The Nigerian Government is set to become stricter in enforcing its ban on tinted car windows.
According to an official statement by the country’s Minister of Police Affairs, Humphrey Abah, anyone now caught with window tinting film on their vehicle will be ordered to remove it on the spot.
The announcement of the new clampdown follows concerns that tinted car windows are – in the words of Mr Abah – ‘unnecessary’ and add to the country’s ‘insecurity’ through assisting criminal activity .
Although adding film for the purposes of car window tinting has been ostensibly illegal in Nigeria for a number of years, the authorities had previously granted exemption permits for certain vehicles on application. Now, however, according to Mr Abah’s statement, these permits will no longer be valid.
Demonstrating Nigeria’s determination to eliminate car window tinting from its people’s vehicles, Mr Abah further announced that police in the country will receive assistance in carrying out their checks by the nation’s Federal Road safety Corps and from staff within its Road Traffic Services teams.
Car window tinting applied during the process of a vehicle’s original manufacture will however be exempt from the ban; as will tinted car windows on vehicles driven by senior Nigerian government officials.
The legal position in Nigeria contrasts sharply with that of the UK; car window tint in Rochdale, Manchester and other UK towns and cities, is perfectly legal provided that 75% of visible light is still allowed to pass through the windscreen ,and 70% is permitted to pass through the front passenger and driver’s windows.