“The Manager! We dey hail o, moring sah! Any tin for your boys? Your boys dey hia under sun dey do una work o!”
Those were the words that greeted me and my driver, Dapo, as we approached the 2 policemen mounting what was very obviously an illegal roadblock, just before we hit the Akure-Ile Ife Expressway, on our way out of Ilesha, Osun State back to Ibadan.
Dapo wound down the glass on his side of the front window and I was instantly hit with the smell of alcohol. The policeman standing by the window reeked of alcohol and his eyes were blood-red at 1 o’clock in the afternoon on a hot sunny day. Aside from the one who stood by the driver’s side, another gun-toting policeman was stationed in front of the official Toyota Corolla I was assigned to, in a posture that could only be described as “ready to shoot.”
As I made to engage them in small talk, the one beside the car released a volley of shots into the air as if to get our full attention. I hurriedly passed a five hundred naira note to my driver to hand over to him, and we slowly moved out of the view and range with our hearts in our mouths.
Curiously, we had been in Ilesha and Osogbo over the last 2 days because of a robbery incident in Ilesha Town on September 28, 2011, in which 2 major commercial banks were attacked, properties destroyed and millions of naira carted away. The robbers operated with impunity for over an hour and there was no single resistance from any law enforcement agent during the period. But there we were, law-abiding citizens trying to exit the town and we were accosted by armed policemen in the same narrow entry/exit point that the robbers would have passed through with no resistance.
The irony of the situation either makes you laugh or cry for what security has become for the average Nigerian, especially those that ply the highways that transverse the length and breadth of the nation.
In Nigeria, the highways were mostly built after the Civil War to link the Southern and Northern parts of the country as a form of integration, and to increase trade between the two parts of the nation. These highways are labelled the A1, A2, A3 and A4, and from these, flow all other roads in the country.
Trunk A roads are the major arteries of the integrated national road network, cutting across States. They are constructed and maintained by the Federal Government.
Trunk B roads are the next category of roads in Nigeria and basically link different parts of a State in the Federation. They are built and maintained by the various State Governments.
Trunk C roads are roads running between streets inside Local Government Areas. The responsibility to build and maintain them rests with the local authorities.
I have highlighted the different categories of roads we operate and whose responsibility each is, so the next time you are on a road and it’s bad or not motorable, you know where the responsibility lies.
Ordinarily, driving through the expansive road network in Nigeria should be a thing of joy and fun. Families should regularly take these trips as a form of education and to showcase the beautiful scenery that a road trip can reveal to the kids, but alas, it is the opposite. A combination of insecurity and bad roads have turned an adventurous road trip into a near-death wish.
On a trip on Nigerian roads (especially the Federal Highways), the traveller is confronted by any of the combination of Police, Customs, NDLEA, FRSC, and Immigration. These motley crew of Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) all appearing to carry out the same functions in different guises, continuously put a halt to the smoothness of the trip and create an endless traffic jam.
The police stop you to ask for your driver’s license, check the vehicle papers and if the car has any type of tint, your Tint Permit. Sometimes, they require all passengers to step out of their vehicles for a stop-and-search at almost every checkpoint.
The FRSC also requires you to present your driver’s license and vehicle papers; they now go further and check for your C-Caution, Jack and other stuff you are required to carry in your vehicle.
The Customs require the documents with which the vehicle was imported and cleared at the point of entry into the country (imagine requiring this of a decade-old vehicle). A routine administrative function that should have been performed at the point of entry now becomes an albatross on the neck of hapless citizens.
The NDLEA conducts checks for illicit drugs and other controlled substances by conducting physical checks on vehicles and persons on the highway. This can be invasive and sometimes strays into an invasion of privacy of citizens (we need to evolve an approach that maintains the dignity of persons).
Immigration conducts checks to fish out any non-Nigerians while they are on our highways (no, I am not making it up), in a nation where citizens are not required to travel around with documents as proof of citizenship (where they can access it).
Punishment for any of the infractions arising from the checks listed earlier can range from a fine, confiscation of the vehicle, seizing of the offensive item and arrest of the individual; but most are always settled by an exchange of value between the “offender” and the arresting authority.
In all my travels, I noticed that the LEAs always set up their checkpoints at portions of the highway where the road is bad and motorists are unable to drive through without slowing down. For those roads that have long stretches of good motorable roads, they are forced to employ big logs of wood to create an artificial impediment to the normal flow of traffic. These intermittent stops and obstacles end up turning an otherwise scenic pleasure ride into an endless series of enforced pitstops with the unintended consequence of trailers and trucks crashing into the long row of cars.
Very few roads or portions of good motorable Trunk A roads in Nigeria are exempt from this scourge. The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway with long stretches of newly laid asphalt is one of those roads. From Berger at the Lagos end of the road, you will not meet any checkpoint until the middle tollgate at Oghere, and this is because the trailers/tankers have created an artificial roadblock that LEAs exploit, and who knows? That may even be the reason they have not been cleared.
Apart from this stop, the only point you would meet any LEAs would be just after Guru Maharaji’s place as you approach Ibadan in Oyo State, and this is in part because of ongoing road construction.
My travels in the Southwest in an official capacity exposed me to a lesser-known group of individuals who terrorise motorists endlessly. They are said to work for one level of government, they operate with impunity, hiding in corners and taking advantage of the impediment caused by LEAs to unleash their reign of terror on road users. I am referring here to the officials of the local governments who operate on interstate highways and roads in the federation.
They are identifiable only by the reflector jackets they wear and are always in groups of 5 and above. They claim they are out to enforce Local Government Permits pertaining to revenues and licenses on commercial vehicles, but the list of permits vehicles are required to carry ranges from the mundane to the downright ridiculous.
For example, an official saloon car is expected to pay for and carry on board, a basket for waste disposal. When you point out the absurdity of placing a wastebasket inside the car, they tell you it is supposed to be in the boot (which completely defeats the purpose).
The documents range from payment for Niger Delta Youth for vehicles in the Southwest to Agricultural Produce documents from Jigawa, but one thing is certain; no matter how many documents you think you have procured, there is always that one document you will not have according to the local government officials/thugs.
They place planks with nails sticking out of them under your tires and any attempt to evade them will lead to damage to your tires and vehicle. Curiously, I recall being stopped by these local government officials beside a police checkpoint as we approached Ado – Ekiti, just 3 days after the then Inspector General of Police outlawed the activities of these persons. It was obvious that the police checkpoint served a dual purpose and all parties benefitted and had reached some sort of accord.
I have been privileged to see and enjoy the breathtaking scenery that Nigerian roads afford the adventurous traveller, but I am afraid road travel just for the purpose of experience and fun is dying out. We are battling the twin evils of kidnapping/ banditry and bad roads. Adding continuous harassment by the LEAs should not be part of the mix. We have to evolve/design a strategy that keeps Nigerians safe but also allows law-abiding citizens to move freely around the country so we can experience and see the wonderful sights that abound in all corners of this great nation of ours. That is an achievable path to national integration which our founding fathers worked for.
