SouthEast Checkpoints: A Subjugation Tax.

New Telegraph Thursday Back Page of December 19, 2024 

By Ike Abonyi 

“Extortion undermines the rule of law, corrupts institutions, and destroys public trust”-Transparency International.

What is a subjugation tax you may ask? It refers to a tax imposed directly or indirectly by a dominant group or authority on a subordinate or marginalized group, often used as a means to exert control, suppress dissent, or exploit resources.

In early history, it was known as a poll or hut tax, but in contemporary times, it comes as Value Added Tax VAT, or checkpoint collections that are often not accounted to the government because they're mostly proceeds of corruption. As a punitive tax, they all share similar characteristics of disproportionate burden, exploitation, and lack of equitable representation.

In a way that seems to have no end or limit, the people of the Southeast geopolitical zone of the country, through various channels, have cried out about the menace being caused by the multiple checkpoints in their area. Its consequences on the socioeconomic lives of the people. But nobody is listening for obvious reasons: the complaints are coming from the look-away zone of the country, the area once described by a former President as a dot in the nation, the persistently marginalized and captured territory where the central system is careless about how they feel and even gets excited at the people’s bemoaning. The Nigeria Chief of Defense Staff, General Christopher Musa, defends the reason for innumerable checkpoints and says that the zone is a unique terrain that calls for it. The House of Representatives wants the people complaining to produce evidence, which means going to an Army checkpoint to commit suicide by making a video of their extortions.

The more the people bewail their plight the more excited their traducers are. The situation is such that the number of security checkpoints in the Southeast zone is far more than the number in the other states, plus the Federal Capital Territory, FCT,  put together minus some terrorist states like Yobe and Borno. What else does one need to establish that the people are under siege? The commonest explanation is that the crime wave is much, but the countless checkpoints have not reduced or wiped the crime records in the zone either. Certainly not.

The military, Police, Civil Defence, Road safety, NDLEA, another one called Special Squad, plus the local vigilante groups and political thugs converted to tax collectors bearing various names, Forest guards, and Ebube Agu are all effectively coalescing to hold the zone, hostage.

If you are not using Google Maps on your trip by road into the Southeast region of the country and you are going there for the first time from any angle, the first sign to indicate that you are approaching the geopolitical area is an increase in the number of checkpoints. The numerous and hostile checkpoints in the SouthEast, as you approach, give you an image of a tempestuous area akin to a war zone. In some instances, the checkpoint intervals might be as close as  100 meters; you see the military, and before you say jack, you are in another, this time either Police or civil defense. Even though the zone is landlocked and not linked to any international boundaries, the customs and immigration services are also fishing on the people.

All of them continue to claim they are securing the road for motorists, but crimes never stop. Critical kidnapping cases are on record to have even happened near checkpoints, and this led to the widely held views that there may be some kind of serious collusion or some illegal cooperation between the security operatives and their criminal counterparts.

Such strange thoughts are hard to ignore after one of the finest Army Generals in Nigeria's history, now retired Gen TY Danjum, had recently urged the people to try securing themselves because soldiers of the contemporary times often collude with those who kill them.

The picture is such that in the South East today, people are held hostage not only by criminals alone but also by security operatives. This is having a serious impact on the social and economic lives of the people.

The corruption aspect of it is actually what prompted the discussion this week because of the damage it’s doing to the people, especially youths and businesses. Insiders' source holds that in the military and Police,  there is always a high lobby for posting to the area because of the high individual economic benefits arising from the exploitation of the people through extortion either in office or at the checkpoints. Every Police officer desires to be sent to either Anambra or Abia, particularly Onitsha, Nnewi, and Aba. The only posting locations that are more economically viable than these SouthEast towns for security operatives are Seme border, Tincan SeaPort, and Cargo Airports in Lagos. It’s on record that one of the Police Commissioners who served in Anambra state in his valedictory speech recently confessed that he was retiring into money.

The area that informed this week’s conversation is the corruption dimension of these checkpoints particularly as it concerns unemployed youths in the area. One 'lucrative' job available for youths in the South East today is that of Special Assistant at the military and Police checkpoints for extortions.

The requirements for the job are the aggressive ability to act on behalf of the operatives who sit with their guns and watch closely but utter no word unless the driver proves tough. In addition to money collection, they are also responsible for removing the log of wood used in deliberately obstructing traffic.

Incidentally, they are also expected to be sincere in delivering, and those who lose their jobs easily are dubious ones who try to keep back some of their collections. 

In the villages, after establishing some rapport with the security operatives, these checkpoint assistants can go further in their duty to negotiate local girls for the operatives and often negotiate for their getting involved in settling local squabbles at a fee. When you see the value of Nigeria's military dwindling, it’s not unconnected with this type of unconventional involvement. Some operatives of the Nigerian military have been involved in avoidable deaths while carrying out illegal duties. At times when the money is right, top commanders might even get involved.

The most discomforting thing about this trend is that the Nigerian military’s reputation has indeed been tarnished by corruption, particularly at checkpoints. This corruption has led to a loss of trust and confidence in their ability to protect and serve the people.

This is so because Corruption at checkpoints is a widespread problem, with many soldiers and officers engaging in bribery, extortion, and other forms of fraudulent conduct. This not only undermines their effectiveness but also perpetuates a culture of impunity and lawlessness.

Furthermore, the corruption at checkpoints has also led to a sense of insecurity among the populace, as people are often subjected to harassment, intimidation, and extortion by soldiers and other security personnel they revere and look up to for protection.

We recall vividly how the Nigerian military made initial contact with corruption, dating back to the era in which the military held sway in the country’s politics. The military involvement in politics and governance has often led to corruption and abuse of power, and the effect has continued even in the democratic era, thereby undermining their professionalism.

If Nigerian security operatives hope to address the issue of corruption at checkpoints, the Nigerian government and the military’s leadership must take concrete steps to reform the army's culture and practices. This includes providing better training and equipment, improving accountability and oversight, and punishing those indulging in corruption and misconduct. This can only be achieved by finding alternative ways of providing security to people aside from roadblocks. Driven by pecuniary gains, checkpoints are often established where it is not even necessary but is financially lucrative.

Ultimately, because the decline in professional services of the security operatives is tied to the quality of governance being delivered,  promoting good governance remains the most sustained means of restoring the Nigerian Military’s reputation and effectiveness.

Perhaps more concerning to every rational mind is the negative impact of these checkpoints and their corrupt activities on the people, especially the economic and social burden accompanying them. Local farmers conveying their crops to the market are subject to all kinds of harassment and exploitation, and on weekends, social activities are done in an intense environment. Well-dressed people are subjected to various types of aggressive pressure, including trekking some distances at checkpoints with their party clothes and dragging their bikes along. In some instances, sick people, including women in Labour, are subjected to all kinds of delays at checkpoints.

It’s well understood that when a town is insecure enough to cause the military to be invited, they should bear some inconveniences, but not when it’s becoming a culture at the roadblocks and not when some crimes are even associated with their presence. And certainly not when human rights violations are flagrantly on display through arbitrary detention, torture, assaults, and unbridled extortion.

The fight against extortion requires a collective effort from governments, civil society, and individuals, but not when it has political connotations and has become a tool for the subjugation of perceived politically conquered regions. God help us.