Controversy have started trailing the proposed introduction of a vehicle hire (Uber) platform in the haulage sector of the Nigerian maritime industry, truckers said that the platform is yet to take-off several months after it was announced.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that the Tin Can Island chapter chairman of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA); Prince Segun Oduntan, in February 2020, said that the association is partnership with a group to introduce a truck hiring platform in the sector to address the issue of efficient cargo delivery and traffic.
Giving an update on the platform months after it was announced, Oduntan told our correspondent in Apapa last week that the platform has started working for those who need the services.
Explaining the criteria, he said: “They are there and they have been working for those who need their services, you know it is a new innovation and it is not everyone that have keyed into it, but for those who have keyed into it, they are enjoying the services”
“Before a truck can key into the services, the criteria are that you must have many trucks as a company before you can key into the platform. And once you register with the platform, that is where you can operate from it, is not your customers that will register, it is you that can use that to service your customers”.
He however explained that he had no idea about of the cost implications, adding that he only gave a business advice and he is not involved in the registration of the platform.
Meanwhile, reacting to the creation of Uber platform, the Chairman, Dry Cargo Section of the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Alhaji Abdullahi Inuwa faulted Oduntan, saying that truckers have not heard anything about the platform since February.
“There is no update on that up till now, the maritime sector is not like other sectors. After they said that earlier this year, we didn’t see anybody and we have not heard anything about that. Anybody that said the platform is ongoing should provide the platform; let us see, but for now we don’t know anything about that. Before we can be able to key into that type of platform, you need to first-of-all know details of that platform and who are the people fronting the platform. It is not just in order for someone to bring platform and people will start keying into it”, he said.
Also speaking, a clearing agent at Tin Can Island port, Mr. Tochukwu Nwaigbo said that the proposed introduction of Uber in the trucking sector is just mere semantics, which may not see the light of the day, due to the bad nature of the roads.
“That Uber platform of a thing is just a mere academic exercise, the Uber you are going to call, do they have wings, are they going to fly, are they choppers. It is just a mere semantic; when you finish your documentations, you call your trucks. It doesn’t matter which method you use in calling the trucks, whether it is online or offline, the bottom line is that the trucks must move through the roads, before they can access the ports and that movement is what we are looking at, it is where the challenges lies”, he concluded.
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