Rebuild toll gates to strengthen highway security, analyst urges Tinubu

A public affairs commentator, political analyst and All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart, Alhaji Ibrahim Dutse, has urged President Bola Tinubu to rebuild toll gates on major federal highways to enhance security and improve monitoring of vehicular movement.

Dutse, who made the call in a statement issued on Tuesday in Dutse, said the reintroduction of toll plazas, particularly along the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highway, would complement ongoing efforts to tackle insecurity.

He recalled that the Federal Government dismantled toll gates on federal highways with effect from Jan. 1, 2004, during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

According to him, the decision was based on concerns over low revenue generation, corruption among toll collectors and delays experienced by motorists.

The political analyst, however, said prevailing security challenges had created the need to reconsider the role of toll gates beyond revenue collection.

He said properly managed toll plazas could serve as strategic security checkpoints where security agencies would professionally screen vehicles and monitor the movement of people, firearms and other prohibited items.

Dutse said many security experts believed that integrating toll gates into the nation’s security architecture could help curb the movement of criminal elements across highways.

He advised the Federal Government to deploy well-trained security personnel and modern surveillance facilities at toll gates to ensure efficient screening without causing unnecessary delays to road users.

According to him, combining toll operations with intelligence-led policing and effective law enforcement will strengthen highway security and improve public safety.

“If paying ₦1,000 at a toll gate contributes to safer highways and helps prevent the movement of illegal weapons and criminal elements, many Nigerians would consider it a worthwhile sacrifice,” he said.

Dutse stressed that while toll gates alone would not solve Nigeria’s security challenges, they could become an important component of broader security measures when effectively managed.