A stakeholder in road haulage; Alhaji Lukman Shittu, has urged maritime truck operators to support the forthcoming Ports Road Clearance Operations of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), scheduled to commence on Thursday, May 14.
The Chairman of the Lagos State Truck and Cargo Operators Committee (LASTCOC), said this on Monday during a meeting with PEBEC officials ahead of the ports road clearance operations on Thursday.
Shittu described the operation as a welcome development aimed at promoting ease of doing business, restoring traffic sanity and orderliness.
He noted that the clearance would enable the association executives address the persistent menace of extortion and multiple illegal checkpoints along the Apapa and Tin Can Port access roads.
The LASTCOC chairman lamented the numerous hardships faced by truckers as a result of incessant extortion by unauthorised personnel and other exploitative practices perpetrated against truck operators within the port corridors.
He assured PEBEC of LASTCOC’s full cooperation in achieving a more efficient and conducive operational environment for truckers and other maritime stakeholders.
Shittu further advised truck operators to desist from indiscriminate parking on the roads and to ensure compliance with all operational guidelines ahead of the enforcement exercise.
He specifically directed that truckers should ensure that their vehicles were duly captured on the export manifest before proceeding to the ports.
LASTCOC boss said that broken-down trucks were immediately removed from access roads, adding that the approved single-lane arrangement should strictly adhered to.
He mentioned that operators conducted themselves in an orderly manner throughout the exercise.
Shittu warned that failure to comply with the directives might attract heavy penalties and sanctions during the enforcement operation.
