The Nigerian Shipper’s Council (NSC) on Thursday in Lagos said non-state actors especially social miscreants otherwise known as touts would be removed from the port roads at Apapa and Tin Can.
The Executive Secretary/CEO of NSC, Emmanuel Jime, said to achieve this, the council would collaborate with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Lagos State Task Force Team.
He made this known during a meeting with the Council of Maritime Transport Unions and Associations (COMTUA), NSC, NPA and Lagos State Task Force Team.
Jime, who was represented by the Director, Consumer Affairs of NSC, Cajetan Agu, noted that removing the touts would reduce extortion on the port corridor.
“We are here today to address issues being raised by COMTUA which has to do with the eto call-up system, harassment and extortion being experienced at the port corridor.
“There should be decorum in terms of traffic management because whatever is being experienced by the truckers in terms of cost or otherwise is passed to the importer and thus results in increase in prices of goods,” he said.
As regards eto electronic call-up system, Jime said its purpose was to remove human interface and thereby fight extortion, adding that the agencies involved would sit down and discuss ways to address the issue.
He urged truckers to note that the call-up should be on need basis by terminals, asking them to stay in approved parks until called, shun giving bribes, and notify the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) when their trucks break down.
Jime stressed that enforcement teams should be moving around to have an experience of what the truckers are complaining about to ensure sanity on the port corridor.
A representative of the Port Manager of Tin Can Island Port, Anda Emmanuel, noted that the authority had launched motorcycles that would go round to monitor obstruction and gridlock on the port corridor.
“Truckers should not try to cheat the system because they will be caught and we will block all leakages and ensure that they come out from garages when called,” he said.
Also speaking the Organising Secretary, Council of Maritime Transport Unions and Associations (COMTUA), Collins Dike, lamented the numerous checkpoints and extortion on the port roads.
“From Mile 2 to TinCan, there are 18 checkpoints manned by security agents and their cronies and we spend as much as from N40,000 to N70,000, which is meant for passing trucks,” he said.