Extortion: How states, non-state actors add to burden of hardship

As inflation continues to soar, reports indicate a significant decline in the purchasing power of Nigerians. However, a number of Nigerians have expressed frustrations over what they perceive as extortion in public spaces, with both state and non-state actors imposing tolls. This added financial burden is exacerbating the already high cost of living, leaving individuals and families struggling to make ends meet. LADESOPE LADELOKUN reports

At first, having to pay levies at three different spots at Ladipo market, in the Mushin area of Lagos, just for buying vehicle parts, was something Isiaka Adeyanju could not wrap his head around. For him, it borders on the ridiculous to part with his hard-earned money from his lean purse to, according to him, secure a market he has no investment in and grease the palms of thugs waiting to unleash mayhem should he refuse to ‘settle’ them for buying goods. Sharing his first experience of extortion at Ladipo Market with Sunday Telegraph, Adeyanju said he had initially resisted the attempt by miscreants to get free money from him but that only earned him a rain of punches. He, however, noted that he had been warned against challenging the ‘authority’ of the thugs by the tricycle rider he engaged before he got manhandled.

“When I was leaving the market , I was told to pay a levy. They said it was to secure the market. They collected N2,000 after looking through the receipt of the items I bought to know how to bill me. After leaving that spot, I paid another N1,000 before I got to the area boys. My Keke driver told me it was the norm but I failed to heed his advice and got harassed and punched. But I’ve since learnt to outsmart the tax collectors. When they ask for my receipt, I just tell my customer to give me a receipt that reflects a reduced price of the items I bought to get a reduced levy.”’ At the Lotto corridor of the Lagos/ Ibadan Expressway, a mini bus (Korope) driver ,Shaheed Adekunle, whose side mirror had already been yanked off by toll-collecting thugs ( Agbero), almost had his wiper destroyed after pleas for patience fell on deaf ears. Getting on the bus, this reporter got Adekunle to voice his frustration: “My brother, this is where we are .

“We buy fuel on this axis of the road at N850. Agbero collects N500 from Mowe. At Lotto, Olowotedo, ASCON, up to Arepo, they collect N500. They insist you pay at each bus stop. If you stop, it doesn’t matter if you picked a passenger or not, they collect N500. I pay as much as N6,000 to Agbero on a daily basis. And we are still going to buy fuel; we are still going to remove deliver money. Tyre now is N18,000. Parts are very expensive. That’s why most of my colleagues are selling their vehicles. They can’t maintain them. And if you don’t give them, they will destroy your vehicle. You can’t report to the Police because the Police will side with them.

” With several reports pointing to the depleting purchasing power of Nigerians due to rocketing inflation, some have lamented what they describe as extortion in public places in the form of tolls by state and non-state actors; something they argue adds to the burden of the rising cost of living. From parks to markets, highways to streets, stories abound of how Nigerians are harassed, tortured by thugs and even killed by security agents for failing to part with what is deemed as little as N100. In a 2021 investigative report, the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) found that commercial buses, tricyles and motorcycles paid at least N123.078 billion to agberos ( thugs who collect taxes around motor parks) in Lagos each year, noting that the said amount represented 29.4 per cent of Lagos State’s Internally Generated Revenues (IGR) in 2020 but more than the those of any other state in Nigeria. Also, in a 2024 report, the outlet revealed that Rivers State generates a minimum of N55.234 billion from 62,418 commercial vehicles, 24,432 tricycles and 10, 892 motorcycles in road taxes every year. It, however, added that only 0.41 per cent of the money goes into the government coffers, noting that a large percentage of the tax goes into the accounts of a transport union and its members. Speaking in a BBC documentary on what the purpose of the tolls at parks serves, Olayinka Mamowora, also known as Mamok,who was a former aide to the immediate past Chairman of the Lagos State branch of National Union of Road Transport Workers(NURTW), Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya, otherwise known as MC Oluomo, said they were primarily to protect drivers from police harassment. “The police cannot harass them. They don’t get harassed by the police. That’s the primary thing,” he revealed.

But findings by Sunday Telegraph revealed that the NURTW collects tolls from non-members, including traders; as confirmed by Mamok in the aforesaid BBC documentary. The union, this paper gathered, forcefully removes wipers, side mirrors and other parts of buses that fail to pay. However, truck driver, who spoke on condition of anonymity with Sunday Telegraph, said: “Policemen often solicit bribes, and this extortion is not merely a matter of individual misconduct; it has far-reaching implications for the economy, particularly in the realm of public transportation and food prices.” Meanwhile, beyond the travails of drivers at parks and roads, a number of Nigerians have expressed displeasure at what they describe as the conspiracy to extort them, mainly through what they deem questionable taxes,which they reason have a direct impact on the prices of goods and services. Market associations as partners in crime Sharing her experience with Sunday Telegraph, a former farmer and trader, Keji Asogbon, told how she was compelled to fix prices against her conscience on several occasions. “When I was still a farmer, I would be told I couldn’t bring more than 30 bundles of Ugu(Pumpkin leaves). Even if I harvest 300 bundles and I intend to sell at a lower price than the market price, they would tell me I couldn’t sell below a particular amount and I have to pay them a levy before I could bring it.

These are some of the things that keep the prices of food high. I just read something online. “Someone wrote that a trader brought yams she grew from her farm in Iseyin to the market. She wanted to sell cheaper but the market association said she couldn’t sell cheaper than what they were selling and it became a problem. The government can do something about it. Local Governments have control over markets; they can call them to order. I’ve seen videos of traditional rulers in Osun, Ekiti, going around markets to say they don’t want to hear about association, telling traders not to pay anyone any levy to bring down the price of food. “Yes, fuel has caused a lot of issues. Exchange rate has caused a lot of issues. I don’t know what the exchange rate has to do with food. Well, maybe, because they also go to market. So, they also have to raise money to afford transportation, etc . But when you check the rate of how much fuel has increased and how much the cost of food has gone up. They don’t correlate.

The extortionists, middlemen , are just doing price gouging.” Still on Ladipo hawks Unlike Adeyanju, Fred Atuma, would not bow to pressure to pay N4,000 to ‘market union members’ at Ladipo market for buying a buying a vehicle part from his customer for installation. “I went to Ladipo to fix my car. It wasn’t a car park. We parked by the side of the road. These boys came, saying they wanted to collect money for parking. We had bought the part we needed from a store, and someone came to fix it. And someone from their union came and asked me to pay N4,000 for fixing my car. They claimed that if anyone should work on my car, I must pay a toll to the union for working on my car. It’s not that I’m paying them to repair anything. Just free money. It didn’t make sense to me. “I stood my ground that I would not pay. But they would not give up. They returned to the person from the store that came to help me fix what I bought and got the money from him. If you go to Oke Arin to buy stuff, thugs will come. They will tell you that whatever you buy, you must pay them, even when they are not the ones carrying the load. These are some of the things that make the prices of goods expensive.

And it’s not as if the money they collect goes to the government. It’s pure extortion.” Speaking with Sunday Telegraph on how he lost N40,000 to an extortionist, lawyer and rights activist, Kehinde Bamiwola, said: “Now, you want to go to a place to go and buy some items. These people called “Baranda”, some of them, they don’t have shops. They are there as touts. Everytime, I see people mix up touts and louts. When I was using a particular SUV, I went to Ladipo. I was pricing the engine of my SUV. I was thinking I was pricing it from the owner of the shop, not knowing that I was dealing with a “Baranda” man who sat there, posed as the owner of the shop. I bought the engine I was supposed to buy for N190,000 for N230,000 then. It was later that I complained of something that I was told I didn’t buy from the shop of the man that sold it to me.” ‘We paid 32 different tolls. Is there a govt?’ Commenting, the Deputy Chairman of the Joint Action Front, Achike Chude, said extortionists, especially non-state actors are emboldened by the failure of the government to check their activities because they allegedly enjoy a symbiotic relationship with the state. “It’s a shame that people are not talking so much about it.

It is clear extortion, no doubt about it. There’s another thing that is closely related. People whose vehicles break down on the road, the area boys just come out of nowhere, impose money that the owner of the car must pay, otherwise they would not be allowed to fix their car. Even when they bring mechanic, they would not be allowed to work until they pay. These extortions have been going on for a very long time. You ask yourself: is there a government? If there is a government, why are they allowing these things? The same thing with even trailers carrying goods. “They call themselves road union workers. They just stop the vehicle and extort money. I used to be involved with an organization in the steel sector. At a time, there were being made to pay 32 different fees. And a lot of these fees were fictitious and they just had to pay. I know for sure because I was involved and the matter was taken to Zone 2. They were not steel manufacturers but sellers. The headquarters was in Ikorodu. That was the problem they were having. So many of these vehicles would be stopped on the road and they just impose taxes. And if you don’t pay, they seize your vehicles. It says something about the weakness of the Nigerian state.”

He added: “These are Nigerian citizens that are being fleeced. I was at Alaba International sometime ago. I bought some things. Along the way, people were stopping us, and they said we had to make payments. Till as far as Mile 2, they stopped us on the road and refused to allow us move until we paid. They were non-state actors. They were not uniformed men. You know why this is happening? They have been emboldened either directly or indirectly by the lack of action by the government. In Lagos, I know that the Lagos State Government seems to tolerate them and they see them as part of the political landscape. In other states in the country, it is not too different.” Need for tripartite revolution According to human rights activist and lawyer, Kehinde Bamiwola, the only hope the common man may have is the hope of having a tripartite revolution. “By tripartite revolution, I mean when you, I and the government (three parties) revolt against the bedeviling ills of our society. A revolution that will be threefaced.

What I’m trying to say is that a corrosive pipe cannot bring good water to the house. I lack the adjective to use. That’s why I’m using the analogy of a bad pipe.What am I trying to say? This thing started gradually, collecting dues that have no backing up of the law, because nobody should pay anything, whether it is tax or any bill without the enabling law giving authority or power to the person to collect such money. So, when you buy something, you want to tip. This is how some of these things started. Everybody is shouting ‘Tinubu, Tinubu,’. They are not looking at the cause of these problems. “When you are transporting your garri from probably Sango to Oshodi and you pay exorbitantly…now in a park in Ogun State, you have the National Union of Road Transport Workers. We have the Road Transport Employees Association.

You have another one by the government in the same park. You have about three tickets. And somebody is coming with his car. Maybe, he has been retrenched. Maybe, he wants to use his only car to feed his family. And before he moves from the park, he has paid N3,000 or N4,000 in the morning and the car gets to maybe Abule Egba and there’s a problem. The issue is that he will be frustrated. ” On how the government is promoting lawlessness, he said:”Let me come back to the concept of tripartite revolution. It’s a revolution that will see people that are made to pay some unaccountable, illegal, unconstitutional money say, ‘we are not paying this money’. That is one side. Some of these things are caused by the government, when the people in the park say they are paying returns. Returns to who? To officials at the Local Government Secretariat, officials of the state. A time will come that people will revolt and when people revolt and people say enough of this nonsense,you will see that there will be a final stop,” he told Sunday Telegraph.

How govt should intervene In his reaction, a consumer rights activist, Abel Ajibade, called for the government to suspend all market levies in response to the hardship suffered by Nigerians. “At this period, when things are very expensive, the government has a responsibility to cut off whatever it is making from levies charged in markets and other places. If government is not making money from them, government needs to ban them. If the government is also making money,it needs to give up the revenue for now. Market levies should be suspended for now. All market levies should be suspended for the next six months.

“Eventually, they will return it. It is the faster way to help people understand that the government is sensitive. They should make money from other means. That’s what you do when your people are facing hardship. Local Governments cannot continue to collect levies when people are groaning and can’t afford to feed. When things get better,you can return it.” We are increasing our market surveillance, monitoring exercises – FCCPC For the Director, Surveillance and Enforcement, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Mrs. Boladele Adeyinka, the commission is working tirelessly to protect consumers in every stratum of the Nigerian society.

She warned against price fixing under any guise,noting that a collaboration with stakeholders was ongoing. “There have been series of engagements with traditional rulers and we have further engagements with Local Governments and state governments. You know market is under the jurisdiction of the Local Government. We are engaging at the Local Government level. We are engaging at the traditional level, like you know, they are the institutions close to the grassroots. We have done a lot of work to the extent of making policies that promote competition, helping them to understand that this is now illegal.

They are beginning to understand that price fixing is illegal and anti-competitive practice. The FCCPC states categorically that it’s an offence to fix prices for market sellers or fix prices for associations.” She continued:”The market forces of demand and supply should drive prices. So, that’s what competition is all about. Create a level playing ground. Allow people to buy and sell at market price. And that market price is determined by the forces of demand and supply.

For example, if you are selling Coca-Cola at Hilton, another person is selling Coca-Cola at Wuse and someone else is selling just beside their gate, where they are doing their job as a security guard. The cost input for the business varies. You can’t tell me the rent at Hilton is the same rent at Wuse and that of the Aboki at the gate. We are increasing our market surveillance and monitoring exercises. We are going to make ourselves visible in the 774 Local Governments. We are bringing consumer protection close to the grassroots. “We are about to start a very aggressive market sensitization programme and institutionalize this ‘see something,say something’ thing.” She added that offenders get away with unlawful practices because many still don’t know there is commission to check their conduct.