An encounter with Nigeria's traffic police

BBC journalist Osasu Obayiuwana has returned home to Nigeria for the first time in two years.

In the first of a series of articles on how he finds Africa's most populous nation, he tries to discover if there has been any change in the notoriously corrupt traffic police.

Many Nigerian do not feel reassured

Nigeria's highways are a major point of contact between the "common man", as the Nigerian public is described, and its police force.

So inter-city road travel never fails to produce interesting tales that reflect the state of the country's moral fibre.

Although the men in black describe themselves as "the people's friend", very few people have fond memories of encounters they have with armed policemen manning Nigeria's motorways.

True tales of extortion for "phantom offences" are rife, contributing to the contempt that most Nigerians have for the police.

And with the ongoing trial of former police chief Tafa Balogun on various counts of fraud, money laundering and theft, their severely battered reputation has fallen through the floorboards.

Not having been back home on holiday in over two years, I was not keen to rejoin the bandwagon of harsh critics.

But that changed last Saturday, when I made a 350km journey from Lagos, the country's commercial nerve-centre, to Benin City, the capital of Edo state.

Checkpoint

Opting to travel in a family car, rather than going by commercial transport, my driver and I began what should have been a three-and-a-half hour journey at 1400 GMT.

Stopped and waved through a series of checkpoints, I began to think that my journey would be plain sailing, and might help to change my perception of the Nigerian police.

They want 3,000 naira [just over $19] before we can leave here Osasu's driver

But the illusion was rudely shattered, shortly after we passed Ijebu-Ode, a town in Ogun state, at 1530 GMT.

Having successfully got through one checkpoint, I was stopped at another one barely 20m away.

The yellow-toothed Federal Highway Patrol Policeman who manned the second checkpoint came to the window and asked if there was "anything for the boys" - a not too subtle way of demanding financial gratification.

Not willing to bow to his demand, I kept silent and frowned at him, which made my intentions pretty clear.

Visibly annoyed that I was not going to "settle" him, he ordered my driver to park the car on the service lane, while he did a thorough check of the vehicle's registration details.

Not finding anything that he could criticise, he then ordered the driver to raise the bonnet of the car, after which he found the "incriminating evidence" he desperately sought.

Frustration

"Oga [sir], the chassis number on the engine does not match the one on your vehicle particulars," he told the driver.

As far as he was concerned, this meant that the car had a stolen engine.

"This car cannot leave here today," the policeman said.

It was indeed true that the chassis number was different - as the car had a change of engine when the original one was beyond repair.

But the credible explanation for the discrepancy fell on deaf ears, as my driver and the police officer walked a short distance away, where they both conferred with his collaborating superiors.

Waiting in frustration, my driver came back to me with the bad news.

"Oga, they want 3,000 naira [just over $19] before we can leave here," he said.

Armed robbers

Incandescent with rage, I vowed never to bow to extortion, as I had committed no criminal or civil offence of any kind.

But the prevailing circumstances did little to aid my cause.

With no lighting on the Lagos-Benin expressway, using the road at night leaves one at the mercy of ruthless armed bandits.

Tafa Balogun's downfall has not changed attitudes

Well aware that extending what was already a 25-minute delay to a longer period could have meant travelling under the dangerous cover of darkness, the driver went back for "further consultations".

He finally agreed on a "settlement" of 1,000 naira and obtained money from me to make the payment.

But that was not the end of the matter, as the officer came back for one more "gift".

"Oga, please give me your magazine [a copy of Pride, targeted at the UK's black women]," he demanded gruffly.

"I'm sorry, but it is for my girlfriend and she will be mad with me if I do not bring it to her," I said in reply.

Unbowed, he extorted a copy of This Day newspaper, which I was yet to read, and we went on our way.

The public humiliation of former police chief Tafa Balogun does not seem to have changed attitudes within Nigeria's traffic police, as the business of "settlement" remains an unpleasant, inescapable fact of road travel.