From all indications, a cold war is brewing between truckers under the aegis of the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) over the inability of the truckers obtain the 2018 stickers just few months to the end of the year.
The chairman Dry Cargo section, NARTO Alhaji Abdullahi Inuwa, who disclosed this in a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos, yesterday, said that the insistence of NPA on truckers getting the sticker is causing an additional gridlock to the already existing one.
He also maintained that although the association is willing to comply with the payment for the stickers, but it should start from 2019, even as he added that some unscrupulous individuals are using the strategy to blackmail the Federal Government by causing additional gridlock on the already tensed ports assess roads.
Justifyong his call for deferment of payment till 2019, he said “I don't see any reason whereby we have barely three months to the end of the year and somebody is coming to disturb us that a truck has to obtain sticker for 2018. It started two weeks ago and you can see that the traffic gridlock has increased; it is one of the reasons that caused the increment in the traffic for the past one week now. After a driver might have spent up to four weeks to get to the port gate, they will now tell the driver to go back unless he obtains the sticker. We have had meetings with the management".
He however lauded the Managing Director of NPA, Hadiza Bala-Usman for her positive impact in the port development, especially in the area of road construction, adding that it is the major reason truckers have decided to cooperate with the agency.
"The sticker is N10, 000, one of the reasons we are considering obtaining the sticker is because we have seen the positive impact of the MD, NPA, Hasiza Bala Usman and some other things she has put in place, more especially in the area of road construction. That is why our association has said oaky, we will see reasons to key into the sticker thing, but not because of the failed promises they made that if the sticker is provided there will be zero extension and electronic gate; up till now we have not seen that. But because of the impact of what we have seen from the MD, our organization decided that we will key into it. And about two months ago we had meeting with the safety department at Marina, we said we will try to partner with them, we are not objecting to it", he told our correspondent.
Explaining further, Inuwa, charged the NPA to start preparing for the sticker for the coming year, even as he expressed the association's resolve to ensure minimum standard for trucks plying the route.
"We believe in minimum standard because a standard truck is an asset to the owner, we are very much in support of the minimum standard, but the sticker attaches to it and the money we have told them our reasons”
"We have told them to start preparing ahead for 2019, then our members will have direct contact with the safety department and some of our members who can easily go and obtain it before the coming year. Some bad elements are using it to cause gridlock that will still create bad image to the government of the federation. We have agreed to key into it but they should create ahead next year", he said.
Discussion about this post