Truckers under the aegis of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMARTO) and the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) have accused port concessionaire; APM Terminal of being responsible for the indiscriminate parking of trucks around Apapa port.
The two associations said this last week in Lagos during a meeting between the officials of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, AG Dangote, Nigeria Ports Authority, Flour Mills of Nigeria and other stakeholders in maritime sector on the reconstruction of the Apapa- Wharf road.
Speaking at the meeting, the associations blamed the alleged inefficiency of the APMT scanners as the major reason most trucks conveying empty containers and those for exports litter round Apapa port, thereby making life difficult for everyone.
According to the President of AMARTO, Chief Remi Ogugbemi, in other to make the 48 hours operation in ports visible, terminal operators must provide a parking bay for trucks.
“We are promising to give our 100% support to the road reconstruction. AP Moller Terminal is having issues with their scanners and we cannot park the trucks in our houses,that is why you are seeing some of these trucks on the roads. There must be a parking bay for trucks and that is the only solution to this problem. That will help to actualise the 48 hours ease of doing business in the ports”, he said.
Speaking further, Ogungbemi accused a former commissioner for works, Lagos state, Mr. Opeifa Kayode, of being one of the causes of the problems truckers are having in the ports.
“I want to also use this opportunity to say that one of the contributing factors to the problems we are having in Apapa today is the former commissioner for works, Lagos state, Mr. Opeifa Kayode. During his tenure, we acquired a parking slot which they stopped it without getting an alternative for us. We have suggested a place and given to both the federal and state government, but they are yet to approve the slot.
In the same vein, the Chairman of the National Association of Road Transport Owners, Chief Kayode Odunlowo, said that they have started sensitizing their members on the need to take their trucks off the road for proper work to be done on the Wharf road.
“Some of these trucks have been parked there for days now and it is because of the inefficiency of APM Terminal. It is only in Apapa port that all the security agencies are out to extort truckers, except the Air Force. We are ready to comply with the directives. I will call on the NPA to direct APMT to work on their system. I will blame the indiscriminate parking of trucks along Apapa port roads to NPA and APMT”, he concluded.
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