·Our managers are killing us, not task team—NARTO
Lately, there have been calls for the scrapping of the Presidential Task Team on Apapa Traffic, headed ceremonially by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, but driven by Mr Kayode Opeifa as its Vice Chairman.
The call, which is being spearheaded by some truckers and the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMARTO) seem to be tearing the sector apart.
While some truckers under the auspices of the AMARTO have called for the scrapping of the presidential task team, saying that the team has over-stayed their usefulness, other truckers, being led by the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) have thrown their weight behind the task team.
Even though AMARTO blamed the traffic congestion and alleged lawlessness on the officers of the task team whom the association accused of familiarity and compromise, NARTO, on its part, blamed truck managers and ‘movers’ for the extortion going on in the system.
The President of AMARTO, Chief Remi Ogungbemi in a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week said that something has to be done, especially about the activities of the task team.
He told our correspondent that: “When you say freight forwarders it is a compound name that involves both clearing agents, truckers and every other person, we are all freight forwarders and we thank you for involving us”
“It is like majority are enjoying what is going on because they are benefiting in one way or the other, but I must say that this type of benefit I cannot understand. Many people are stranded especially the drivers, that is why I will like to say clear and loud that going by the present situation of traffic, something has to be done specially on the activities of the task team”.
“To my own understanding, they have tried to some extent, but presently, I must say that they have overstayed their usefulness, that is my opinion. I don’t know if majority will share that and the earlier the authority looks for alternative, the better because things are getting out of hands”, he alerted.
Ogungbemi maintained that the solution to the problems in the country can only be solved by Nigerians and not outsiders.
“And I know America will not come to salvage this (Apapa traffic) neither will other people come to help us, we are the people that will still do it. But you have discovered that many people are benefiting, that is why I am even skeptical to call for a meeting like this. Because I don’t know who to invite because you never can tell; if you are benefiting, if I am benefiting from a chaos situation and you are inviting me for us to discover the way out of the chaos, do you think I will come”, he explained.
Explain further, he said that the numbers of people that are benefitting from the chaotic system are more than the number that are not benefitting.
“Many of our people are benefiting; truckers and others, so what do we do to ensure that our environment is very conducive for all and sundry. But however from our trucking side, we are not together; some are saying it is good, while others are saying that it is not good. And I can say that the people that are benefiting from the system are more than the people that are not benefitting from the system”
Stressing that members of the task team are too familiar with the truckers, Ogungbemi said the closer you are to the task team, the faster your trucks will move into the ports.
“It is how close you are to the task team that will determine how far your truck will go. Different groups have been formed; cabals and cartels, if you do not belong to any recognized groups or cabals, your trucks cannot go; which is not the best. However, I think it is high time we called the approved and recognized regulators of the ports. When I say regulators, we have the technical and economic regulators of the ports. We should call them to wake up from their slumber, so that they can take up their responsibilities to see how they can regulate the system, because things are getting out of hand” he concluded.
Also speaking, the Chairman Dry Cargo section of NARTO, Alhaji Abdullahi Inuwa, said, that 80% of the truck managers have formed the habit of extorting the truck owners under the guise of using it to ‘settle’ the task team.
“On the issue of the task team collecting money, you will know that there are people who are trading on that. What I want to tell you is that about 80% of our truck managers and truck representatives have now formed it as a habit to be demanding money from us, saying they use it to ‘pass’ trucks. Those are the people now that are killing us; they are the people killing the truck owners”, he stated.
He said that there was a massive arrest of the’ truck movers’ last month
“Last month, there was a lot of arrest of the so-called truck movers by the presidential task team. They are the people that are killing us now, they do it in form of business. You will not get the true picture of what is actually happening. But we are watching because so many of our members more especially those going to the north, they have admitted that there representatives are the ones extorting them”.
Inuwa however maintained that the team has succeeded in reducing the gridlock on the port access roads, adding that the only problem is when the cargo has got to the point of entering into the ports.
“I don’t know why they are calling for the presidential task team to be scrapped, but what I want to ask is, what do they want the team to do? The team has been able to decongest the roads, and it is better than how it was before. The task force has tried in clearing the roads but when it gets to the point of the trucks being admitted into the ports, after the task team has cleared the roads, getting to the ports, you will see trucks pilling up, they will spend more than one hour without access into the ports, is it the fault of the task team?”
“However they do it, if the terminal is slow to take their containers, there is nothing the task team can do. I know their challenge now is because of the ongoing road construction, the roads have been narrowed. Now from Apapa to Liverpool you can’t access Liverpool it has been closed. Even those trucks that are exiting from Tin-Can end, it (the road) has been narrowed down. So you can now see the traffic”
Meanwhile, the chairman of Association of Concerned Freight Forwarders and Transporters (ACFFT); Chief Andy Best Omenogor, has also urged the federal government to disband the task team.
He also alleged extortion on the part of the task team. “How can somebody pay N200, 000 to the task force committee they set up to manage the traffic and people are paying that amount of money to enable them enter the ports and sometimes they even turn the trucks back”.
A truck driver along Berger under bridge who gave his name as Mr. Lanre corroborated what AMARTO said.
He said that the task team works more for their own selfish interest and the remaining. “I won't say they are not working but they are working based on sentiments, 70% of their work is based on what they will get and their personal interest; the remaining 30% is for the interest of truck owners and drivers. The more money you pay, the more they will allow your trucks to pass and if you didn't pay well, you will stay for long. Like for me, I just came on Monday and I am carrying empty container. I don't know the arrangement they have with my boss”, he added.
Another driver, Jamiu Saka at Tin-Can Truck Park said, “We are happy because the task team has come to our aid, especially for us that are in the Tin-Can Island truck park.
He added that: “But with the intervention of the Presidential task team; they came to our aid and cleared off all the traffic and cleared the road to allow us access into and out of the park. It gave us hope that we are going to exit the park to be admitted into the terminal. So like for today we are sure that a lot of trucks will exit the park to be admitted into the terminal”, he concluded.
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