Joy Anyim
When on December 2, 2019, a truck driver, simply identified as Ado Saleh, who was travelling to the northern part of the country, was shot dead by a bribe-seeking policeman at a checkpoint along Akure-Owo Expressway, at Uso in the Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State, the incident further drew attention to the plight of motorists, who ply major routes in the country.
The complaints had always being the high level of extortion and delay caused by such countless checkpoints and roadblocks, as security personnel barricade the highways, obstructing the free flow of traffic in the name of securing the highways.
While fellow truck drivers took to major roads in the state to protest the arbitrary killing and extreme case of extortion by security personnel at various checkpoints, the Senate had three days after the incident, called on the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mohammed Adamu, to reduce the number of police checkpoints on federal roads.
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In a statement by the Senate, signed by the Special Assistant (Press), to President of the Senate, Ezrel Tabiowo, the senate said the checkpoints were causing lots of trauma and suffering for commuters.
“Appeal to the Inspector General of Police as a matter of urgency to review the number of checkpoints on Lagos-Onitsha Federal Highways with a view to scaling them down and all other federal highways in the country not only as a result of the coming Yuletide festivities but all times from now going forward. Further appeal to the Inspector General of Police to direct his men on the road checkpoints to wear human face while attending to the motoring public and eschew all forms of extortion, as is commonly alleged, while carrying out stop and search and the establishment of the validity of the vehicle particulars of vehicle owners,” the statement read in part.
However, over a week after the plea by the senate, findings by The Nigerian Xpress revealed that armed policemen are yet to leave the roads, even as the Yuletide draws closer, meaning that travellers may be in for a difficult time.
This is because, not only do drivers now have the police checkpoints to contend with, the military, customs officials and men of the Federal Road Safety Corps add to travellers’ palaver.
Some drivers and commuters, who spoke to the correspondent revealed that although the initial idea of drafting security personnel to ensure security on the highways was a pleasant gesture, it has now been abused by security personnel, who see it as a goldmine.
Some drivers, who ply the Lagos to Benin and Onitsha route said they encounter over 60 checkpoints/roadblocks, where they, as a matter of compulsion, pay between N50 and N100. While those who travel the South-North axis, cum East -North axis said there are much more checkpoints, where they pay higher tolls of between N200 and N500.
While lamenting that the checkpoints, especially on highways that are not dual carriage, cause heavy traffic, making travelling by road a nightmare, drivers said there might be a complete lockdown on the road as well as a radical hike in the transportation fares this Yuletide, if the trend continues.
Speaking on what he called a sickening pattern, a driver, Francis Enu, said there was need for an urgent action to reduce the number of checkpoints/roadblocks, as longer hours are now spent due to traffic caused by such checkpoints.
Emu, a driver with one if the popular transport companies in Benin, has been a regular on the Lagos to Benin road for over seven years. He maintained that travelling by road has become a difficult hurdle that motorists have to deal with.
“From Lagos to Benin should be a journey of say five hours. But before you deal with the traffic and bad road in Lagos, and then start the journey proper, policemen, customs officials, Army and others will come with their own trouble. It is from one checkpoint to another. From Sagamu to Okada in Edo State, the number of checkpoints we encounter is too many. The Army has, say four checkpoints from Ogun State to Edo state, but the police mount checkpoints/roadblocks from pole to pole. The worst checkpoints are those manned by the police.
“What even more annoying is that when they stop one vehicle, every other vehicle behind that vehicle will have to wait. Most times, why they even stop vehicles is not because they want to check for an incriminating item, they stop only vehicles whose drivers refuse to give them their toll, which is between N50 and N100.
“Once you don’t pay them, they will ask you to open your booth, and offload all you have. By the time you offload and they search and find nothing, they will request for your vehicle particulars. Sometimes, because you don’t want their trouble, you just give them the money because you don’t want to waste your time and that of your passengers, and still end up paying more.
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“So, you see yourself spending close to ten hours for a journey that should be less. The fact is that the police disturb drivers too much. Now that Christmas is approaching, their new strategy is to ask if you are carrying bags of rice. Are they customs officials to be asking if one is carrying rice? Or Are we at the border? The road is very okay now but the policemen on the road are our problem, they are a disturbance to smooth travel experience, ” Enu maintained.
The story was also not different with Cletus Yakubu, a driver who plies the Lagos to Warri and Port Harcourt axis a the same transport company. He said his initial joy about having security personnel on the road has turned to resentment.
Yakubu said he was travelling along the Benin -Ore Road, the day Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, the 58-year-old daughter of the leader of the Pan Yoruba Socio-Political Group, Afenifere, was killed by unknown gunmen.
The driver indicted the police, saying some operatives, who were at a checkpoint close to the scene of the crime did nothing to repel the attack from the suspected killers.
He said: “The Army does not have problem; it is the policemen that are our problem. They are self-centered, all they want is money. Even if you are carrying a criminal and you just give them the money they request, you are good to go. If they are robbing at a spot and you run to them to inform them, they will tell you it is not their jurisdiction. Do you know that the day they killed the daughter of the Afenifere leader, I was also travelling on that road. We saw it happen; the police did nothing. They were just poles away and all they did was to watch from a distance. But the soldiers on the road are brilliant. If they see everyone in your bus sleeping, they will ask you to wake them and they will ask them if they are fine. For army checkpoints, one should not make phone call when one gets there. If not they will consider it a security threat and delay the bus to investigate the purpose of the phone call at the checkpoint.”
Speaking on what travellers may likely experience this Yuletide, Yakubu said if things continue as they are, the traffic caused by checkpoints will triple because there will be more vehicles on the road this season.
Yakubu put it thus: “People who want to travel this season should prepare their minds for the worst. The way security personnel barricade the roads will cause long traffic. We are complaining of traffic when it is not the rush season, now that it is the festive season and many people will be travelling, which means more vehicle will be on the road, we should expect the worst. But, if the government can instruct the police and the army to reduce the checkpoints it will help greatly, ”
Oluwadamilare Babalola, a driver with another transport company, said the traffic caused by checkpoints on the highways had already doubled.
Babalola, a bus driver, who drives from Lagos to Owerri, said the traffic at Onitsha, owing to the checkpoints by security personnel is already a thing of great concern.
He also advised intending travellers to load their pockets, as the traffic caused by the checkpoints, may snowball into a hike in transportation like it has never being.
He said: “This period will be tough for travellers. The traffic has started, due to the many security checkpoints. Very soon, as the traffic worsens, we will have to increase the price of transportation. This is because we may have to be spending two days on a journey, so we will need to make up for the time lag. It is the passengers that will suffer it.”
Also sharing his thought on what travellers may likely experience this Yuletide, a sienna space bus driver, who simply identified himself as Kenneth, said travellers should just expect to pass, at least, one night on the road before getting to their destination.
He said: “It is better we call the checkpoints borders, because I really don’t know what their usefulness is. The checkpoints are too close; they cause heavy traffic and make you pay money that you don’t have. While some of the checkpoints focus on private cars, some focus on buses, others on trucks. So, if you get to those who are after bus drivers, while they attend to bus drivers, you have to wait. The worst of them all is the Special Anti -Robbery Squad, SARS, personnel on Benin road. Those guys are not friendly; they arrest passengers who confront them. They handcuff them and delay the bus.
“Well, for those who intend to travel this Christmas, it is best to just watch while your driver do the talking. Don’t just interfere and don’t wear any suspicious appearance. Those guys have guns, they can just do the unthinkable at the slightest provocation.”
Those who travel the northern region said the presence of security personnel on the highways has not in anyway stopped the incessant cases of robbery and kidnapping.
According to Abimbola Oluwaseun, a driver, who plies the Lagos -Abuja route, security personnel know the hot spot, but will not plant their roadblocks there but avoid such places instead.
His words: “They know the hotspots. For example, Ilesa Road has become notorious, robbers will come with a bus, block the road for hours, and cart away the belongings of travellers and the security personnel will be nowhere to be found. At that spot, we need the Army positioned there so that as people travel this December, they won’t have a regrettable journey.
“Also, on Kogi -Okene road, kidnapping happen there regularly. But because Okene road is bad, we now go through Ikara, Iborokpa and Awuga to Kaba and then Lokoja. Do you also know that the bad guys now operate there, even with the security checkpoints there? And you must give them their right (money). My company even devised a means by buying bottled water for them, but when you give them water, they will tell you they don’t want; instead they want their money. If you tell them you don’t have, they will tell you to borrow from your passengers.
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Chairman Paul told the correspondent that the case was fairer when travelling from Lagos, compared to when travelling to the North from the East.
Paul who also drives for one if the transport companies, said motorists go through hell when travelling from, say Aba or Port -Harcourt to Abuja.
“We have close to 100 checkpoints from Aba to Abuja, on the road; a good number of them, police checkpoints. They collect either N500 or N1000. No reduction and no plea is accepted. They feel most people travelling from Aba to Abuja are businessmen and they have money and must have paid the transport company well to carry their goods,” Paul explained.
It is a totally different story with Churchman Oti, a Hummer bus driver.
Oti has close to 10 years driving experience and said he had a way to approach matters when travelling. He noted that although the checkpoints are causing much traffic and a long wait, but that security men on the road don’t disturb Hummer bus drivers
“You can spend close to 30 minutes at one spot due to checkpoints, and when you complain, the security personnel will rain insult on you, and in extreme cases park you to search. They even go as far as searching passengers phones, when they intrude. But for us that drive Hummer Bus, we don’t give them money, although other bus drivers do. Me I feel why drivers agree to pay their illegal toll is because they have a skeleton in there cupboard. If I have nothing to hide, why should I pay them?” Oti queried.
The case is different for luxury bus drivers. They travel mostly at night and said no security personnel dare stops them while on high speed, as they drive to crush any obstruction on their way.
Ugochukwu Jonas, a luxury bus driver, advised those travelling by road this season to patronise the night buses. This he said is because most of the roadblocks during the day are cleared at night for free movement.
He also stated that travellers should dispel the fear of travelling at night, as the roads are now safe, owing to the presence of military men on the road.
“My advice is that during this period, all the roadblocks be removed and security personnel stationed by the side of the road, not obstructing vehicular movement. But for we luxury drivers, they cannot stop us. We travel only at night and by then, the roads are clear. Another interesting fact is that most of these so-called security men on the road are the robbers and kidnappers we are talking about. Some of the criminals on the highway are clad in police and, sometimes, military uniforms when they come to operate, ” he said.
Mr. Osita Uche, also a luxury bus driver, with almost 20 years experience, travelling from Lagos to Jos, counted over 70 checkpoints manned by the police, the military, customs and Road Safety on his route.
“The only personnel that can stop a luxury bus is the customs officials. Every other person, who gets on our way, we may just crush,” he said.
The correspondent also observed that most parks are already busy, as people are already travelling with their children, following the early vacation of schools.
A businessman, who said he comes to Lagos to buy goods, at least, once every month, also shared the thought of the luxury bus drivers.
The man, who gave his identity as Steven Elo, based in Owerri, said it was because of the harassment by policemen at checkpoints that he had to embrace night travels, which is a faster and more comfortable way.
“I buy goods from Lagos to sell in Owerri. I noticed some years back that travelling by night is better than wasting time during the day. When I used to travel by day, the police would always stop my bus, and because my goods may take a whole seat, they will request for the invoice and sometimes check one after another. It was wasting my time and that of other passengers. It came to a point where whenever I get to the park, driver won’t want to carry me because they know the police will always keep disturbing. But since I started doing the night journey, I am not answering any question from the police, neither do I waste time.”
He also advised intending travellers to either travel by night bus or be ready to spend 24 hours on the road.
Eunice, as she chose to identify herself, said every road user should by now be used to police extortion and traffic. She said travelling this Christmas like every other one, will not be different.
According to her: “ The reason I am travelling before the rush is to reduce the hours I will spend on the road. But we are used to the traffic on the road, things won’t change. Traveller, who will be coming during the peak period should just know that they will pay higher and also spend longer hours on the road. Based on what my brother a transporter told me this season, it is better not to travel with cash, don’t carry foreign rice, and don’t interfere when you get to a checkpoint. Just allow your driver answer all the questions and do the talking.”
A Transport Manager at Volks Park, along Mile 2-Badagry Expressway, said based on the feelers the company gets from drivers, police checkpoints are the most problematic.
He called on IGP Adamu to set up a special monitoring team to checkmate the activities of policemen on the highways.
“The policemen, who will be part of the monitoring team don’t need to be in uniform. Let them just be on mufti, drive like travellers in a bus and see how their men conduct themselves on the highways. This will help to check the excesses of the policemen,” he said.
Contacted for comments on why the number of police checkpoints on the highways were yet to be reduced, given the appeal by the senate to ease traffic in the Yuletide, the Force Police Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, a Deputy Superintendent of Police said the police authority was working on the appeal.
Mba said, “ We are working on the concerns of the citizens.”