Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has taken legal action against the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) over the recently introduced tinted glass permit policy.
Gatekeepers News reports that NBA described the policy as unconstitutional and a breach of fundamental rights.
The decision to challenge the policy was reached during the association’s pre-conference National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Enugu on August 23.
The directive, introduced in April 2025 by IGP Kayode Egbetokun, requires motorists to secure annual permits for tinted glasses through a digital portal (possap.gov.ng). Initially slated for June 1, implementation was later shifted to October 2.
In a statement on Thursday, Paul Ananaba, chairman of the NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL), said the policy raises serious concerns over transparency and accountability.
The statement reads, “In April 2025, the inspector-general of police purportedly introduced a policy which mandated members of the Nigerian motoring public to apply for and obtain annual motor tinted glass permits from the Nigeria Police Force for a fee.”
“The inspector-general of police in the same month purportedly launched a digital portal (possap.gov.ng) through which the application for tinted glass permits was to be processed.”
“We are being informed that the portal and the policy are to be managed by a private vendor, and there is no indication that the funds generated from the enforcement of the purported policy will go into the Federation Account.”
NBA further alleged that the directive has already led to abuses. It noted that there have been several reported cases of harassment and extortion of citizens by policemen in checkpoint duty on the basis of this same policy.
It added that payments for permits are being funneled into a private account belonging to Parkway Projects rather than into the federation account or the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
The association insisted that the policy violates the rights to dignity, privacy, freedom of movement, and property.
It also challenged its legal foundation, pointing out that it seems to rely on the Motor Tinted Glass (Prohibition) Act, a 1991 military decree, which “may not satisfy the constitutional test of being reasonably justifiable in a democratic society.”
NBA filed a public interest case on September 2 at Federal High Court in Abuja. The case, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/182/2025, is yet to be assigned to a judge.
The association said it is committed to pursuing the case to its conclusion, and called on the police to halt enforcement of the policy pending the court’s decision.
