Utomi Proposes Drone Surveillance To Secure Nigerian Highways

A political economist, Prof. Pat Utomi, has proposed the deployment of drones to monitor Nigeria’s highways as a strategy to curb the country’s growing insecurity.

Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday, Utomi stressed that state governors must unite and take decisive action on the matter.

He expressed disappointment at what he described as a weak and unserious approach to tackling insecurity, adding that safeguarding highways would not be difficult if the nation truly considered it a priority.

“How many highways do we have? We do not have a lot of highways.

“There should be aerial surveillance, drones over those roads because looking at the edges of the roads, whoever is inside the bush, they will see them long before anybody even tries to come out to the road to try and attack anybody,” he said.

Utomi also argued that mounting checkpoints along major roads was unnecessary, noting that the police are structured to operate in a more mobile manner.

He explained that instead of stationary checkpoints, there should be a continuous movement of armed patrols along highways.

“We should literally have rolling roadblocks: two, three police vehicles on this side and this side, a couple of meters apart, just moving,” he said.

“So, by the time they reach, say, if you are between Benin and Ore, about four different sets of three police cars, well-armed, will be moving at distances between each other. So, there is a sweep, ongoing sweep,” he added