Convoys of dying

FOR years, convoys attached to government officials have ridden roughshod on citizens, leading to fatal road accidents and injuries. In a fresh instance of this, a convoy reportedly attached to a former member of the Edo State House of Assembly, Emmanuel Agbaje, recently hit a commercial motorcycle, killing the rider and passengers. This occurred at Ikpeshi community, Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo State. These are needless fatalities. Public officials must learn to behave sensibly, and their reckless impunity must stop.

Worse, after the incident, irate youths in the community attacked the law enforcement agents, leading to the death of two of the police officers attached to the convoy. Two others were also injured. This is unfortunate and wrong. Seriously, two wrongs do not make a right. It is lawlessness to attack state agents. Nigerian youths must curb their resort to barbarism, even in the face of provocation.

Unfortunately, the menace of reckless convoys has lingered without respite. In May and December 2023, two fatal incidents occurred at Abakaliki, the capital of Ebonyi State, linked to these convoys. In the one, three persons lost their lives prematurely. The second incident claimed the lives of a 100-level student of the Ebonyi State University and his motorcycle rider.

In December 2022, a Toyota Hilux conveying vigilantes in a convoy attached to the Adamawa State Governor, Adamu Fintiri, who was on a campaign trail, crashed on the way to Mubi from the state capital, Yola. Three officers died in the accident.

In Nigeria, government convoys are notorious for flagrant impunity. Inebriated with power, the security agents in these convoys constitute a terrible nuisance. They bully other road users, drive against the traffic, blast sirens without cause, and knock down other road users. They do not obey the speed limit. When they are on the road, they prevent others from moving by locking down the vicinity. This is a niggling discomfort to taxpayers.

A glaring example was during the visit of Bola Tinubu to Lagos in June 2023 to celebrate his first visit to his home state, Lagos, as President. There were about 120 vehicles in his convoy. At a second visit to the state in December, he downsized it to about 57 vehicles following earlier criticism of ostentation despite the shabby economic state of the country.

Crucially, such heavily guarded convoys are wasteful. In a period of economic misery, they add significantly to the cost of governance. For the President and state governors, it is a sign that they are living a false life as the economy is battered.

Although the National Road Traffic Regulation 2012 (Section 154) limits the use of sirens to the President, the deputy and 79 others, top public officials, VIPs, and wealthy businesspersons, have continued to abuse the law with the aid of the police.

In contrast, Babatunde Fashola cut a picture of decency as governor of Lagos (2011-2019). He not only travelled without convoys and sirens, but he also banned his commissioners and officials and bullion vans from doing so. This instilled relative calmness on Lagos roads. Others should copy him.

Studies show that countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia have strictly enforced laws guiding the use of sirens. India’s Supreme Court once ruled against the use of sirens and flashlights by VIPs. In these decent climes, sirens and flashlights are a sign of emergencies. It should also be the case in Nigeria.

Nigerians, in collaboration with pressure groups and NGOs, must unite and insist on the implementation of the guardrails against the deployment of sirens and protest the reckless convoys of death until public officials turn over a new leaf.