Trucks owners operating at the Tin Can axis of Apapa have accused contractors handling the road reconstruction of selling rubbles excavated from the roads at the sum of N160,000 per tipper.
This is even as road users along the port corridors have complained about inability to navigate the axis smoothly due to the deplorable state of the road.
The truck owners alleged that despite plea by them that the rubbles should be used to fill the bad portions of the road leading to the seaports, to allow easy access as well as avoid falling of containers, the contractors have turned deaf hears to their cry by turning the rubbles to cash cow for themselves
Our correspondent gathered that the contractors handing the road construction from the Coconut axis to the Tin Can Island port are selling the rubbles allegedly with the instruction of the Comptroller of Works.
Speaking with our correspondent on the allegation, the Vice President National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO); Abdullahi Inuwa confirmed to our correspondent that despite plea by the truck owners that the rubbles be used to fill the bad portions, the engineers on site insisted that they (truck owners) would have to pay for the rubbles.
According to him, “we have met with the engineers and they insisted that we must buy the rubbles, they said the rubbles per tipper is N160,000 and I called the engineer to inform him about using the rubbles to feel the bad portion, but more than two weeks now they have failed to do anything.
‘We have been involved in the repair of the road over the years, we have carried out palliatives running into millions of Naira over the years” he said.
Although findings did not reveal how many tipper loads of the rubbles have been sold so far, the truckers argued that, the usual practice in road construction is to utilize the rubbles to fill damaged areas as initial palliatives before proper construction will begin.
However, when contacted, the Federal Controller of Works Lagos State; Mr Kayode Popoola simply told our correspondent that: “I will investigate the allegation”.
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