The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has said 21, 438 vehicles failed road worthiness test while 1,120 traffic offenders were prosecuted in a mobile court in Abuja between January and November 2022.
The administration said this figure was gotten from the rigorous examinations the vehicles were subjected to at the computerised vehicle inspection facilities.
The FCT secretary of transportation secretariat, Abdullahi Candido who made this known yesterday during an annual press conference, said a total of 37, 572 vehicles were inspected, and only 16, 198 were found worthy.
Candido attributed the high failure rate to the random importation of fairly used vehicles otherwise known as tokunbo into the country.
He said most of the vehicles were given face-lifting treatment by their initial owners, after being involved in accidents or flooding in their countries of origin.
According to the secretary, while he acknowledged that bad road networks within the suburbs and poor maintenance culture contribute significantly to the failure of vehicles, the Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS) had been mandated to subject all vehicles to the computerised test before car documents renewal.
The administration also revealed that a total of 3,532 out of 54, 620 applicants for driver’s licenses could not get one because they failed the test.
“To ameliorate traffic-related offenses in Abuja, 4,401 errant drivers were sent to compulsory correctional training within this year.
“About 850 dispatch riders were also made to attend the mandatory training of the DRTS, before being issued with a riders certification card,” he said.