of health when they were not subjected to any test?

Or could the MOT certification system designed only as a revenue generating scheme for the government?

Is this not a systemic fraud by the MOT certificate issuing authorities?

Or what do you think?