It has been couple of week since the new IG of police directed that all illegal road blocks on our highways be stopped.From my own personal view as a typical Nigerian, i thought it was one of those directives that would not stand when i head the news.However,i was amazed today as i drove a Tokunbo car from Lagos to Ibadan on Lagos-Ibadan express way without a single road block.Kudos to the new IG,and sincerely hope this new heave of life would stand the test of time.God bless Nigeria!

You know its going to be an easy passage for people of the underworld, Boko haramist and Smuggler can bring in arms and other illegal things into the country,

Let me tell u the truth,it wouldn't work.It is only a directive but not law.In port harcourt,they are still in certain places.Police are not people to be taken serious when they make directive or bye law.

Niger_d:

You know its going to be an easy passage for people of the underworld, Boko haramist and Smuggler can bring in arms and other illegal things into the country,

They dont check anything at those checkpoints they collect money from roadusers and shoot if less the prescribed egunje is tendered. Of boko haram, umaru sokoto travelled over 600 kilometres without detection. A mobilepman just collected 20 naira from the car ahead of me on the abuja- makurdi road, eventhough ther roadblocks are not there.

Niger_d:

You know its going to be an easy passage for people of the underworld, Boko haramist and Smuggler can bring in arms and other illegal things into the country,

Very true!! I feel he should have stopped them from extorting motorists without taking them off the road. I drove from enugu to awka recently and it was a smooth ride, no police on the way. But i must admit that a part of me was scared that bandits could now have easy highway operation.

stiyke:

Very true!! I feel he should have stopped them from extorting motorists without taking them off the road. I drove from enugu to awka recently and it was a smooth ride, no police on the way. But i must admit that a part of me was scared that bandits could now have easy highway operation.

If the bandits come out, then it would be time to RESTRUCTURE the police, not bringing back check points.
Check points are only seen in countries at war or under military rule. Nigerians should lose their military rule mentality.

stiyke:

Very true!! I feel he should have stopped them from extorting motorists without taking them off the road. I drove from enugu to awka recently and it was a smooth ride, no police on the way. But i must admit that a part of me was scared that bandits could now have easy highway operation.

How do u xpect him to stop them from xtorting motorists, if not by dismantling d roadblocks?
He cant be @ all d checkpoints persnally to monitor their activities.

If u r a criminal smuggling arms, contraband etc. Or if ur an armed robber, u know how to get through checkpoints. We all know how to get through checkpoints without being hassled: pay ur egunge!

At every checkpoint there is a patrol vehicle parked at the side of the road wasted! Let them start patrolling so that they can reach emergency points in time.

This what i call initial gaRaGarA,He can not sustain it,But if he succeed better for Nigeria as country cos we are not at War for goodness sake,go to our neighbouring sister country you `ll hardly find road blocks.

Rather than Static checkpoints, have poaming patrols with radios.


In port-harcourt, the police here are autonomous as they still have checkpoints and collact their papers.

the police and thieves on high are the same, they are never equiped to combat crime but equip to service thieves

A̶̲̥̅̊ℓℓ those police @​ check points A̶̲̥̅̊я̲̣̥ε̲̣̣̣̥ armed robbers. Very wicked son of bitchs. They turn robbers when its raining and lonely @​ highways. i̶̲̥̅̊ D̶̲̥̅̊☺n't see any advantage having check points on our roads because it is when you think it Α̲̅ police check point that you slow down only to discover that they A̶̲̥̅̊я̲̣̥ε̲̣̣̣̥ arm robber. Nigeria Police A̶̲̥̅̊я̲̣̥ε̲̣̣̣̥ wicked set of people and it is by Gods grace that they will change their mentality. Its Α̲̅ Good step taken though. Let watch wht happns next.

It's one good thing to have stopped the road blocking and another disaster because criminals are gonna find as an avenue to move across cities to perpetrate evil. I think some should be redeployed to some main points and then monitor them critically to avoid the old stories

Well, it's definitely a good move by the IG. Let's hope he can follow it up with some modern policing techniques.
For example, you can have highway patrols moving from Lagos to Ibadan and back, interchangeably, as well as police cars strategically parked at various points monitoring movement on the highway. They don't need to mount roadblocks, Nigeria isn't a war zone.

They should also consider security cameras at flashpoints, mounted in street lights, electric poles, or telecom masts. For Pete's sake, this is 2011, they need to stop all this 1920 style of police work.

If you stop the road blocks on the high way, what about the ones being mounted by Policemen on the streets or non-major high ways.
They still extort through these illegal road  blocks. A typical example can be seen in Ewenla-Mr Biggs axis in Oshodi.

Not sure if the pros outweigh the cons of having them on the highway.
but instinctively it feels like it would be preferable to have them out on duty.
Let us see how this plays out,

I was on a long traffic 2 days ago in Port Harcourt but to my surprise, it was caused by the Police men extorting money from Keke NAPEP without even asking them to  clear off the road to prevent such great traffic.

I challenged the policemen that the IG has ordered that this should not happen again, immediately they replied[b] "What the IG stopped was road blocks, this is a checking point"[/b]

Kindly enlighten me, what's the difference between road blocks and checking point?

May be it is time for IG to stop both the road blocks and checking points!

It's good riddance to bad rubbish. The road blocks do not prevent crime. Crime, accidents, kidnappings and highway robberies(day and night) happen all the time. These guys disappear as banks are being boldly robbed for hours. They only exercise force against the common man, and remove uniform immediately the hear knockout. They are one of the chief reason why the whole country takes corruption as a normal way of life. I hope this 'directive' becomes law.

Ths morning, i saw 2 police drove 2 motor park at Lagos toll gate where marcopolo buses use 2 load Onisha, Ore, Benin and east. The 1st set came by bus, abt 6 men where in d bus and d park official gave them d 'roja' without them alight frm d bus. 20mins later, another set came and do d same tin. They do so every day. In My next post, i will post their vehicle reg. Nø. In fact, if i can get their service Nø, i will past it here. Police cant survive without rd block.

Mobile police are still on Abeokuta Express way Esp @Iyana Ipaja under bridge estorting okada men,last night one okada nearly ram off â pedestrian when he was trying to escape, I pity Nigeria  

I hope this will not be like the directives that had been issued by previous IGPs, and was not respected by the same police. I came from Aba to Owerri this morning and surprisingly, no single Policeman was on that long stretch of road. I dey wait.

Abeg make we give dis new IGP hand abeg. Eh! See as road free. No checkpoint since I left Lagos. Just past Ore, I know dat Ore & Benin police get craze pass, till then. I honestly believe this IG will do a good job.

Lets help d new IGP to help ourselves. In case u see any roadblocks/checkpoints send an SMS to dis # 08077446699
State d following
Location, LGA, State
Policemen number/s
Patrol van number/s
Names

Lets help d new IGP to help ourselves. In case u see any roadblocks/checkpoints send an SMS to dis # 08077446699
State d following
Location, LGA, State
Policemen number/s
Patrol van number/s
Names
Pls state their offence. Extortion, illegal checkpoints etc

ghm:

I challenged the policemen that the IG has ordered that this should not happen again, immediately they replied[b] "What the IG stopped was road blocks, this is a checking point"[/b]
Kindly enlighten me, what's the difference between road blocks and checking point?

Ha ha ha yes that is good question.   In short, the Nigerian Police Force definition is that all road-blocks are check-points, and all check-points are road-blocks, HOWEVER, if a ban on either road-blocks or check-points is announced by the police top brass, revenue for the Police Retirement Fund can continue to be generated by patrol officers under the protocol not affected by the ban.

Have your cash donations, royalties, estacode, sponsorship and contributions readily at hand whenever you encounter men of the Nigerian Police Force, and you should thus earn safe passage with no shots fired , PROVIDED you are not carrying enough raw cash to warrant a "Sentence" being passed on you by the roadside as a prelude to relieving you of all the currency.

Ok I just arrived Benin & there wasn't a single checkpoint. Change is coming.

sleekman:

Ok I just arrived Benin & there wasn't a single checkpoint. Change is coming.

Yeah, change is coming - increase in highway armed robbery and night robbery.
I want them to leave the highways but. . .

Different strokes from different folks
The IG didnt ban Police operations
With their Patrol vehicles they are supposed to be on d move
Element of surprise is a good strategy---Move, access, stop & search intelligently
Stationing @ a place allows robbers to safely plan well
The only unfortunate thing is d Police will feel bad
---their regular incentive has been removed
No further motivation to ginger them to action
I know many of us will be chorusing that they have their salaries
Come to think of it how much does an average cop get as salary?
We should try to fight the cause & not just the effect
We all know there is dire need to increase the salaries of our police personnel
We all know that most other categories of workers are corrupt
Lecturers, Oil workers, PHCN staff, legislators---So the breeze shd pass tru for better effect

Just this evening

LET THERE BE HIGH WAY PATROLS AND NOT ROAD BLOCKS. ITS LIKE NIGERIAN POLICE MEN DON'T LIKE TO WORK.
IMAGINE LAGOS-IBADAN WITHOUT HIGHWAY PATROLS (ARMED ROBBERS ECONOMIC BOOM). PLEASE IG, USE YOUR BRAIN OOOO NOT JUST YOUR MOUTH

Onlytruth

If the bandits come out, then it would be time to RESTRUCTURE the police, not bringing back check points.
Check points are only seen in countries at war or under military rule. Nigerians should lose their military rule mentality.

@^^ Gbam +1000. Old habits die hard. Truthfully, Nigerians are masochists especially in the South of the country . I wonder why someone will complain about imaginary and non existent bandits, as if the police have actually prevented such robberies happening before now?