Barely three minutes into its journey from Ilaro to Sango-Ota in Ogun State, a automobile carrying contemporary maize was stopped at a police checkpoint alongside the Ilaro-Papalanto highway. It was within the first half of June, and the noon solar burnt the pores and skin gently. The 2001 Sedan automobile had no aspect mirrors, and the cops, rifles slung over their shoulders, waved the driving force apart. They exchanged a realizing smile. The driving force knew the drill. With out argument, he slipped a folded N500 word right into a ready palm. The barrier was lifted, and the automobile moved on towards Papalanto.
By the point the automobile arrived in Sango-Ota, the driving force had paid nearly N4,000 in unlawful charges and “tolls” at practically a dozen checkpoints. From Ilaro by Papalanto, Ifo, Singer, Iyana-Ilogbo, Joju and Sango, “tolls” had been paid in numerous quantities relying on the bargaining nature of the ‘toll collectors’.
“Generally it’s the police, generally troopers or native authorities process forces and generally highway security officers,” the driving force, Baba Igbesa, who had pushed the route for over a decade, advised PREMIUM TIMES.
“In case you don’t pay, they delay or seize your automobile. It’s even higher right here; it’s worse alongside Idiroko highway due to the border route.”
Adijat Abolaji, a produce dealer who owned the luggage of maize and travelled alongside this reporter, advised PREMIUM TIMES that these “invisible funds”, multiplied by hundreds of vehicles and automobiles carrying meals objects throughout Nigerian roads every day, kind a hidden tax on each bag of rice, basket of tomato, tuber of yam, and bag of maize that reaches the market.
“Folks hardly ever discuss it, however that’s additionally a serious cause why meals costs are excessive,” she defined in Yoruba.
The toll that by no means ends
Extortion has turn out to be as predictable as potholes throughout Nigeria’s highways. From Kano to Lagos, Enugu to Port Harcourt, Ibadan to Ilorin, a number of truck drivers say they spend huge sums of cash at checkpoints mounted by numerous safety businesses.
Truck drivers, meals produce off-takers and farmers lament that they’re squeezed by a sequence of unlawful levies, a number of safety checkpoints, and corrupt officers who demand “settlements” earlier than agricultural produce may be transported to huge markets and cities.
Consultants say the ripple impact is a gradual rise in the price of transporting meals and, finally, the retail worth of foodstuffs out there, a burden ultimately borne by the ultimate shoppers.
Between April and August, PREMIUM TIMES travelled with some agro merchants and meals produce off-takers throughout Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Ogun, and Lagos States to doc their plight and set up if highway extortion impacts the retail costs of meals objects.
At Ipata Market in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, Kawu Abdulrahman, a driver, lamented the excessive value of transporting grains and different agricultural produce from the north by Jebba.
“We pay an excessive amount of cash to safety businesses on the highway and merchants don’t have any alternative however to switch the fee to shoppers,” Mr Kawu, who has plied the roads from Ilorin to Niger State and components of Kaduna for years, defined.
At Kulende and Mandate markets, each within the coronary heart of town, a number of merchants advised PREMIUM TIMES that the price of transportation had risen sporadically because the safety scenario worsened alongside the northern corridors and safety officers extorted truck drivers.
In the meantime, alongside the highway linking Zango and Kwara State Polytechnic, this newspaper noticed that the Federal Highway Security Corps (FRSC) mounted a checkpoint and a few wads of notes exchanged palms between the officers and plenty of compliant bus drivers, tricycle and Okada riders.
The highway, which results in Kulende Market, connects Ilorin with a bit of the northernmost a part of the state thought of Kwara’s meals and agricultural hub. Many drivers, tricycles, and Okada riders who transport meals produce to Ipata and different markets within the central a part of Ilorin advised this newspaper that they paid various quantities in unlawful tolls relying on the officers concerned.
“In case you don’t put on your helmet, and even in the event you carry foodstuff alongside that highway, the FRSC officers will cost you at the very least N2,000 on the spot, unreceipted. In any other case, you could be taken to their workplace and charged approach greater, so our individuals favor to pay,” stated an Okada rider at Maraba Park junction who recognized himself merely as Gani due to concern of victimisation.
“In case your papers are full and also you put on a helmet, they are going to accumulate a small quantity, like N200, from you. However that quantity may also be factored into the transport value for the dealer you’re delivering meals objects to within the central markets, and they’ll additionally push it to shoppers.”
Mr Kawu stated the quantity paid is greater for automobiles carrying heavy agricultural produce.
The scenario is just not totally different in Osogbo, the capital of Osun State.
Earlier in Might, when PREMIUM TIMES first visited town by way of the Gbongan-Osogbo highway, this newspaper noticed that cops collected bribes from an agric produce off-taker on two totally different events alongside the highway, first at a checkpoint after Gbongan and later at Owode-Ede.
Later in June, when PREMIUM TIMES’ reporter posed as a co-traveller with one other agricultural produce provider and obtained to JerryPaul Roundabout in Osogbo, too many “officers” besieged the automobile conveying bananas and different fruits, demanding sundry “papers” and threatening to delay the automobile in the event that they weren’t “settled.”
On the junction had been officers of the Osun Inside Income Service (OIRS), these of the “Emission Management Scheme”, and a few others who recognized themselves as “EDL Marshal”, who claimed to be representatives of an organisation working to help and reform schooling and rehabilitate out-of-school kids within the state.
The driving force ultimately “settled” the group with N1,000, unreceipted, and was allowed to maneuver the agricultural produce previous the junction.
“That’s what we expertise each day right here. The extortion is an excessive amount of, and one has to issue them into the ultimate costs for shoppers,” Binta Oyedele, an agric produce off-taker, stated.
Efforts to achieve the Osun State Authorities on the officers’ conduct had been unsuccessful.
Ms Oyedele defined that merchants wrestle to make a revenue from their companies as a result of excessive value of transport and logistics brought on by freeway extortion.
“If I purchase agricultural produce of N30,000 and cough out nearly the identical quantity to move it from Iwo to Ibadan, how do I make a revenue? So, the ultimate shopper bears the brunt as a result of fruits and meals objects I may have bought in models of N500 every shall be pushed as much as N1,000.”
Some kilometres from JerryPaul Roundabout, alongside the Ibadan-Iwo Highway, one other group of “officers” representing the “Emission Management Scheme” emerged, demanding bribes and threatening to cease the automobile. A further N1,000 was paid to the group, too.
“By the point we get to Bodija or Iwo Highway, I might have paid greater than N10,000 in unlawful tolls, particularly if it’s within the morning or night once they (safety officers) often mount barricades and stand on the highway,” the driving force stated.
Complicit drivers?
On the Bodija Market, Hassanah Ajisefini, an off-taker, lamented that the drivers of automobiles conveying agricultural produce from villages to cities are additionally complicit.
“Many drivers, too, are responsible as they don’t have the precise automobile paperwork. So, they should pay bribes so safety officers can look away,” Mrs Ajisefini, a pepper and tomatoes dealer and off-taker on the market, advised PREMIUM TIMES.
In Ilaro, PREMIUM TIMES noticed that some drivers conveying meals objects fall prey to extortion schemes as a result of their automobiles and vehicles are generally in dangerous situation.
However Baba Igbesa, who needed to pay common bribes to cops and a few FRSC officers as a result of his automobile didn’t have a aspect mirror, defined why he didn’t repair the mirror.
“In case you renew all of your papers, you pay bribes; in the event you don’t renew, you pay… in case your automobile is in good situation, you pay; if not, you pay… so why hassle your self?” he stated, with a tinge of sarcasm.
Northern Nigeria
In lots of components of the north, the nation’s meals and agricultural hub, the scenario is worse for drivers conveying meals objects to main southern markets equivalent to Lagos, Onitsha, and Port Harcourt. Most drivers plying the north-south route who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES did so in frustration and concern for his or her security.
Nura Ibrahim, a Kano-based truck driver steadily transporting grains to the south, stated drivers put aside an enormous sum of money for safety brokers at checkpoints.
“The safety brokers can delay your actions in the event you delay giving them the cash. Some will intentionally ask you about your particulars and even threaten to dump the products in case you are not cooperative in giving them the cash.
“They are going to say they think you’re carrying unlawful items, including, ‘Are you able to offload the products in order that we will examine?’ As a driver, you’re in hassle when you enable it to achieve this stage. In the event that they intend to gather N1,000 from you, the fees will change to an even bigger quantity.
“I do price range like N30,000 to N40,000, relying on the checkpoints. In case you give a small quantity, they are going to ask you to park apart, and so they gained’t attend to you for a protracted interval.”
He stated that as a result of perishable nature of a few of their produce, they pay safety officers “highway cash” for straightforward, fast passage, and the fee is finally transferred to the ultimate shopper.
One other driver, Ibrahim Uba, stated bribing safety brokers at checkpoints is a security and safety ritual, particularly for a lot of who journey for days and drive at evening.
“When you don’t give them, they are going to mark you. In case you come again once more, they are going to create an issue for you, and you should pay for the earlier ones you defaulted on.
“I spend over N30,000 on the safety checkpoints ranging from the extortion by the Kano State Highway Visitors Company (KAROTA) manning town site visitors as much as safety forces on the principle freeway,” he stated.
At Mile12 Worldwide Market in Lagos, Saliu Adamu, a pepper dealer, advised PREMIUM TIMES that freeway toll could possibly be as excessive as N100,000 or extra for a truck conveying tomatoes and different perishable meals objects from locations like Kano.
“Once we issue that value into the value of a basket of tomatoes, Lagosians will complain, however they don’t know what we undergo on the highway. In case you take away freeway extortion, meals costs will average barely downward,” Mr Adamu stated.
Extortion meets inflation
The impact of those unlawful funds ripples by the meals worth chain: transporters add them to freight costs; wholesalers switch them to retailers; and retailers cross them on to shoppers.
Nigeria’s headline inflation charge eased for a fifth straight month in August, helped by a slowdown in meals inflation, in keeping with official knowledge from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The decline to twenty.12 per cent yr on yr from 21.8 per cent in July inspired the Central Financial institution of Nigeria to chop the rates of interest at its financial coverage assembly in September. Meals inflation, a key driver of the headline charge, stood at 21.87 per cent yr on yr in August, in contrast with 22.74 per cent the month earlier than, partly as a result of change within the methodology.
Though the meals inflation charge nonetheless raises considerations for a lot of analysts, the federal government stated the slowdown is an indication of higher days in comparison with November 2024, when the meals inflation charge stood at 39.93 per cent.
Whereas the federal government usually blames insecurity and excessive vitality prices, meals transporters and off-takers say corruption on highways is a vital however ignored issue.
Nigerian farmers and off-takers already report losses and face challenges in insecurity, rising fertiliser costs, erratic climate that threatens yield, and post-harvest losses. However even getting produce to market stays a herculean process.
“We work arduous to develop crops, however by the point the products attain town, transport and extortion have swallowed our revenue,” a yam farmer in Makurdi, Gloria Adaji, advised PREMIUM TIMES on the phone. “Generally we go away produce to rot as a result of it’s not well worth the stress.”
In accordance with specialists, post-harvest loss in Nigeria ranges between 5 and 20 per cent for grains, 20 per cent for fish, and between 50 and 60 per cent for tubers, fruits, and greens.
Farmers and transporters advised PREMIUM TIMES that extortion, although hardly ever captured in official figures, is likely one of the most corrosive elements driving losses.
Throughout highways within the nation, PREMIUM TIMES noticed that spoilage is widespread. Vehicles carrying perishable objects — tomatoes, greens, fruits — are delayed at checkpoints. By the point they arrive at their vacation spot, a part of the produce would have gone dangerous.
“You’ll be able to lose 10 to fifteen baskets of tomatoes in a single journey in case you are not cautious,” a driver stated.
Muted enforcement
In September, Kailani Muhammad, the chairman of a gaggle known as the “Concord Corps of Nigeria,” stated that the corps had obtained the Nigerian authorities’s mandate to flush out touts from the nation’s highways.
He stated the transfer was designed to “verify the gathering of unlawful taxes and levies on the highways” and promote low-cost meals objects within the nation.
“Our operations will cowl from Abuja to Lokoja to the South-west, South-east, and South-south. From Abuja to Kaduna, Zaria, Kano, Maiduguri, and everywhere in the nation,” he stated.
“We’re already figuring out all of the checkpoints the place these doubtful individuals function. We’re going to carry out the blueprint as quickly as attainable. We’re additionally establishing a management room to make sure that we observe all of the vehicles leaving one state or the opposite to their vacation spot.”
In phone interviews with this newspaper, two drivers and produce off-takers likened the announcement to the same old promise by the varied Inspectors-Normal of Police to dismantle unlawful checkpoints.
“They take away the checkpoints throughout media protection,” Morufu Bolajoko, a dealer on the Mile 12 Worldwide Market, advised PREMIUM TIMES. “After two weeks, the roadblocks are again once more.”
The Nigerian police have repeatedly urged their personnel to not accumulate bribes. The police have sanctioned many cops caught on digital camera amassing bribes in numerous Nigerian roads. Nevertheless, the issue nonetheless persists.
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From freeway toll to starvation
The elimination of gas subsidies by President Bola Tinubu in Might 2023 led to a rise within the transportation prices for agricultural produce, which some analysts consider fuelled inflation. Mr Tinubu stated ending gas subsidy and unifying the nation’s a number of trade charges had been painful however needed for the nation’s financial revival.
Within the quick time period, the insurance policies led to an increase within the costs of important items, together with meals objects. Final yr, mobs looted meals warehouses and hijacked meals vehicles in components of the nation. Final December, dozens died as they scrambled to get free meals at totally different charity occasions. Amid the melee, farmers and produce off-takers face monumental challenges and pay by their noses to move meals objects throughout the nation.
Bola Oyeleke, the nationwide president of the Tomato and Orchard Producers Affiliation of Nigeria (TOPAN), lamented the affect of freeway extortion on merchants and farmers who deal in perishables.
“Generally, they pay N5,000; it will depend on the truck you carry,” Mr Oyeleke advised PREMIUM TIMES in an interview.
Aside from unlawful taxes throughout totally different native authorities areas, Mr Oyeleke stated members of his affiliation complain concerning the large bribes paid to safety businesses.
“Many of the vehicles that carry our meals are complaining. They pay as much as N20,000 earlier than attending to Lagos or greater than N50,000 from Kano to Lagos,” he stated.
“If you will Port Harcourt, you’ll pay extra. That’s the reason they’ve to extend the price of transportation.”
Mr Oyeleke known as on the federal government to take drastic measures to eradicate the extortion.
For now, the vehicles maintain shifting, and so do the bribes. The associated fee is handed on to hundreds of thousands of Nigerians already struggling to eat.
This reporting was accomplished with the help of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Improvement (CJID)
