The Nigerian Ports Authority has said that not less that N5billion is lost annually as a result of illegal collection of money at various points inside the port, either from truck drivers, clearing agents and other operators.
Speaking at the National Secretariat of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) in Lagos last week, General Manager, Western Ports of NPA, Chief Michael Ajayi lamented that not less N5billion is lost annually to bribery and extortion inside the ports.
Ajayi who recently set up a committee to check extortion of truck drivers at entry and exit points to the Western Ports acknowleged that various task forces set up to control traffic gridlock at various locations in Apapa have turned out to be flash points of extortion.
He noted that the task forces which usually comprise of Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) the Nigerian Police Force among several others, deliberately cause gridlock in Apapa in order to enable them collect bribe from truck drivers and tanker drivers.
Insisting that there is massive extortion, Chief Ajayi told the clearing agents that: “When I had a meeting with the truckers union, AMARTO, NARTO, JCOST and others, they cried out a lot about extortion, robbing them of their sweat, and if you ask me, if God gives us the spiritual way of calculating the amount of money we lost illegally to these extortionists, it is running into about N5billion per annum or more”
“All the task forces are extortion points and are partly responsible for the gridlock you see in Apapa, they deliberately cause that gridlock to make money”.
He pleaded with all security operatives inside the port to imbibe a change of attitude. He said “This is a government of change, pursuing anti-corruption mantra with vigour and we owe it as a sense of duty to also pursue it, while the President is pursuing it at the higher level, we at the lower level will also pursue it” he charged.
The NPA General Manager noted that it took over 50 meetings with various stakeholders before sanity and free flow of traffic could be restored on the popular Wharf road in Apapa.
He said that the extortionists collecting money brazenly and recklessly at the port are doing so because they are being backed by somebody hiding and staying in the office.
He assured that the new committee will equally check on terminal operators. He disclosed that ANLCA and NAGAFF members will be included and that the committee might be made a standing committee to stem corruption in the ports.
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