Police Launch  Digitised Central Motor Registry Portal to Curb Car Theft

*Urges motorists to utilise portal effectively

Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja 

The police high command said it has launched a rejuvenated Central Motor Registry (CMR) unit to enable seamless management of information of every motor vehicle and its ownership in Nigeria and to curb car theft.

A statement issued by the Force Public Relations Officer and Chief Supretendent of Police (CSP), Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said the launch was sequel to the earlier commissioning of the unit and flag-off of the 1st Phase (stolen vehicle report portal), a module in the digitalised Central Motor Registry Information System (CMRIS), by the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Baba, on  December 7, 2022.

It said the mandatory registration of vehicle information by the central motor registry since inception about seven decades ago, which was done manually and therefore fraught with some challenges had given way to the digitalised Central Motor Registry Information System (CMRIS) for seamless management of information of every motor vehicle and its ownership.

“The digitalised CMRIS will effectively serve the purpose of obtaining additional information from members of the public about stolen vehicles and populating the stolen vehicle database so as to ensure that vehicles to be registered by the CMR are not stolen and to aid investigation of stolen vehicles and vehicle-associated incidents. 

“Similarly, owners of motor vehicles operating on Nigeria roads and members of the public are hereby notified that the new procedure for requesting for the Nigeria Police Force Central Motor Registry services such as motor vehicle information, change of ownership, change of engine/chassis/body, change of colour, international motor vehicle certificate, international drivers’ permit, etcetera is to create a profile on the CMRIS portal and apply for the desired service via https://cmris.npf.gov.ng/“, it said.

The statement further said that the Inspector-General of Police  directed the discontinuation of manual processing and issuance of all CMR documents/certificates and a migration to the digitalised NPF CMR platform. 

“Consequently, all other CMR certificates hitherto issued by the Nigeria Police Force are therefore no longer valid/recognised forthwith. 

“The IGP urges members of the public to cooperate with the police as the digitalised CMR platform will provide motor vehicle information for robust and proactive actions in crime prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution, and efforts toward enhancing national security”, it said.