NARTO calls on LASG, Sanwo-Olu over extortion at TINCAN Port

Yesirat Kazeem

Members of the Nigeria Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO staged a protest to call for Lagos State Government aid towards sanction of NPA, ETO system and law enforcement agency on extortion of transporters at Apapa/TINCAN Island in Lagos.

The protest was cited at the Governor’s office, Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja last week

The executive and members of the association hold different placard which has inscription of different miscreants that has been happening at the port. Speaking with Our Correspondent at the event were the Chairman, NARTO Taskforce, Prince Hassan Adekoya, NARTO Apapa Chairman, Wale Oladehinde, and other members of the association.

The Chairman, Apapa Unit NARTO, Comrade Oladeinde expressed his displeasure on the situation being experienced at the port. He said, “The so called ABANDONED COMMITTEE tow our truckat interval, then fine us with sum of #200,000 to #300,000 to pay. But the truck are not abandoned but delayed due to the new system introduced-ETO app.

“We want the Government to stop all these illegal extortion and sanitize the operations.

The personnel that are sabotaging the Governor’s effort should be sanctioned. We pay through our nose to access the port.We want the Governor to set up investigative committee who should work day and night to see the cause of these miscreants”, he stressed.

Also speaking with Our Reporter was the Chairman, NARTO Taskforce, Prince Adekoya who emphasized on ” ETO” the app used by transporters to access the port, “the drivers have not been working efficiently since ETO is under NPA, ETO is a queuing system. I do not think there is anything not to make the app effective. For NPA to come out and shutdown export, the Federal government is doing every thing possible to boost export in this country. The stakeholder that need to be engaged in the dialogue include, NARTO, exporters, the terminal operators-APMT- in particular”.

In his opinion drivers are frustrated. He further said, ” the drivers cannot work hence they park their trucks then you see the so called “ABANDONED” come to tow your vehicle and call it “abandoned trucks”. They will bill us with fines up to #200,000; #400,000 in this Lagos State. The worst part is the truck owner must pay this money in cash. At some point, they beat up the drivers and shoot at our truck drivers.

“We have exports flooding everywhere in the port, most ships travel back empty due to this problems being faced by transporters of the export commodities”, he concluded.
One of the truck drivers at the protest said, “We thought the ETO was introduced to solve our problem but no, it is now adding to our problem. Somebody will have a call-up and will spend more than three months at the Lilypond Terminal whereas some people are using illegal ETO for call-ups.
“Truck drivers are stuck to conveying one truck to the port for 3 months, this is caused by the NPA and the ETO app.the app was introduced since March 27.

Previously we work thrice in a day, now we have to wait for months. The authorities request for bribes after we have done the required payment on the app”, he further said with tears.

A member of Nigeria Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO, Dike Collins further explained to our Reporter the reason for the protest. In his words, “Today we have come to register our grievances to the Governor, and the Lagos State Authorities; we have written letters, placed calls, pleaded for them to come to our aid in Apapa TINCAN/Mile 2 axis. The Nigerian Port Authorities have decided to frustrate the effort of transporter at the port.

“Technically, they brought a software known as ETO-an online queuing system just like FIFO, the workers of the software are very efficient at the job. But they are not operating optimally because the backend operation is being controlled by NPA, the workers take instruction from NPA. We have the FRSC,Navy,Police, etc at the port; all of the force frustrate the effort of transporter, importers, exporters at the port”, he expressed.

The NPA manipulate things by the system they call “private port owners”, if you log into the ETO app you will not see those private owners. They are invisible on the app, they operate at backend. For instance, my profile was blocked for 3 weeks because my boys did some sharp practices. I packed my truck for the period, while other truck owners who default with same offence were allowed to use their truck after 72 hours.

When President Muhammad Buhari visited Apapa, a number of 200/trucks were towed because of the visit which we were not informed prior. A fine of #20,000 was levied on each truck before the owners got their truck after payment.

The importance of export loading container in this country, they frustrate it. The frustration come by directing export containers to millpond; before they get to millpond the containers must have spend some months close to three months; just to access the port which is a distance a few kilometers. They frustrate this by the software-ETO application. They give directives to operators.
There was a time NPA came out publicly to tell us they are blocking export containers, they decided to shutdown the portal for export.

That export is not gping to enter the port for 3weeks. They did this for two consecutive period. So they are one of the problems aside the Law Enforcement Agency – Police, FRSC, The Nigeria Navy- frustrating the effort of transporters. They have a system which favours a particular group, they are favouring MT container operators.

This is how it works, they pass containers from one point to the next, they collect money at each point #5,000; #10,000; #15,000 at different points from TOTAL to SIFAX; from Area B to ELEGANZA, from ELEGANZA to Niger, from Niger to Wharf, then coming to TINCAN Island, from Sunrise, everywhere collection of money.
Also, if a driver makes a particular mistake, Police Force will arrest such driver collecting #10,000 above. It is time to call a spade, “a spade” not an instrument of war. The Government should call for a wider forum where stakeholders in transport industry, the exporters, the custom Agents and everybody operating in the port to dialogue this issue. As I am concerned, the law enforcement see us as “mugun” people they will extort.

I own a truck I know the kind calls I receive daily the frustration is too much. The worst part is when you follow the due process, they will give time which is minimum of 3 weeks. When you don’t follow the due process, this leaves you with the option of paying #10,000 above even at the port gate they pay #70,000. This is happening in Nigeria and nobody is talking about it. A lot of truck drivers have died because of this same issue.