Transporters, mostly cab drivers plying the Seme – Badagry Roundabout Road, a stretch of about 10 kilometers have cried out over the 24 Police checkpoints on the either side of the road where they daily make payments of N200 at each of the checkpoints everyday.
One of the drivers, Mr. Dada Jimoh, said that they must as a matter of necessity drop N200 at each of the checkpoints whether they have particulars or not.
He explained that the N200 has nothing to do with carrying any load and it is paid at all the 24 checkpoints making it a total sum of N4800 everyday on a cab that carries only six passengers at the rate N500 each.
Jimoh lamented that the high cost of fuel is making the business unprofitable coupled the N4800 contribution to police at the checkpoints.
According to him, this excludes harassment and extortion from checkpoints mounted by other security agencies if offending goods are carried.
Another driver, Mr. Ignatius Joseph, said that he pays a total sum of N5000 to the police at the checkpoints between Badagry Roundabout and Seme every blessed day.
Joseph noted that there is a checkpoint where they claim that they are two groups and two N200 have to be coughed out there.
He noted that each driver is forced to pay this money as failure to pay attracts delay and trump up offences.
Joseph called on the Lagos State Police Commissioner, CP Fayoade Adegoke Mustapha, to use his good offices to reduce the checkpoints to a manageable number.
He said that the profit drivers supposed to make is being taken by the police, adding they, drivers, barely take anything home after buying fuel.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hudeyin could not be reached for comment as a phone number called was not answered.
