Chief Remi Ogungbemi is one of the busiest persons in Lagos port, if he is not in Ijora, he will be at either Tin Can or Apapa, trying to solve one problem or the other. If he is not in these places, he maybe at any of the Police stations, to secure freedom for drivers of trucks belonging to his association; the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) of which he is chairman. It took Dapo Olawuni a lot of patience to get him to sit down for this interview. The interview took very unconventional means , as he had to talk in-between meetings and all sorts.
What is the official position of AMATO on the removal of fuel subsidy?
I think fuel subsidy matter has come and gone, because originally the subsidy on Automated Gas Oil (AGO) has been removed since about five years ago and nobody died, so that is the one that concerns the trucks, trucks use AGO and not PMS, so government has just decided to remove the subsidy on PMS and this has got no effect on haulage, we are only concerned with the AGO. So my own position on the removal of subsidy is that it is the best thing for this country, if you ask any economist they will tell you that subsidy is not a friend of any economy, for example, now that I am married with children and my children have graduated from higher institutions, it is not possible for me to continue to be subsidizing these children after their graduation, so for me I will say subsidy removal is the best for our country because some people are using the subsidy to cheat the nation as a whole.
Most of the trucks on the roads are rickety, what is AMATO doing to correct this situation?
I must say that vehicles will continue to be rickety as a result of the environment, our environment is too hostile, most of the proceeds from truck owners are being taken away directly or indirectly, so, that also gave the reason why most of the money they suppose to use in maintaining their vehicles, not only this but also in phasing out the aging ones, the money is not coming directly to them because the environment is devouring most of their proceeds, there are so many devourers.
Do you think we are matured enough for 48- hour goods clearing?
Without the necessary infrastructural developments like roads networking, it is not possible, even presently, the goods that are coming into the ports have increased but the roads we are using have not increased, 48hours can only be possible if the infrastructures can be expanded, for example the roads are choked up, so with the road networking that we are having presently it is difficult for us to achieve 48 hours clearance of goods, you can see it if you get outside of the port at Tin Can and Apapa, you will see how trucks are queuing up outside, at least some of them use up to five days before they can come in; either to pick container or to drop their empty container boxes, so government needs to expand the roads within the ports and outside the ports, especially within Apapa as a whole.
What is the major difference between the ports; then and now?
Within the ports I can say that there are improvements, especially on the side of the terminal operators, the fact remains that they have increased their capacities and the volume of goods coming into the ports has increased tremendously and also the equipment has increased, but the road network is still what we are expecting them to improve upon, because if the roads that we have been using for 20 to 30 years still remains, there is no way that it will not cripple the operations, either within the ports or outside the ports.
Recently, government directed that ports should work on 24- hour basis, how convenient is it to move containers at night?
One of the challenges are the roads, and the spaces, it is the trucks that move out the goods that are coming into the ports, but presently there is no place earmarked that these trucks can be coming from or where they can be parking, either before loading or after loading before they move out, all these things are having a negative effect on the operations of the port, so it makes it difficult to achieve the 24 hours operation, because if vehicles queue on the roads for two to five days before they can enter, then why are you talking about 24- hour, it is evidently clear that 24- hour operations, apart from the security challenges, even in the day we were having problems. We are in support of it, if security can be guaranteed along the roads, outside the ports and inside the ports; I think 24 hours operation is better in order to ease the congestion inside the ports.
Truck drivers have been accused of turning the roads to workshop, what efforts are you making to sensitize your members?
It is not with the interest of any truck driver to be working their vehicle or repairing their vehicle on the access roads, if a place is provided for them, there is no how they can be doing that on the road, even as human beings, if we fall sick there are hospitals where they can cure themselves, apart from this, in the hospitals they have beds for those that are sick, even if they are dead there are places called mortuaries and there are also places called burial ground to bury the ones that are dead, mortuary is meant for those people that are dead or are waiting to be buried, likewise the trucks, any moving object should have a place where they can be coming from.
What effort are you making to ensure that the traffic congestion in Apapa, occasioned by indiscriminate parking of trucks is corrected?
We have been talking with the Federal Government with intentions to acquire a place at Ijora that will serve as a truck terminal, we want the stakeholders in the maritime industry to collaborate with us so that we can meet with the state government, so that the Governor can give his consent to kick start the project, this is what I see as solution, which is to provide a holding bay for trucks. We are also saying that the government should turn the Signal Barracks located at Mile 2 into a truck terminal, it is a long term solution and it is not something that we can achieve within months, it will take maybe one or two years, my suggestion on what will serve as a permanent solution is that government should be thinking on how to relocate the Signal barracks at mile 2, if they can relocate the barracks to areas like Badagry or Ibadan or Epe it will be better, so that the place will serve as a truck terminal, all the trucks that are coming to Apapa, Tin Can and so on, anywhere they are coming from, either from East, North and West, they will just go inside directly and park instead of queuing on the access roads, this is what I see as a permanent solution.
At what stage is the construction of the holding bay?
The engineers are ready, the developers are ready, the financiers are ready but they cannot come in without the consent of the Governor, so we are waiting for the governor, His Excellency Babatunde Fashola to give his consent which is the final approval for the project, this is when they can come in to kick-start the project.
In other words you are saying that it is the government itself that is delaying the holding bay construction?
Yes, we are waiting for government approval.
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