The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has agreed to challenge the legality of the Nigeria Police Force tinted permit policy in court.

The decision was reached as one of the key resolutions of the National Executive Council of the NBA at its pre-conference NEC meeting held on the 23rd day of August 2025 in Enugu.

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 (http://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," the NBA said.

The Inspector General of Police initially pegged the date of commencement of the policy's enforcement to June 1, 2025, but subsequently extended the date to October 2, 2025.

"Despite the fact that the date of commencement of the enforcement of the purported policy has been extended to the 2nd day of October 2025, there have been several reported cases of harassment and extortion of citizens by the Policemen in checkpoint duty on the basis of this same Policy, thus raising serious concerns of threats to and violation of citizens’ fundamental rights to dignity of human person, right to privacy, right to freedom of movement and the right to own movable property guaranteed as by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended," the NBA said.

"Furthermore, the introduction and proposed enforcement of the tinted glass permit Policy has raised several other genuine concerns, including the validity of the Motor Tinted Glass (Prohibition) Act (Decree 1991), a military-era law under which the Police have sought refuge. A critical scrutiny of the Act would confirm concerns that the legislation may be unable to satisfy the test of a law reasonably justifiable in a democratic society under Section 45 of the 1999 Constitution as to justify reliance on it to deprive citizens of their rights to privacy and free movement.

"Moreover, the fact that the legislation does not make provision for renewal of tinted glass permits or payment of fees for renewal are serious issues which clearly reveal that the Policy lacks statutory foundation.

"Furthermore, that payment for the permit is being made into a private account: PARKWAY PROJECTS Account No: 4001017918 raises serious concerns of transparency surrounding the utilisation of funds realized from the exercise given that the account is neither domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria nor associated with the Treasury Single Account of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

"Against the above backdrop, the Nigerian Bar Association, through its Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL) has on Wednesday the 2nd September 2025 instituted a public interest action before the Federal High Court, Abuja in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/182/2025 between: The Incorporated Trustees of the Nigerian Bar Association v. The Inspector General of Police & Anor essentially challenging the legality of the tinted glass permit policy.

"The NBA-SPIDEL under the leadership of its Transition Committee Chairman, Prof. Paul Ananaba, SAN and the Section’s Public Interest Litigation Committee chaired by Mr. Olukunle Ogheneovo Edun, SAN, whose proactive efforts were responsible for the accomplishment of this task, have been directed to pursue this litigation to a logical conclusion."

ASA