There is uncertainty over the continued retainership of Messrs Truck Transit Park Limited (TTPL) as the operators of the epileptic electronic call-up of trucks into Lagos ports.
Messrs Truck Transit Park Limited operates the electronic call up system via the eto platform on behalf of the Nigerian Ports Authourity (NPA).
While the service is facing serious challenges at the Apapa port, it is virtually non-existent at Tin Can port.
The defects in both the eto and the physical operations of the electronic call-up have become noticeable to the extent that the acting Managing Director of the NPA; Mohammed Bello Koko has given an order for a shape-up or ship out.
Even though he acknowledged that the poor state of the roads leading to Tin Can port is an impediment, he nevertheless expressed dissatisfaction about eto operations.
On the deployment of the electronic call-up system, code named “Eto”, Bello Koko noted that the system is yet to be effective in the Tin Can Port corridor, due to the poor state of the access road, as well as some failed roads within the port.
He however noted that although he is not completely satisfied with the deployment of the “Eto” platform, he gave the platform managers up to the end of June to live up to the game in terms of deploying the necessary assets and human resources, to complement the reconstruction of the roads by government.
Sources hinted that, another issue of worry to the NPA is the high rate of compromise of the electronic call-up system by personnel of TTPL.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that many truck owners have alleged that personnel of TTP have devised means or undermining the electronic call up system. They accused the staff of colluding with security personnel to issue fake electronic tickets and also beat the electronic in-gate procedure at the port.
They alleged that, for as high as N300,000 per truck, the electronic call up system has been compromised by a combination of TTP officials and personnel of security and traffic control agencies that were drafted to the port corridors.
Sources confirmed to our correspondent last week that, the acting MD of NPA and his team were surprised that, while the Ijora truck park was not fully fitted with all that were needed for an efficient truck management facility, there was nothing on ground at Tin Can that can pass for an electronic call-up.
When contacted, the managing director of TTP, Mr Debo Adeboye told our correspondent that, his organisation was doing everything to ensure that the electronic call up system works better.
Responding to allegation of underhand dealings by employees of TTP, Mr Adeboye disclosed that 11 staff have so far been sacked for various infarctions.
He said: “14 of them faced disciplinary committee, out of the 14, 11 were sacked, we will continue to reduce human interface in the e call up system, increase our deployment of technology”.
According to him, there is so much money in the system with which personnel involved in the working of the system can be induced.
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“The minimum salary we pay is N150,000 in a month, but someone is willing to give him that every day to pass one truck, this is enough inducement”. The way out is to improve the technology such that, even if they give him the money, they can not beat your technology or your technology shows what they have done almost immediately”, he added.
While denying that the Ijora facility had any deficiency, he acknowledged that most of the things that were not at Tin Can have been put in place.
He also accused the petroleum product tankers for the emerging traffic hiccups along the Apapa port corridor.
“What is happening is that oil and gas people have started moving their cargoes to this side of Apapa, because the Tin Can side is blocked, they are moving-in indiscriminately because they are not on the e call-up system”, Mr Adeboye said.
On the complaints that the eto application is slow, he disclosed that, the operators sometimes shut it down to clear backlog of trucks.
“We can control all the trucks in the e call-up system, and that’s why people keep on saying that our platform is slow or down. It’s because we shut it down to control the traffic, but we can’t do that for oil and gas and a group of other players in this ecosystem that are not on the e call-up system, that we have no control over”, he lamented.
He also disclosed that the six garages that were suspended for various infractions had been recalled, after they were cautioned.
Adeboye disclosed that the six garages were releasing trucks “when it was not their appointed time to release trucks; different types of trucks have different times for movement. What they did was that they started gating-in and gating-out of trucks while some trucks were in the parks”.
