Leading freight forwarders in the nation’s maritime industry have alleged that the construction company working on the Tin Can- Apapa road is slowing down the pace of work at the port area, because of the bribe they receive from vested interests.
The freight forwarders who spoke to our correspondent said that after careful investigations, it was uncovered that vested interests including security operatives operating around Tin Can Port area allegedly bribe the contractors to slow down the pace of work in order to allow them to extort truck drivers including motorcyclist operating on the route.
Speaking to our correspondent recently, the Vice President of the Association of the Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Mr. Kayode Farinto, alleged that unethical things are happening along the Tin Can port route.
He specifically alleged that security operatives have been bribing the contractors to willfully slow down the pace of work along the Tin Can port corridor.
Narrating his findings, he said: “we took our time in the night to investigate, and we saw the unethical things that are happening; how police have hijacked the call-up and making money to the extent that, now the people that are constructing the road are being given money at night to discourage them and slow down the pace of work, we did this investigation at 2am, it was only God that saved us, so many unethical things are happening there and I have proof of this”.
Also speaking to our correspondent, the immediate past chairman of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Tin Can Chapter, Prince Segun Oduntan alleged that the major cause of the chaotic traffic situation of the Tin Can-Apapa road is traceable to the construction company.
According to him, “the problem of Tin Can has to with the construction company, because I went out I saw and I discovered that whenever they are doing any major road, you don’t shut down the whole road, you have to create an avenue for motorists, but I don’t know where the contractors came from that nobody can talk to them”
“During my time as the chairman, I tried to manage a lot of things, because there was buck-passing, some people will say its NPA, and we will look at it to see where NPA has fault, some people will say police and some time we had to sleep in Apapa to resolve this, we had dialogue with them but at the end of it all, we saw that the people are making money from the traffic”, he added.
On further investigations, our correspondent gathered that the Nigeria Army personnel that were posted to the area extort truckers and motorcyclists operating along that corridor.
Our correspondent uncovered that, for every single trip a motorcyclist makes, a civilian who works with them (Soldiers) popularly called ‘soldiers dog’, collect money on behalf of the soldiers. Refusal to pay may lead to seizure of the bike, beating and delays, among other things.
The first set of soldiers collect money at the Liverpool junction of the Tin Can bridge, while the second set of soldiers collect money shortly after leaving the Western Naval Command before getting to a popular truck park called “Abuja”, while the third set collects money at the first gate bus stop on the Tin Can Island road.
However, when contacted, the Federal Controller of Works Lagos State, Mr. Kayode Popoola said that he was not in the know of the bribery allegation to contractors, while stating that there is nothing he can do. He referred our correspondent to the new task force that was set up by the Lagos State government.
“I am hearing this allegation for the first time, I don’t think there is anything I can do about that, because the Governor himself has set up a task force, so I don’t think there is anything anybody can do, it is the taskforce that will do that”, he stressed.
When asked when the road will be completed and ready for use, he simply said: “they as long as they are working and getting materials and they are being paid they will continue, so basically I can’t tell you the exact date”.
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