Minimal VIP Disruptions

PRESIDENTIAL security is given high priority everywhere, so it is not out of place for the same rule to be applied to Nigeria. What we are finding out of place is the growing acceptance that lives of others would be disrupted, so often for the safety of the President, without any measures being taken to accommodate the convenience of the public. There are several angles to these interruptions that appear more visible in Abuja, where the first sign that the President is making a trip is the number of policemen who litter the 40-something kilometre stretch from the Presidential Villa to the airport. They are at every junction, covering every spot that they consider a risk point. Finally, the road is sealed off until the presidential fleet rumbles through to the airport. It takes another half hour for the impact of the disruption to disappear. More parts of Abuja than the expressway to the airport are affected, as any traffic heading to the expressway is stopped until the President passes. The congestion gets into the city, creating avoidable traffic nightmares. Abuja’s other security measures which have seen roads cordoned off in some parts and constructions, add to the traffic miasma that is becoming a hallmark of the city. Like in most things, those who lock up the city for the President do not consider the interests of other road users, some of who also have flights to catch at the airport, and who unlike the President, do not have their private jets waiting for them. These disruptions also occur in the air. Flights are either delayed from taking off or asked to hover, when they are close to an airport which the President is about to use. Again, there are no considerations for people who need to make appointments or the extra cost of the fuel the airlines burn and the distabilising of their schedules. All that is important is that the President is using the airport. We appreciate the importance of the attention paid to presidential security, more so with current security challenges, which do not explain some of the ancient methods of protecting the President. Is lining up hundreds of policemen on Abuja airport route, under inclement weather, the optimal security plan to get the President to the airport? Have we considered using helicopters to ferry him from the Presidential Villa to the airport? Could that not be safer, possibly faster and cheaper? Would that also not stop frequent disruption of activities at the political city of our rebased economy? The President’s safety is important. The lives of those who his movements interrupt are important too. What we need is a balance.