By EMMAN OVUAKPORIE
ABUJA—THE House of Representatives, yesterday, unanimously killed a motion to restore the recently-abolished police check-points across the nation’s highways.

The lawmakers also mandated the House Committee on Marine Transport to invite the Minister of Transport, Managing Director of National Inland Waterways and  contractors handling the project to ascertain the actual position of the dredging of River Niger and report to the House within four weeks.

It would be recalled that on Monday, February 13, 2012, Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Abubakar Mohammed, announced total dismantling of all police road-blocks on the nation’s highways and intra-state access ways.

Worried by what the House considered an unbearable menacing consequences of this action, Friday Itulah, alongside 15 other members, brought a motion to the floor of the House demanding that the lawmakers urge the Acting IGP to reconsider his decision and restore the check-points.

They also sought the House to mandate the House Committee on Police Affairs to interface with the Police authorities to initiate a more sustainable security strategy to check crime on  highways and report to the House within four weeks.

Initially, the lead sponsor, Friday Itulah, made desperate attempts to win the sympathy and support of his colleagues as he enunciated the various ills befalling Nigerians on highways consequent upon the abolition of police road-blocks in the country.

‘Why road blocks must return’

Itulah alleged that armed robbers had taken over all the abolished police check-points and now subjected helpless Nigerian travellers to fear and torment in their constant uninterrupted attacks on their victims.

Many other members also shared his sentiment and canvassed support for the motion to be passed in order to return policemen and road blocks to the country’s highways.

However, the seeming success recorded by the mover of the motion got dashed as the opponents of the motion, led by Ayo Omidiran, Osun, ACN, came with stronger argument, stating why the road blocks must not be restored.

Omidiran sought to be convinced through facts and figures how many times police arrested armed robbers or terrorists at those check-points before Mohammed directed their dismantling.

She advised that rather than restore the check points, military posts should be mounted at certain flash points across the highways to help curb incidences of armed robberies on the highways.

Udoh Ibeji from Abia State stressed that the road-blocks were mere nuisance to the people, insisting that they were not useful to Nigerians as the Police only use them to extort money from innocent Nigerians.

In another development, the House also passed a motion brought to it by Ibrahim Ebbo, drawing its attention to the non-completion of the dredging of River Niger project.

He said two years after the extended time line for the completion of the contract for the dredging of the river, the project was still not completed.