By Tony Okafor
Police authorities in Nigeria have repeatedly declared zero tolerance for extortion at checkpoints. Yet, across the country, the illegal roadside levy popularly known as Roger remains firmly entrenched.
Motorists know it, drivers budget for it, and Police officers collect it with open confidence.
The practice has clearly outlived all official denials.
What makes the situation especially dangerous is not merely the money exchanged, but the violence it breeds.
Nigerians have been harassed, assaulted and, in extreme cases, killed at checkpoints for refusing to make illegal payments.
Arguments over trivial sums have ended in gunshots. Worse still, some officers brazenly claim that their superiors—Divisional Police Officers, Area Commanders and even Commissioners of Police—are aware of these collections.
This culture of impunity has turned checkpoints into zones of fear rather than security. It also exposes the hypocrisy of a system that publicly condemns extortion while quietly tolerating it.
If the authorities are truly unable or unwilling to stop this practice, then legalising it—however absurd that sounds—may at least end the bloodshed associated with its enforcement.
The present arrangement, in which an illegal practice is backed by lethal force, is unacceptable in any civil society.
No Nigerian should lose their life over a refusal to pay an unlawful roadside levy of ₦200.
Along the Awka–Amawbia–Onitsha expressway, just after the NNPC filling station,for instance ,a so-called police checkpoint has become a nightmare, routinely causing hours of gridlock. Yet there has never been any reported criminal discovery at that location arising from stop-and-search operations.
The real solution remains comprehensive police reform, improved welfare, strict monitoring and the dismantling of unnecessary checkpoints.
Until these measures are sincerely pursued, official statements of denial will continue to ring hollow.
We must choose between enforcing the law or ending the deadly consequences of pretending to enforce it.
What cannot continue is a system where extortion thrives and innocent lives pay the ultimate price.
