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Securing lights on federal roads
Sakibu Olokojobi
Fadeyi Atanda, male, 20 years old, and Ibitola Arowolo, male, 25 years old (not real names), are robbers. Cooling their feet in the prisons today, they must be lamenting the fate that befell them on June 23, 2004 when they (along with others said to be at large) were arrested for stealing on the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos. As specialists in cable theft and vandalisation, the two young men were caught red-handed, so to speak, by some private security operatives on the bridge and handed over to the police. Shortly after they were caught, they were arraigned before a court in Lagos and found guilty of stealing some electric cables and robbing motorists with flat tyres on the bridge. The men were therefore to go to jail, and jail they did go.
But could the arrest of the men as well as a few others in recent times by some security operatives have been mere coincidence? No, said the Controller of Works, Federal Ministry of Works at Ijora, Lagos, Mr. Adedolapo Adeniji. Speaking with our correspondent in his office, he said the arrest of the cable thieves was due to the efforts of a private security outfit employed by his ministry to patrol some federal roads in the state and arrest anyone found vandalising or stealing street light cables. The efforts, according to him, were aimed at putting a final halt to the problems of cable theft and vandalisation, which had over the years made nonsense of government�s efforts at making the streetlights function.
�For five years now, the lights have not been on, and the reason is that most of the underground cables were stolen. Some of the lamps, the transformers, the metres etc. were stolen. And from that time, the lights had not been on. So, the minister felt it is better that we have a security outfit that will be able to stop all these stealing and vandalisation of the streetlights,� said Adeniji.
Giving reasons for the new battle against theft and vandalisation of cables and lamps, Adeniji said the government wanted to ensure that the streetlights function well on federal roads in Lagos State. He said his ministry had discovered that more than any other problem, vandalisation and theft of cables, had been responsible for thwarting government�s efforts.
Adeniji said, �The ministry has spent between N38m to N40m from February till date. You know so many things had been stolen, some of the transformers had been stolen, some of the metres had gone, some of the cables and lamps were also gone, and to replace all these things, we require a lot of fund. The headquarters has started funding the provision of streetlights, and we can see at night. The areas under focus are Lagos, from Adeniji to Ebute Meta, from Simpson Street to Adeniji, then we have Muritala Muhammed Way�.. We have Kingsway Road too. We are yet to go to Ahmadu Bello Way. Almost all the dual carriageways of the federal government will be attended to.�
He further informed our correspondent that the patrol of some of the federal highways in the state, which started in February this year, was a mere test of how efficacious the efforts could be. He added that once a resounding success was recorded, as the case appeared to have been so far, such security would be provided for other federal roads in the state.
The head of the team of security men in the scheme, Mr. Amusa Musiliu, spoke about the challenges of the task and the accompanying experiences. Speaking in an interview with our correspondent, he said since they started work in February, the cases of cable and lamp theft or vandalisation had reduced drastically. He gave the areas his team had been patrolling as the Third Mainland Bridge, Osborne Road, Simpson area, Oworonsoki area and Adeniji.
Stating that his team patrolled the areas day and night, the security man said they used both cars and motorcycles for their operation. And narrating their experiences, he said at different times, they had either apprehended some thieves, prevented others while some simply escaped by jumping into the lagoon from the Third Mainland Bridge. He said so far, his team had already arrested no fewer than five thieves who had been handed over to the police. Both Amusa and Salawu who are, at present, cooling their feet in the prisons, he said, were some of those they apprehended and handed over to the police.
Although the security team has been able to reduce the level of cable and lamp vandalisation on the federal roads where they operate, their operation has also reduced the level of armed robbery on them, especially the Third Mainland Bridge. This is according to the account of both the Controller of Works and Musiliu. Musiliu told our correspondent that his team had on different occasions come to the rescue of people who were on the verge of being robbed following a breakdown of their vehicles on the Third Mainland Bridge.
He said, �At Adeniji Adele Bus Stop, a robber had just dispossessed a woman of her mobile phone handset and was about emptying her bag containing some money when we got to the scene. We caught the thief, recovered the handset and handed the man over to the police who arrived the scene later.
�We have also intercepted some men who wanted to attack a man with a broken down vehicle on the Third Mainland Bridge. The robbers, three of them, were on Okada. We arrested them and handed them over to the police.�
Both Mr. Fatai Olaniyan, a bus driver and Mr. Olumide Kabir, operator of a towing vehicle, confirmed the claim of Musiliu, when they spoke with our correspondent at the Oworonshoki end of the Third Mainland Bridge. Olaniyan said himself and his passengers had narrowly escaped attack by robbers on different occasions. He cited the example of an occasion when he had a flat tyre and about six robbers came to attack them on two motorcycles. He said but for the grace of God and a resolution with his conductor to, at the risk of the lives, slug it out with the men, they would have been robbed along with the passengers.
Kabir also cited a similar example, adding that since the team was dispatched to the Third Mainland Bridge, some level of sanity appeared to have returned. He said unlike in the past when they closed work around 7.00 p.m. to avoid robbers, they now operate till 8.30 or even 9.00 p.m.
Although the Federal Ministry of Works appears to be happy with the level of success recorded by the security team, there is no doubt that much efforts would still be required to ensure sanity on the federal roads to save lives, property, and the cables and lamps, which the government is out to secure.
The Punch, Monday July 19, 2004
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