Kwara State Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr. Christopher Ademoluti, on Wednesday said the FRSC had put the minimum age of commercial drivers in Nigeria at 26.
Speaking during the inauguration of the commercial driving licence in Ilorin, Ademoluti also said underage commercial drivers were responsible for some of the road crashes in the country.
He said, “We want to put the minimum age of a commercial driver in Nigeria at 26 to enable them to have the experience, maturity and expertise to drive and convey people, unlike the current system where we have underage people driving commercial vehicles.
“With the new driving licence, we want to have all the data of the commercial drivers.
“We don’t want to have a driver who drives 18-seater bus to endanger the lives of the 18 people. It is only one commercial driver that dies where 18 people die.”
He stated that the upgraded National Drivers Licence would help reduce accidents.
According to him, the NDL contains the data of commercial drivers and would serve as checks on them.
Ademoluti also said six driving schools had been approved to train commercial drivers before being issued with the new licence.
He added that the biometric documentation of all licensed drivers would aid in tracking down criminals.
According to him, it will also reduce the loss of revenue accruing to the state through unpatriotic citizens through their illicit activities in the parallel production of the licence.