The apprehension of Federal Roads Maintenance Agency(FERMA) task force operatives by the Lagos State Command of the Nigeria Police is not only commendable but must be appreciated in view of the fact that they were only living up to their constitutional responsibility of protecting lives and property.
Traffic management is not only a national issue but an international one, which involves safety of human lives. Management of traffic involves training about its rudiments, which is crucial. Also if we take into cognizance the United Nations’ statistics released in 2011, in which Nigeria ranked 191 out of 192 countries with worst rates of road accidents globally, with 162 death rates per 100,000 populations, one will agree that traffic management is an aspect of our national lives that must not be treated with levity.
A dangerous dimension to the menace which the FERMA operatives wanted to constitute on the road before they were arrested and which should be a source of concern to every patriotic citizen is that this task force is not a creation of the law, whether state or federal. The question that came to my mind is that, are we a banana republic where any person or group of persons can just gang up and take over our roads or public institutions built and maintained with taxpayer’s money? Have we lost focus of the fact that a society can only exist and thrive when there are regards for due process and rule of law? So in this context, one can appreciate the action of the police in arresting this illegality before a bad and dangerous precedent is set.
We also need to ask and know, if this federal task force has been established in other states of the federation to manage traffic even though, they don’t have the backing of the law? If the answer is no, then we should all be at alert.
Another cause of societal concern is that if these operatives of FERMA had been allowed to continue their illegal and unconstitutional activities on the road, they would have compromised the security of lives and property in Lagos State with their style of operation, which involves wielding sticks and other dangerous weapons.
However, one cannot but condemn the sponsors of this illegal outfit called FERMA federal task force who have taken advantage of the unemployment crisis in the country to exploit our youths by fraudulently obtaining money from them, endangering their lives and enlisting them into an illegal body.
While commending the Lagos State police command under the leadership of Mr. Umar Manko for acting swiftly to prevent a breakdown of law and order, it is equally important to reiterate that the police must ensure that the fundamental human rights of the offenders is not violated by arraigning them in court as quickly as possible in line with constitutional provisions.
Nelson Ekujumi,
Lagos
