A Personal Experience with Rivers State Ministry of Transport.I had the most frightful and shameful experience in Port Harcourt the River State capital on Thursday 11th June 2009.
Living in Port Harcourt, one gets quite used to heavy-handedness. To put it directly, heavy-handedness is simply a way of life and often takes many different forms. I have had officials from the city’s sanitation authority visit my office with armed mobile police escorts to compel me to buy a 15 litre litter bucket worth no more than NGN 500 for NGN 3,500. I have had the city’s health authorities visit my premises and demand money to do water analysis on my borehole water. A borehole I had to sink at my expense in order to deal with the unfortunate consequence of living in a failed city. The issue of urban renewal or mass demolition without respect for due process (as I prefer to call it) is one that will resonate strongly with most people in Port Harcourt. My “Urban Renewal” experience and the indifference of the Ministry of Urban Development is a story best left for another day.
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In recent times, the baton for government heavy-handedness has been passed from the Ministry of Urban Development to the Ministry of Transport. Here goes my recent experience.
I was headed for the University of Port Harcourt on Thursday 11th June 2009 at about 10:30 am. In the company of my office colleague, I was driving along Ikwerre Road toward Rumuokoro on the stretch between Rumuigbo Junction and the Federal Government College, Port Harcourt roundabout. I got to the partition just before the MCC premises and decided to make a U-turn in order to make my way to Obi Wali Road. No sooner than I had made the U-turn did I see a bus pull dangerously into the road to prevent me from going forward. I pulled over to the side of the road and immediately noticed the glee on the faces of the MOT officials. They seemed like excited hunters who had won prize game. I have observed similar situations in Port Harcourt of recent so I immediately knew what this was about. I asked them what I had done wrong and they told me that I had made an illegal U-turn. I protested that there was not a “No U-turn” sign in place and they promised me that there was. Upon closer examination, I noticed what looked like a piece of white paper with a hand-drawn inscription on it. I grabbed the tape measure from my car and proceeded to take an exact measurement of the sign. It measured 13 X 9 inches. For my records, I also decided to take a photograph of this sign with my mobile phone. I debated with them for a short while about the legality of the sign but realised that this was quite futile. After refusing to let any of them displace my colleague from the front seat, 2 of them jumped into the back seat of my car and we begun the journey to their ‘office’ One of them was a young man with a fluorescent armband but no uniform, while the other was a mobile police man whose name and number I took for my records.
Immediately after we got unto Obi Wali Road I was asked to make a left turn into an unmotorable road leading into a village. Not wanting to damage my car and being somewhat suspicious of the individuals who had apprehended me, I refused. Both passengers in my back seat begun to get upset and impatient. The young man with the arm band made a phone call to his ‘chairman’ and complained about my unwillingness to cooperate. He handed the phone to me and the ‘chairman’ assured me that if I didn’t want to make things difficult for myself, I must bring my car to his premises at once. I told him that it was out of the question and that I was willing to park my car in front of the Every Day Supermarket and attend to whatever I was legally required to do. He was furious at my response.
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After parking my car in front of the supermarket, we all got out and proceeded toward the “chairman’s” premises. After meandering through the puddles of water on all sides for about 200 metres, we go to a compound with several cars parked and nervous car owners who I suspect might have fallen on the wrong side of the officials. It did not take long to notice who the ‘chairman’ was. Whichever direction he turned, about 10 penitent, nervous people followed behind him. Each pleading for mercy and trying to explain their case. It baffles me how the average person with some authority in Nigeria seems to derive almost orgasmic pleasure from making sure that people remain subservient to them.
Once the ‘chairman’ realised who I was he said he would only listen to me if my car was brought into the yard. When I assured him that this was not going to happen, he burst into a tirade of threats. “I will order them to deflate your tyres”. “Who do you think you are? I will get them to tow your car away”. I told him that he could do whatever he wished to do but that I had committed no offence in the first place and secondly I was not going to risk damaging my car by driving it through an unmotorable road. I pointed out that I was not in any way showing disregard for his office and that I was willing to drive to the MOT premises on Moscow Road if he wished to accompany me there.
After about 5 minutes of verbal exchanges, I was on my way to the Moscow Road office in the company of my colleague and the ‘arresting’ party. We arrived Moscow Road at about 12 noon and I was handed over to the authorities there and the booking process begun. I was shocked to find out that I had been booked for ‘dangerous and reckless driving’ with a fine of NGN 50,000. I would also be required to have a psychological evaluation done at the cost of NGN 7,500 to ascertain my sanity or otherwise. I found this quite hilarious. Despite observing a notice stating that no fines were to be paid in cash, I quickly got a ‘kind’ offer from an official telling me that the only way I could get my car out that day was if the money was paid in cash to him. He also promised that he could waive the psychological evaluation to save me cost and speed up the process. I expressed my thanks but declined.
I got to the Psychiatric hospital at Rumuigbo at about 3pm that afternoon and realised that it was just one person who was responsible for carrying out the evaluation. He had left the office for the day and in the typical Nigerian civil service manner, he had carried the office along with him. All the people waiting to do the evaluation had to leave to return the following morning.
The following morning I met the official in question, paid my cash and suffered the indignity of answering several ridiculous questions. This notwithstanding I kept my cool giving him the respect I felt he deserved as a professional. Upon completing the evaluation I was shocked to hear that the report was not going to be ready until Monday morning. The gentleman pointed out to me that the delay was also part of testing for the patience required for driving. I was delighted to tell him that the people who require psychiatric evaluation are the government officials who drive around town with police escorts intimidating road users like me.
After the payment of the NGN 50,000 fine at Zenith bank and the presentation of the psychiatric report at the MOT office, my car was finally released on Monday 15th June 2009. The total cost to me was NGN 60,000. Apart from the cost of the psychiatric test, I was charged an extra NGN 2,000 in demurrage for 4 days and NGN500 to inflate the 4 tyres of my car.
I commend the intention of Governor Amaechi in trying to restore much needed sanity to the streets of Port Harcourt. Much as this intention is honourable, the implementation leaves much to be desired. I doubt that the governor is aware that what passes for a ‘legitimate’ traffic sign in his state capital is a 13 X 9 inch piece of white paper or plastic.
Section 16 (2) of the Rivers State Traffic Law states as follows “Traffic signs shall when necessary conform to any international requirement relating thereto and in default of such requirement shall be of such size, colour and type as may be prescribed.” I am not a lawyer but what stands out here to me is “Conform to an International requirement”.
On 6th June 1978 the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals came into effect. This convention was agreed upon by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNESC). Being ratified by the United Nations would make this convention the most ‘International’ there can possibly be. A No U-turn sign falls under the classification of a Standard Prohibitory Sign. According to this convention, the specifications for such a sign are as follows:
1. Shape must be circular with a radius of at least 0.4 metres (small) or 0.6 metres (large).
2. Ground/background must be either white or yellow.
3. Border must be red.
The No U-turn sign which I am alleged to have contravened is an illegal sign. It was a rectangular sign with a measurement of 13 inches by 9 inches and having no border. My intention here is not to attempt to excuse the wrong I am deemed to have done on the grounds of technicalities. The simple point is that such a sign is not visible enough to a motorist. Also, the glee with which I was apprehended suggests that the size and nature of the sign were intended for the very purpose of ensuring that innocent motorists fall prey.
The other issue I find difficult to get my head around is the steepness of traffic fines in Port Harcourt. To illustrate the disproportionate nature of these fines, consider that the average fine for a traffic violation in the UK with GDP per capital of USD 44,000 is less than USD 100. It is difficult then to understand how in Nigeria with a GDP per capital of USD 1,450 a fine of NGN 50,000 or USD 377 can be justified. Is the intention to impoverish people? It looks like the focus of the MOT traffic enforcement units has conveniently shifted from road safety to revenue generation for the state. This in my opinion is disgraceful.
I would like to appeal to the Rivers State Government in the interest of fairness and justice to do the following:
1. Take away the illegal sign in question and replace it with a sign conforming to the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals.
2. Carry out an immediate evaluation of all road signs in the state and ensure that where necessary, they are upgraded to meet the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals.
3. Consider reducing the current steep traffic fines. The steepness of these fines gives the impression that the focus is on revenue generation as opposed to road safety.
4. Evaluate customer service at the Psychiatric Hospital, Rumuigbo with a view to ensuring better service delivery and less dependence on single individuals.
5. Look into making full refunds to all motorists who have been fined illegally for alleged traffic offenses.
6. Make an immediate refund to me of the sum of NGN 60,000.
I have chosen to take my experience directly to the press for 2 reasons. Firstly I would like to encourage people who have suffered similar experiences to speak out. Secondly, experience has taught me that writing letters to Rivers State Government officials is a waste of time. They do not get answered. I sincerely hope that this article will come to the attention of Governor Amaechi whom I respect immensely and for whom I have the highest regard.
Iso Bassey ([email protected])
Iso Bassey is an I.T. Consultant based in Port Harcourt
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