Nigerians, especially the power besotted “fat-cats” and public office holders love paparazzi, display of affluence and show of power to curry undeserved accolades and respect. In fact, when a typical Nigerian wants to prove to his “village people” that he has attained certain level of progress in life, he engage the service of gun wielding security personnel to serve as escort.
These security men assist in chasing away any obstruction, whether in human or object form on the road. This job is, of course, not complete without the use of siren to ward off the second class users of the road; the not too important ordinary Nigerians who they often perceive to be causing nuisance or obstructing the passage of the VIP.
I have experienced this scenario on many occasions; one thing I find interesting is the obsession of the Nigerian public officials with siren and escort. If you reside in the urban areas of many states across the country, you would most likely have encountered the commando sense of urgency with which these escorts carries out their duty. The convoys are often very intimidating, if you are not familiar with such scene you will ordinarily mistake it for a scene in Hollywood movies.
This popular phenomenon has impregnated the minds, hearts and charisma of the ordinary Nigerians, that many unconsciously comply by outrightly scampering for safety and veering off to the shoulder of the road in order to give way for the big man’s convoy whenever the siren blares so as not to incur the wrath of the “pay as you go” escorts because any slight show of unwillingness to cooperate attracts severe reprimand.
I really don’t know if this practice is an African “mentality” sort of but I am quite sure that most developed countries doesn’t tolerate incessant use and abuse of siren. It has become so cheap that unelected wives and sons of public office holders have access to it. Bank officials, traditional rulers, political party executives, “Special-Special” advisers and “senior/junior” special advisers on toilet affairs to some state Governors are not left out.
One can manage to understand the security role of convoys to bank officials when conveying money from one place to another. but certainly I am yet to understand what these other men hurry, most time, to go and attend to in normal stakeholders meetings, ceremonial gatherings and the rest. You will mistake them sometimes to be rushing somewhere, to go and attend to pressing issues facing the country but many are rushing nowhere.
After decades of public office holders rushing here and there, many problems bedeviling the nation are still here with us. Little progress has been made when compared to how much inconvenience they have subjected the ordinary Nigerians to with their long chain of convoys. The only people left out are probably those at the lower rank of the power echelon; the councillors and they didn’t choose to be left out based on personal principle but because they cannot afford it. If they can, they will not hesitate to join the league of hasty-important citizens.
Intimidation of the Nigerian citizenry by the political class, as well as influential public figures when making use of our roads is fast becoming an unacceptable shameful practice. These public office holders do not only use the public funds to acquire expensive bullet proof SUVs but have found solace in using same to oppress the citizens.
Many have been killed as a result of reckless driving by these convoys. The recent cases was that of an accident involving the convoy of former Governor of Kogi State, Capt. Idris Wada and former president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Festus Iyayi in 2013. Another case was that of the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo’s convoy that reportedly killed one of the police escorts attached to him.
We should perhaps begin to worry about this African style of leadership “mentality” and folly way of life. Our public office holders and wealthy citizens are becoming more of a headache to the ordinary citizens than becoming more useful to the society. It is high time the public officials look into the long list of their motorcade. It is totally insensitive to perpetually subject citizens of a nation that can barely provide decent infrastructure for her citizens to such maltreatment. The cost of maintaining the vehicles ought to be a thing of concern to any well meaning public office holder.
The institutionalized use of convoy needs to be seen to be adding value and yielding result towards the progress of our nation. Public office holders and other convoy users should as a matter of urgency, transfer the sense of urgency that necessitate their use of siren and escorts into addressing the pressing issues facing the nation. We can not afford to have people rushing here and there with no tangible result to show for it.
– Amb, Aliyu Amoto Mahmud.
