Who does not know that good road play a vital role in the transportation system of a country? Efficient modes of transportation are incentives for the economic growth of a country.
Road transportation is the commonest type of transportation in Nigeria, although most of our roads are death traps that are filled with pot-holes and craters, which cause road mishaps. Road transportation in Nigeria is bedevilled by many problems. Most roads in Nigeria are in deplorable condition, and armed robbers attack drivers oftentimes on our roads. Not a few drivers had lost their lives while conveying goods and passengers from one major city to another. Is travelling on Nigerian roads not akin to having a nightmare?
Lorry drivers in Nigeria, who are breadwinners of their families, encounter problems while engaging in their driving endeavour. In the past, policemen would mount roadblocks on major highways and extort money from commercial lorry and bus drivers. Those who failed to part with their money were sent to their early graves. And, the policemen always blamed their deaths on accidental discharge. Thankfully, the new Inspector General of Police ordered the dismantling and removal of roadblocks on major highways and thoroughfares in our major cities. This commendable measure has led to the easing up of traffic on our roads. So, there is free flow of traffic on our roads. Journeys between towns last shorter time than they used to before.
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When lorry drivers thought that their problems were over, another problem has cropped up. Now, jobless and violent touts have constituted menace and threat to the safety and lives of lorry drivers in Nigeria. These criminals who masquerade as agents of the government have been causing sleepless nights for motorists plying major roads, especially those plying the Onitsha – Port Harcourt route.
They claim that they were hired by the state governments of Anambra, Imo and Rivers to collect dues and levies from lorry drivers. But, they cash in on that opportunity to extort money from drivers who travel between Onitsha and Port Harcourt roads. These lorry drivers are groaning under the exploitation of the so-called road workers. The money they realise from hauling goods from Onitsha to Port Harcourt is used to appease those men who harass them daily on the roads.
From bridge-head, Onitsha to Port Harcourt, these lorry drivers are coerced to pay illegal fees to people who claim they are agents of government. They print different tickets they issue to motorists. The levies and dues they pay are these: state commerce and industry levy, state development levy, national union levy, Narto levy, Niloader levy, and Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry levy, etc. These levies and dues are paid by lorry drivers in major towns between Onitsha and Port Harcourt.
Sadly, the perpetration of this crime happens in the full glare of policemen and soldiers. So, it is an indisputable fact that those touts work in connivance with policemen to brow-beat lorry drivers into parting with their money.
This act engenders economic hardship in Nigeria as drivers charge owners of goods high prices on the grounds that they will give money to touts on the roads. This is not unconnected to the skyrocketing prices of goods in the country.
Checking the menace and nuisance these touts constitute on our road will lead to reduction in the price of goods in the country. More so, it has become necessary for our government to check the nefarious activities of those hoodlums as their activities cause deaths on our highways.
In the recent past, a lorry driver was beaten to death by those road workers. That driver met his untimely death at Obinze, Port Harcourt, in January 2013. Early in the year, at Upper Iweka, those men obstructed the flow of traffic while collecting illegal levies, which led to multiple accidents. Many people died in that accident. These men place nail-studded boards on the roads so as to compel lorry drivers to stop. On some occasions, lorry drivers driving at full tilt ran over the nail-studded boards, which punctured their tyres and led to fatal road accidents.
As we are in a democratic era, no Nigerian should be exploited and denied his human rights. These lorry drivers have been suffering indignities and abuse of their rights for a long time. However, being law-abiding citizens who do not want to create anarchic condition, they have not resorted to violence to redress the ugly situation.
So, they are beseeching the government to investigate the activities of those hoodlums who perpetrate crime under the guise of collecting levy for the government. A stitch in time saves nine, as the saying goes.
Chiedu Uche Okoye wrote from Anambra State
