Nigeria’s Class G Licence and the Headache of Age Barrier
There are different categories of the Nigerian driver’s licence.
They are:
Class A — Motorcycle
Class B — Motor vehicles with a weight less than three tonnes, excluding motorcycles, taxis, stage carriages, or omnibuses.
Class C — Motor vehicles with a weight less than three tonnes, excluding motorcycles.
Class D — Motor vehicles excluding motorcycles, taxis, stage carriages, or omnibuses, but not including articulated vehicles that draw a trailer.
Class E — Motor vehicles excluding motorcycles or articulated vehicles.
Class F — Agricultural machines and tractors.
Class G — Articulated vehicles.
Class H — Earth-moving vehicles.
Class J — Special category for physically handicapped individuals.
Class V — Convoy driving, which pertains to individuals who drive senior government or political office holders in a stream driving formation.
That makes up ten (10) in number but for the purpose of this article we will focus on Class G Driver’s Licence.
Class G Driver’s Licence is a class of driver’s license mandated for Articulated Vehicle Drivers which includes Trucks and Tractor-Trailers of 5 tonnes and above in Nigeria. However to qualify for this type of driver’s license you must be Twenty-Six years (26 years) and above. I do not know the rationale behind the benchmark for such age and I do not want to believe the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) might be equating to maturity behind the “mega steering wheel” because must modern scientific literature have arrived at a premise that age does not equate to maturity. This age requirement for me needs to be reviewed and adjusted immediately (either as a form of policy or an executive order). Why do I say so? It is because it’s not the best for any economy which needs rapid productivity and efficiency. If Nigeria is to move from her present state of economic quagmire to prosperity and productivity, then this bottleneck needs to be removed as soon as possible.
For example, in the United States of America anyone can qualify to drive an Articulated Vehicle at the age of eighteen (18). In California, you may be hired to drive a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) carrying cargo that originates and terminates within state lines if you are at least 18 years old, and to drive for interstate commerce or transport hazardous materials/waste if you're twenty-one (21) or older and these qualifies for a Class A Commercial Drivers License which is equivalent to Nigeria’s Class G. In China, it has just been reduced to twenty-two (22) years. In Australia, you must be at least nineteen (19) years to qualify for your Class HC (which is equivalent to Class G). In Dubai, you must be twenty (20) years to get the Category 4 Driver’s License as far as the United Arab Emirate is concerned. In Germany, to qualify for C1 or C1E (with trailer) or classes C or CE (with trailer) you must be eighteen (18) years and above. In the African Continent, in South Africa, for you to qualify for your Code C1,C,EC1 and EC (which is equivalent to our Class G Driver’s Licence), the minimum age is eighteen (18) years. I can go on and on.
We cannot have a massive youths employment and empowerment in the haulage transportation space (which is the core of global logistics) without encouraging and incentivizing youth participation. To get the best energy from these young demographics, we need to tap that youthfulness from the get go eighteen (18) years and channel it into the mobility sector to move products from point of production to the point of consumption.
My Recommendation
My advise for the Nigerian Government is to consider fixing the age limit for Articulated Vehicle Drivers to 18 years. The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) can then have two categories of Class G licence which could by Class G1 and Class G2 . The Class G1 should be issued for anyone interested in driving articulated vehicle but will be limited to intra-state travel. After two years the driver can then be issued a Class G2 for inter-state travel.
This I believe will help open up this space for youth participation and economy growth.
Thank you for your time as always.
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