Lost Driver's Licence in Nigeria — Police Extract First, Then the FRSC Reissue Route

A Nigerian driver's licence reissue after a lost card is the cluster's only routine procedure that requires an upstream step at a different federal agency before the FRSC-side flow can advance. The Nigeria Police Force Divisional Police Officer at the Division covering the geographical location of loss is the upstream counterpart; the FRSC portal at https://nigeriadriverslicence.frsc.gov.ng/ and the chosen Drivers' Licence Centre are the downstream counterparts. The article walks the upstream half first because the FRSC side cannot proceed without it, then the downstream half.

This is what structurally separates the lost-DL route from the damaged-DL replacement route covered in the next article. A damaged card carries the documentary trigger on its face — the physical card is itself the evidence of damage and the FRSC State Command accepts it at surrender. A lost card has no such trigger; the police extract substitutes for the missing physical evidence and anchors the loss as a documented event rather than a self-declared one. The structural difference shows up in the documentary bundle, the timeline, and the cross-cluster traffic.

The reissue follows the FRSC standard licence-fee schedule that took effect on 8 June 2025 and runs through the same central production facility in Abuja that serves first-issue and renewal. The biometric capture is fresh — fingerprints, photograph and signature are recaptured at the chosen DLC against the existing Driver's Licence Number.

The article speaks to the licence-holder whose plastic-card National Drivers Licence has been lost — pickpocketed, mislaid at a venue, stolen in a wallet, left behind at a checkpoint, or otherwise no longer in hand. Four overlapping readers. The personal driver whose Class B private-car licence has gone with a stolen wallet and who needs the card restored before the next traffic stop. The commercial driver whose Class C, D or E licence is the employment-bound documentation and whose pay-cycle depends on the card being current. The fleet operator coordinating across a roster of drivers and finding one or several have lost cards in the same month. The motorcyclist whose Class A licence vanished during a roadside incident.

The three-actor architecture is wider than usual on the lost-DL case because the upstream actor is the Nigeria Police Force — a different federal agency than the FRSC. The applicant supplies the documentary stack and attends both halves; the FRSC operates the State Command, the DLC and the portal; the NPF Divisional Police Officer issues the upstream extract; and the downstream verifier — at the traffic stop, the employer's verification desk, the bank's KYC counter, the insurance company on the vehicle policy — reads the fresh card once production completes. Each actor's role is named below in the procedure walk.

The Nigeria Police Force is the issuer of the upstream documentary anchor for any lost-document reissue case in Nigeria, and the lost-DL case is no exception. The extract is a written report on the Division's letterhead bearing the NPF stamp and the Divisional Police Officer's signature. The right counterpart is the DPO at the Division covering the geographical location where the loss occurred — not the Area Command, not the State Command, and not Force Headquarters. The detailed procedure at the Division is covered in the cross-cluster police report for lost documents walkthrough; the article walks the upstream documentary procedure that the FRSC reissue depends on, including the no-fee position under the NPF General Orders convention.

The extract content the FRSC reads at the reissue step is what makes the police side specifically a documentary anchor rather than a generic letter. Naming FRSC explicitly on the letter of request to the DPO is what aligns the case officer's drafting with the FRSC State Command's documentary expectation at the next step.

The extract content the FRSC reads — the applicant's full name and NIN, the Driver's Licence Number where remembered, the date and location of loss, the circumstances of the loss, and the explicit naming of FRSC as the downstream re-issuance authority — is what the State Command's reconciliation desk looks for at the documentary check on capture day. A defective extract collected and signed at the Division is harder to correct than a defective draft at the desk; verify the content at the Division before leaving the station.

The sworn affidavit of loss accompanies the police extract. The deponent — the licence-holder — declares before a Commissioner for Oaths at a Magistrate Court or State High Court the date, location, and circumstances of the loss, the licence-holder's identity, and the request for a fresh licence on the FRSC record. The Lagos State Judiciary publishes the affidavit fee at ₦500; other State High Courts and the Magistrate Court tier are broadly in line. The Court of Appeal carries a published ₦300 affidavit fee for matters at that tier. The how to swear an affidavit in Nigeria walkthrough covers the form and administration of the oath itself.

With the police extract and the sworn affidavit in hand, the FRSC-side flow runs through the application portal at the Reissue of Driver's Licence menu option. The portal reads the application against the existing Driver's Licence Number and the licence-holder's date of birth, generates a fresh Remita Retrieval Reference for the licence-class fee tier, and books a fresh biometric capture appointment at the chosen Drivers' Licence Centre.

1. 1
   Open the Reissue of Driver's Licence flow at the FRSC portalGo to nigeriadriverslicence.frsc.gov.ng, select the DL Application menu, and pick Reissue of Driver's Licence. The portal reads the application against the existing Driver's Licence Number and date of birth.
2. 2
   Verify the personal details on the FRSC recordThe portal pulls the licence-holder's record (full name, date of birth, address, NIN, current licence class). Confirm the values match what the police extract and the affidavit state about the lost card. Mismatches at this step stall the reissue at the State Command's documentary check.
3. 3
   Pay the licence-class fee tierClass A motorcycle and tricycle: ₦7,000 (3-year) or ₦11,000 (5-year). Classes B through J: ₦15,000 (3-year) or ₦21,000 (5-year). The portal generates a Remita Retrieval Reference; pay through any participating bank channel, the FRSC-listed online card flow, or the Remita-routed payment surfaces. Keep the bank's payment-confirmation message and the Remita success page.
4. 4
   Book the biometric recapture appointment at the chosen DLCPick a Drivers' Licence Centre — usually the DLC closest to current residence or the original-issue DLC. The fresh capture takes fingerprints, photograph and signature against the existing licence number; this is what generates the fresh production record at the Abuja facility.
5. 5
   Attend the DLC on the appointment day with the documentary bundleCarry the original police extract from the DPO, the original sworn affidavit, a photocopy of the lost licence where retained, the FRSC application printout, the NIN slip, and a current government photo ID. The State Command's documentary-check desk reviews the bundle; the capture officer takes the fresh biometrics.
6. 6
   Collect the temporary driver's licence at captureFRSC issues a temporary driver's licence at the recapture step that is valid for 60 days. This is the legal-driving document during the production window — carry it while driving until the fresh plastic card arrives.
7. 7
   Track production and collect the fresh card at the chosen DLCUse the Track DL Application Status surface at the FRSC portal — the [status-check walkthrough](/drivers-licence/how-to-check-drivers-licence-status/) covers the four production-pipeline states. Plastic-card production at the central facility in Abuja typically completes in 4 to 8 weeks; the fresh card is dispatched to the chosen collection DLC. Backlog periods extend this to 8 to 16 weeks honestly.

The reissue produces a fresh card carrying the existing licence number on the existing validity tier — the reissue does not reset the expiry date of the original. Where the original was close to expiry at the time of loss, the reissue route may not be the cleanest path; the State Command's reconciliation desk may route the case through renewal instead so the fresh card carries a fresh validity period. Ask at the documentary-check desk on capture day.

The pragmatic discipline during a lost-DL reissue is to treat the road-driving authority as paused between the loss event and the temporary driver's licence being in hand. Driving on a card that is no longer in the licence-holder's possession is operationally driving without a licence; the FRSC officer at a traffic stop reads the absence of the physical card the same way the absence of a licence in any other case is read.

The driving-without-licence penalty schedule the FRSC officer applies:

Two consequences worth holding in mind during the reissue window. The ₦10,000 fine and the ten penalty points apply at the FRSC traffic stop the same as for any driving-without-licence case; an FRSC officer does not read intent. The motor-insurance policy on the vehicle is voidable from the moment the cover requires the driver to hold a valid licence; an accident during the reissue window may produce a policy-side denial regardless of fault on the road. The temporary driver's licence issued at recapture closes both exposures; it is the legal-driving document during the 60-day window the temporary covers and is reissued at the DLC if the plastic card takes longer than 60 days.

The cleaner discipline is to use the passenger seat — taxi, ride-hailing, lift from a family member, public transport — between the loss event and the temporary being in hand. The 60-day temporary then carries the road-driving authority until the fresh plastic card lands at the collection DLC.

• Do NOT skip the police-extract step on the grounds that the loss feels minor or self-evident. The FRSC State Command's documentary-check desk requires the extract on Division letterhead with the DPO signature and the NPF stamp; a personal statement or a hand-written declaration does not have the same standing and the reissue stalls at the capture-day check.
• Do NOT continue driving on a found card after the reissue has started. The found card is treated as cancelled from the date the loss was filed at the police Division; continuing to present it at a traffic stop produces a finding of misrepresentation against the NPF record and complicates the documentary trail.
• Do NOT pay an informal 'facilitation' charge at the Division for the police extract itself. The extract is no-fee under the NPF General Orders convention on routine police services; ask for any official charge to be written and receipted and decline charges the procedure does not require.
• Do NOT generate a fresh-application reference at the portal instead of the Reissue of Driver's Licence flow. A fresh application produces a new licence number on a new validity tier and adds the driving-school certificate step that the licence-holder does not need; the Reissue flow preserves the existing number and skips the driving-school step.
• Do NOT delay the FRSC reissue once the police extract is in hand. Some FRSC State Commands treat extracts older than three to six months as stale and ask for a fresh one. Move the reissue application within a few weeks of the extract date to keep the bundle fresh.

The lost-DL reissue article ties to both the FRSC-side cluster and the upstream police-side cluster:

• How to apply for driver's licence — the cluster hub for the three-stage procedural and the NRTR 2012 class framework.
• Driver's licence requirements — the documentary stack by class for reference.
• Driver's licence fees — the fee landscape by class and validity tier; the reissue follows the same schedule.
• How to check driver's licence status — the four production-pipeline states the reissue runs through.
• How to book driver's licence capture — the booking step for the fresh biometric recapture at the chosen DLC.
• Damaged driver's licence — the alternative recovery route where the card is damaged rather than lost.
• Change of name on driver's licence — the modification route where a marital or court-ordered name change coincides with the reissue.
• Police report for lost documents — the upstream police-side walkthrough at the Nigeria Police Force Division.
• How to swear an affidavit in Nigeria — the form and administration of the sworn affidavit of loss.