Group Raises Alarm Over 700 Checkpoints Along Lagos – Enugu Routes

National Coordinator, Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders Importers and Exporters Coalition (SNFFIEC), Sir Patrick Osita Chukwu has raised the alarm over 700 checkpoints between Lagos to Enugu manned by security agencies ,calling on the federal government and lawmakers to investigate the bottleneck faced by travellers along the corridors.

The group boss lamented that to freight agricultural produce from the east to the ports in Lagos for export is now very expensive due to money paid along our highways.

Addressing newsmen on Tuesday in Lagos, Patrick warned that if in 14 days, the government does not dislodge the checkpoints, his group will mobilise to protest over brazen extortion of road users by security operatives.

He lamented that travellers are no more comfortable with the extortion by security personnel along the routes adding that the situation has deteriorated from what it was in time past.

According to Osita Chukwu, the army, customs , police and local vigilantes have made things worst for passengers and private vehicle owners pointing out that the situation can best be described as an eyesore to the international communities.

He noted that: “Just last week, I went to the South-East and the South-South, and was shocked at the numbers of checkpoints along the highways leading to these places. I am not here to talk about the state of the roads because we all know what they are.

“However, I didn’t expect to see pole-to-pole checkpoints along our highways under a democratic system of government. No wonder haulage operators slam importers huge sum of money to move cargoes from Lagos to those places.

“From Lagos to Enugu, and down to Port Harcourt, I counted the checkpoints, and they are over 700. With all these checkpoints, yet the insecurity in this country is alarming. Tell me, what is the relevance of these checkpoints if insecurity issues is still plaguing us as a nation?

“At each checkpoints, you pay between N3000 to N5000 for private vehicle owners while tankers and container carrying trucks pay more. A journey of fewer than 11 hours from Lagos to Enugu now goes for two or three days for container carrying trucks. The bribery is getting too much on road users.

“I am holding this briefing because I want the government to come out publicly and tell us where we are suppose to have checkpoints on these highways. Yes, I know checkpoint is important due to security issues, but I am also sure we are not supposed to have over 700 checkpoints.

“The most notorious spots are in Ijebu-Ode, Edo, Delta and moving towards Rivers. This is contributing to the high cost of doing business in our ports. It’s time government need to look into this anomaly. We cannot continue like this.

“Let the government tell us where there should be checkpoints, so that we can challenge the illegal checkpoints on our highways. ”

By Roland Ekama