The last may not have been heard about the N10,000 levy on stickers entry permit as the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) has demanded for an explanation as to why the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) exempted tankers from the exercise, saying that haulage trucks operating within Apapa are also supposed to key into the scheme.
NARTO however accused the NPA of compromising, saying that, there is need to address the issue.
Vice Chairman, Wet Cargo session of NARTO Alhaji Abdullahi Inuwa in a chat with Auto Port Weekly last week stated that NPA was biased and timid to extend the scheme to tanker.
Inuwa maintained that NPA's failure to beam its search lights on tankers has rendered the scheme unsuccessful.
He noted that dry cargo and wet cargo operators have things in common because consignments are moved out of the ports and jetties, pointing out that NPA collects levies and dues from the ships at berth.
The jetties are under the purview of NPA and the tankers collect products from the jetties; a situation the NARTO stalwart described as double standard on the part of NPA.
Inuwa said that the standardisation exercise of trucks to meet minimum standards is a failure, adding that not all tankers are qualified to operate within the Apapa community.
"At the earlier stage of this agitation, we had talked about it and initially in their statement, NPA said tankers are included in the scheme and they will not be exempted.
He however affirmed that the issue between truckers and NPA over N10000 collection on stickers entry permit will soon move to another level.
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