A truck driver whose names were could not be confirmed dead while freighting an empty container belonging to ZIM Shipping Company to TICT terminal at Tin Can 2nd gate.
The deceased reportedly died on the early hours on Tuesday, while on a queue going to enter the port, to drop an empty container at Tin Can Island ports.
Confirming the sad event, a member of the task force of the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) Mr. Lukman Adebayo Lawal, said the incident was as result of stress.
He also said that the late driver lacked enough money to take care of himself, even as he added that the previous day, officers of the Nigerian Navy allegedly harassed and extorted the driver.
The NARTO Chieftain explained that: "This morning (Tuesday) the Assistant driver aka, Motorboy, came to tell us that one driver died in the container. When we got there we met the corpse there, we now asked the assistant driver, he said that they have been on the queue for a long time. He was carrying ZIM empty container going to Tin Can 2nd gate going to TICP terminal".
"He (the motor boy) said that the deceased had been sick since Monday and they didn't have money to take him to the hospital. He also said that the naval officers at Mile 2 had beaten the driver on Monday and collected all the money they had, so there was no more money to rush the driver to hospital", the NARTO official added.
According to him, the driver died inside the 40ft container where he slept with the assistant driver.
"So as they slept on Monday night against Tuesday, the assistant driver went to buy food for him on Tuesday morning for the driver to eat; on getting there he discovered that the driver is dead, he died inside 40ft container. He slept inside the container and he died there, it is over stress that killed the driver and there was no money to take him to hospital", he lamented.
He called on the government to come to their rescue by ensuring that a lasting solution is found to the consistent traffic gridlock in the axis.
"We are calling on the government to come to our aid by making these roads motorable, especially this 2nd gate and Apapa, the trouble here is much", he told our correspondent.
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