There was crisis at the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos yesterday when policemen attached to the port tear gassed truck drivers out of the Ports and Cargo Terminal, and the drivers retaliated by throwing bottles at the officers.
Port operations as well as the evacuation of cargoes from terminals at the terminals were subsequently placed on hold for several hours thereby leading to a heavy traffic inside the terminals, stretching outside the port.
There was crisis at the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos yesterday when policemen attached to the port tear gassed truck drivers out of the Ports and Cargo Terminal, and the drivers retaliated by throwing bottles at the officers.
Port operations as well as the evacuation of cargoes from terminals at the terminals were subsequently placed on hold for several hours thereby leading to a heavy traffic inside the terminals, stretching outside the port.
Some of the truck drivers who spoke with Shipping Position Daily alleged that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) security operatives allegedly connive with the Ports and Cargo Terminal to take bribe of N4,000 everyday from the truckers in order to allow them park their trucks overnight around the Port and Cargo Terminal.
An eye witness who is also a truck driver who gave his name as Alpha Ahmed Kazeem lamented that when the truckers could no longer meet the selfish demands of the NPA security operatives on the alleged N4,000 daily bribe, they were chased out of the terminal.
"We normally wait inside the terminal, we park our trucks there before we pick cargo, but because we don't have jobs to make money and pay them, they called police to chase us out"
"Some of our member retaliated by throwing bottles back at the officers, the police were scared they thought we wanted to stage a riot"
Recounting what led to the fracas, the trucker said "For you to return an empty container you must pay N4000, this money is not accounted for, when you are coming out you must pay another N4000, this money is shared between NPA and the police"
"Some of us have left our families for days all in the bid to load containers at the port" he said
Another trucker who gave his name simply as 'Ahmed' said that no property was destroyed during the process and nobody sustained injuries.
He however argued that without the trucks, no cargo can exit the port, "you cannot use your cars and jeep to bring out containers"
When he was contacted later yesterday by Shipping Position Daily, Port Manager of the Tin Can Port of Nigerian Port Authority, Mr. Babatunde Longe said that he was the one that gave directives for the truckers to be chased out of the port.
He however assured that the crisis have been resolved and that the truckers are back to their normal activities inside the port.
"We have resolved the issue, we have discussed with them and they are back at work" he said.
The port manager explained that the situation yesterday was caused by the fact that the truckers park carelessly close to Ports and Cargo Terminal and that they will always be there unless they get a job to go into the Ports and Cargo Terminal to discharge containers and bring out a laden container.
Mr. Longe added that unless the truckers get patronage, they will hang around the port, this was why the NPA took decisions not to allow this to continue because of the security implications.
Speaking, Longe said "This is not the first time the allegation is coming, sometimes they said NPA security demand N3,000, N4,000 and N10, 000, I have always said that whoever is alleging, my office is open, they can walk into my office, I will take action, but up till now, nobody have come to me"
"We used barricade to block one lane for those accessing the port, in this era of Boko Haram and security threats, I will not allow it to continue, we will not encourage it, if we do, a lot of things will happen, I gave the instruction that they should be dislodged"
He reiterated however that everything is in order, and the issue has been laid to rest.
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