Trucks Transit Parks (TTP), the firm handling the Electronic Call-up System for trucks popularly called ETO, has alleged that individuals, who benefitted from extortion of truckers before the implementation of the electronic call up system are frustrating the system.
The Managing Director of TTP, Mr Jama Onwubuariri, said this on Thursday in Lagos, when the executives of the Transportation Correspondents Association of Nigeria (TCAN) paid him a courtesy visit.
Onwubuariri said that those, who were collecting as much as N250,000 to N300,000 per truck on the roads between 2020 and early 2021, were not happy that the electronic system was introduced.
He said that the firm was experiencing a lot of opposition and challenges from such individuals and, sometimes, from some organisations.
“After the port concession in 2006, spaces within the ports that were used for packing trucks temporarily while they waited for their cargoes, are now being used for stacking containers.
“Because of this, we now have a tailback of the trucks on the ports access roads. Now, when you bring in what we typically call the Nigerian factor, some people want to make quick profits out of any negative situation they see.
“That led to a sort of cartel that if you do not pay N300,000 or N250,000, your truck will not get into the ports,” he said.
He noted that the Federal Government introduced the Presidential Task Force on Apapa Traffic in a bid to find a solution to gridlock on the axis.
“We told the government that an ad-hoc approach will solve the problem.
“There is need for a targeted, long-term, technology-driven solution, development of the ETO app, an indigenous application that will deal with the issue and the invisible Nigerian factor,” he said.
He noted that ETO, introduced in February 2021, assigned roles to every stakeholder.
“Lagos State Government and the Nigerian Ports Authority are to ensure that there is enforcement of the standard operating procedures.
“Before you see the trucks on the road, they need to have been on an electronic queue,” he said.
According to him, factors, such as booking time and when a trucker notified the system of its business and where it is going, determine the truck’s place in the queue.
“We can now use the electronic platform to monitor the efficiency of the road.
“The Federal Government has been very happy with what we have been able to do, but there are still a lot of challenges within the system,” he said.
He said, however, that in spite of the challenges, TTP had made over 160 upgrades to the ETO app since Feb. 27, 2021.
“Just like you have your Google apps and other apps and they are upgraded from time to time, we have made over 160 upgrades to the ETO app since inception.
“These upgrades are to increase the security and ease of doing business,” he said.
