By Afolabi Aribigbola

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Roadblocks otherwise known as security checkpoints have become an enduring feature oo the major roads including expressways that are constructed for expeditious or rapid movement of vehicles in Nigeria. With hindsight, roadblocks were introduced to check the menace of highway criminals and their activities that were very rampant and in some instances are still common in several roads in Nigeria. The prevalence of armed robberies was so rampant that checkpoints by the military and police have to be deployed to most roads in the country to eliminate the unwholesome robbery of innocent motorists and road users in virtually all parts of the country.

Of course, it must be acknowledged that in some cases they have been very helpful in curtailing criminal activities and its consequences including loss of lives. It has also helped in the recovery of stolen products by hoodlums or beneficiaries of stolen goods including motor vehicles as they are being conveyed from one location to the other on the roads.

In spite of the benefits derivable from the introduction of roadblocks in the country, they have become so infamous because of their proliferation even where they are not needed and excesses of personnel of security agents responsible especially the police force. This has motivated several individuals, groups, and organisations to call for their dismantling. The harrowing and bitter experience of checkpoints is manifestly pronounced when travelling on Shagamu in Ogun state through Ore in Ondo state to Benin City in Edo State. The frequency of the ugly experience of stop and search is more evident in the Ondo State section of the expressway from the boundary between Ogun and Ondo state up to Ore. The present Ondo state Commissioner of Police on assumption of duties in the state, to stem the dangerous and unimpressive retrogressive activities associated with roadblocks in the area coupled public outcry of the development, visited the area and ordered discontinuation of roadblocks in that axis. For sometimes, there was a drastic reduction in checkpoints on the road.

Unfortunately, the good intention and purpose of checkpoints as well as associated gains seems to have been eroded by the conduct of some overzealous security officers and unnecessary proliferation of security checkpoints that one is forced to conclude that they are now being established or mounted for other purposes aside ensuring security of lives and properties to that of extorting money from road users. As I travelled along the road last Sunday, between Lagos and Shagamu, there were no roadblocks; few were seen between Shagamu and Ijebu Ode. The situation was different when we reached the Ondo State section of the expressway. From ajebamidele, the boundary of Ondo State with Ogun State to Ore, a distance of about 60 kilometres, I counted eight roadblocks including two that were better manned on both sides of the expressway by the military. What motivated on the issue and hence this piece was the remaining six roadblocks by the police that were mounted on one side of the road designed to only stop vehicles from Lagos while those from the east and Ondo state can travel unhindered to Shagamu and Lagos. Why it was so is still a puzzle to me. Conversely, the military roadblocks are on both sides, indicating preparedness to checkmate criminal activities on both sides of the expressway.

Indeed, roadblocks where desirable have thier roles or usefulness. They have the capacity to checkmate highway robbery especially where road conditions are deplorable. This is not the case with Shagamu-Ore expressway. Checkpoints are on the road ostensibly to keep road users safe from all manner of evil men and women that are on the prowl seeking whom to harm and dispossess of their properties. It is also capable of instilling confidence on road users that after all they are safe and in the events of crisis can equally intervene and resolve them.

On the other hand, proliferation of roadblocks has its consequences. They include the fact that it causes unnecessary delay, waste of valuable time and make travelling on the road cumbersome and unattractive to road users. It has been known to cause avoidable accidents with varying degrees of fatalities and veritable source of corruption and extortion of motorists among others. They have in some cases caused disorder and crisis between motorists and security agents.

What is worrisome and motivated this piece was that the proliferation of roadblocks on this road is against the directive of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) in 2012 and 2017 dismantling roadblocks on Nigerian roads and recent directive of the Ondo state Police Commissioner. Then why the continue proliferation as if they don’t have other duties than manning the roads? Indeed, there is nothing wrong in having security checkpoints where necessary. The present practice where they will mount the road blocks between 7 and 10 am in the morning and 4 to 6 pm in the evening suggests that they are not only out for security checks but for other purposes.

If they must be on the road, it should be round the clock like the military. Any time of the day you pass through military checkpoints, they are always on their beat. The issue then is what happens between 11am and 3 pm as well as 7pm to 7am? During these periods, criminals can unleash their evil acts on innocent people to deprive them of their substances. Like the practice is some other climes where citizens take their assignment seriously, they should focus more on surveillance and monitoring without harassing and bastardizing the people they are engaged to protect in the first instance. If roadblocks must be established, they should operate round the clock. That is for 24 hours of the day. They should be modest, civil in their approach and be concerned with the three basic vehicle documents of vehicle license, driver’s license and vehicle insurance. And not with custom papers, proof of ownership, police reports that are not part of required legal vehicle documents.

The constant stoppage of motorists on expressway without the possibility of committing crime is not the ideal. Before a security personnel especially police will stop a motorist in other better developed societies, they already have information at their disposal that such individuals have committed one form of crime or the other. The reverse is the case in Nigeria where police stop you with the purpose of finding an offence for the individuals so as to be able to extort money from them. In other words, they harass and intimidate motorists to create offence for them. This is clearly unacceptable.

The truth is that expressways such as Shagamu-Ore-Benin are created to provide for continuous rapid movement of traffic. Vehicles are not to stop intermittently except in designated places. Thus, because of the peculiar situation of Nigeria, on a stretch of about 60 kilometres, one or at most two checkpoints should be sufficient. In a nutshell one is not suggesting total elimination of roadblocks in the country. In anycase with the present escalation of insecurity in the country, it is impossible. However, there is the need to reduce their number and they should be more professional in their handling of motorists. To combat crime that is the purpose of putting them on the road, surveillance and patrol should be more emphasized rather than unnecessary stop and check system that often would not yield concrete results other than create avenue to extort motorists.