With just two days to the 12 August deadline for vehicle owners to obtain or regularise their tinted glass permits, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has remained silent on how it plans to enforce the directive, a development that has left motorists anxious and uncertain.
The renewed focus on tinted glass permits dates back to 1 May 2025, when the police reactivated their digital tinted glass permit platform after years of public complaints about abuse, extortion, and arbitrary arrests linked to tinted windows.
The platform, according to the Force, is meant to enhance transparency, make the application process easier, and strengthen national security, particularly in curbing crimes where tinted vehicles are used to conceal occupants’ identities.
To ease compliance, the police initially announced a 30-day grace period from 1 May, during which motorists could apply for new permits or regularise existing ones.
Force Public Relations Officer, Assistant Commissioner (ACP) Muyiwa Adejobi, stressed in a statement at the time that enforcement would begin once the grace period expired, and warned officers against harassment or extortion during enforcement.
Adejobi said, ‘To ensure a smooth transition, a 30-day grace period has been approved, effective from 1 May 2025, within which motorists are expected to comply. Enforcement will commence at the end of this period. Officers found engaging in unprofessional conduct, such as extortion or harassment in the course of enforcement, will be decisively dealt with in accordance with extant disciplinary procedures’.
Following widespread public feedback about application bottlenecks and accessibility issues, including complaints from motorists in rural areas and those without internet access, the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, extended the grace period to 12 August 2025.
According to him, the extension was intended to make the process more ‘citizen-friendly’.
Now, with the deadline just 48 hours away, the absence of updated guidelines on post-deadline enforcement is fuelling fresh concern.
Motorists fear that officers may exploit the situation, given Nigeria’s history of heavy-handed traffic enforcement and roadside extortion.
When contacted on Saturday, Force spokesperson, Adejobi, simply said, ‘We will speak on it soon’.
However, the police had yet to issue any statement as of the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile, some motorists who spoke to Sunday PUNCH expressed worry over police silence.
A private car owner, Jamiu Azeez, said the silence from the police was creating unnecessary panic.
He said, ‘In a matter like this, the police should be sending reminders to motorists, not leaving everyone in suspense. We all know how the police can be, they might use this as an opportunity to extort money from people. My advice is that everyone should get the permit now, to avoid trouble’.
Similarly, a driver, who identified himself only as Samuel, said he had been deliberately avoiding routes with police checkpoints as he had not yet obtained his permit.
He said, ‘We didn’t hear anything from the police. They should tell us if we still have to apply now or if they’ll extend it again. And honestly, this should have been free. Why should one have to pay again for something that came with the car? It should just be part of ordinary vehicle registration.
‘We, motorists, are in the dark and unsure whether the police will immediately begin enforcement, grant us another extension, or roll out a phased implementation plan. For us, the uncertainty is almost as troubling as the prospect of being stopped at a checkpoint without the required permit’.
Another private car owner, Wale Daniel, expressed concern, noting that the tint on his vehicle came with it by default and that he planned to remove it since he had no special use for it.
He argued that paying for a permit in such a situation would be wasteful.
‘If I don’t remove it now, the police will disturb me’, Daniel said. ‘There’s nothing I’m doing with the tinted glass, it came like that when I bought the car’.
A motorist with a tinted vehicle, Oladimeji Armstrong, accused the police of being inconsiderate, adding that Nigerians were already weighed down by fuel subsidy removal, high electricity tariffs, and now the tinted permit fee.
He called on President Bola Tinubu to direct the IG to halt the exercise, describing the measure as ‘unfriendly’ and ‘insensitive’ to current economic realities.
‘The N16,000 the police are asking motorists to pay for the permit is sheer wickedness’, Armstrong said. ‘Are they from the moon? Do they not know that Nigerians, including car owners, can barely feed or fuel their vehicles?
‘President Bola Tinubu should use his good offices to stop this conscienceless extortion so that Nigerians can breathe. The police should drop the idea because many of us see it as a way to continually rip off the people.
‘If they are talking about tinted permits, will that solve insecurity? Tinted vehicles are not the cause of terrorism, banditry, ritual killings, or other crimes spreading across the country. As a motorist, I oppose this new move by the police to extort money from the masses. Motorists already feel terrible paying high fuel prices and outrageous electricity bills; now the police want to join the party with this permit issue’.
A car owner in Kano, Luqman Ibrahim, argued that authorities should not be focusing on tinted vehicles at a time when the country is grappling with more urgent security threats.
‘I think tint regulation is not something the police should be concerned with right now’, he said. ‘Criminals and terrorists are ravaging the country, and our security agencies are chasing petty issues. Does a terrorist need tinted car to strike?
‘I have a tinted car for security reasons, but my worry is that policemen will use this as another avenue to extort Nigerians. I’ve yet to apply for the permit, and I heard enforcement starts on the 12th of this month. I’ll apply before then, but I still believe this is not right.
