Executive Secretary, Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO); Comrade Aloga Ogbogo in this interview Roland Ekama, talked about the poor state of the ports access road , the proposed new call up system and the need for government to provide holding bays for truck operators. He explained the roles of NARTO in the transportation sub sector of the economy and other sundry issues relating to logistics, haulage and maritime operations.
How were you able to resolve the recent face-off between tanker drivers and law enforcement agents in the port?
I will start by thanking you press men for the prompt response that day. Like you said, if not for me, the issue wouldn't have been resolved. But not only for me but for us including the Lagos state chairman for dry cargoes, it was a collective effort. A lot of persons were involved including the law enforcement agents. Having said that, the genesis of the problem that day was that a truck driver was trying to access Apapa Wharf road doing his legitimate duty for the purpose of haulage and in the cause of him accessing Apapa port, he had an encounter with the law enforcement agencies; the so-called task force put up by Lagos state government for the purpose of sanity , traffic control and they demanded for some gratification from him and he gave what he could afford and they were not satisfied with what he gave and because of that, problem ensued and they manhandled him and it resulted to wounds, he became unconscious and was rushed to the hospital but we thank God today that he has been discharged and he has gone back to work. The principal just left here; he came to show appreciation for the way and manner we handled the case. Having said that, I think the purpose of putting the task force in place is to bring sanity, to clear the roads, to make sure there is free flow of traffic. I think the purpose of putting the road task force in place is defeated but that is not to say that they have not performed to an extent; when they came on board, we saw that there was this lane dedication; trucks being on one lane and allowing the other road users to use the other lane. That, to an extent came into being and when that happened, some of us have to appreciate the effort of Lagos state government because Lagos state government had good intention but again, overzealous officers will always do what is not within the context of what they were asked to do. What happened that day was from accumulated grievances by the drivers because this was the second ugly incident that happened in recent time. There was a time a driver was wounded with a bayonet, it entered his leg on one side and came out from the other side. The police was aware, we reported the matter. Sometimes you see an aged driver subjected to corporal punishment by the Lagos State taskforce; you see him doing frog jump. Some of these things happen as a result of accumulated grievances.
In all of these; the corporal punishment and all that you mentioned, what has the association done to address such humiliation?
Before now, we had gone to see the DPO; but first and foremost, we know that some of these drivers are also doing what is not good. I am not going to exonerate all of them and whatever you are doing, there are always some exceptions. Some of those subjected to such punishment might have gone out of their ways to do what is not needed for them to do or they have asked for money and they have not given what they are supposed to be given. Either any of them but even at that, I think there are civilised ways of handling issues. Imagine asking a driver of about 50 to 60 years old to do frog jump and you don't know if he is hypertensive or diabetic or has any sickness. If in the course of that he drops dead, what happens?
Going back to your question, about three to four weeks ago, I received a phone call somebody, whom I later got to identify as the Area Commander who said he read in a newspaper publication about the excesses of the task force and he needed to justify that publication and instantly I dispatched the Lagos state Vice Chairman of dry cargo in the person of Abdullahi Jimoh to him and they spoke at length and chose a day that they should go round various spots where all the task force men do stay. He went round by himself and what he saw was unbelievable, he caught some men collecting money, he caught some men mounting illegal check points and if we have done that, it means we have tried to draw the attention of authority to it and we have even taken them up on some issues, but to no avail and the resultant effect is what you saw on that Saturday.
What is the latest about the restriction of trucks movement that was put in place by the Lagos state government?
It is not practicable in the sense that principal officers working at the ports work during the day. Despite the 24 hours service, there is still congestion in the port and if they have restricted such movement from 6pm to pam, it means you have cut the man hour by 12 hours or so. Even when they work 24 hours, there was still congestion in the port. Number two, the warehouses where these trucks will take these cargoes to will not work at night; so it means the trucks will have to go there and wait until the next day. Take for example, a vessel that is discharging 27,000 metric tonnes; that is about 900 trucks that has the capacity to discharge 50 trucks in a day in a warehouse so, does the consignees' warehouse have capacity to take 50 trucks at a time? They will all line up on the road and the traffic you are trying to control will even increase. Number three, the security implication is that even when trucks work during the day, you still find a situation where trucks are hijacked, taken to unknown destination, driver killed. So, going by some of these things we have said, it is not practicable. The state of the roads is in a very deplorable condition and if you are now saying trucks should move out from the port from 6pm, it means they will all just come out the same time, and that is when workers are just closing from work and are going home So, what are we having? We have created more troubles and the traffic situation will be over-heated because we all want to go out in an attempt to meet deadline.
Are you aware of the latest move to introduce electronic call up system in the port? If you are aware, what is the latest development out the scheme? For us, call up system is good but you need to carry all stakeholders along. We don't want a situation where mediocre seeking for relevance, people who have no stake in the industry. When you are dealing with people; what is their stake in the industry? Who are their members? What trucks do they have? Where are their offices? What is their national spread? I expect them to take you (press men) to their offices anytime you are chatting them up. NARTO has 36 branches in Nigeria; Six branches in the geo-political zones ,Abuja inclusive. We have 85 percent of the trucks you see in dry cargo and any tanker you see in this country belongs to NARTO member. We have absolute control of wet cargo. If you say you are in this association or that, who are you controlling?
In any case, we are not opposed to electronic call up system if everybody is carried along. We are talking of call up system, where is the terminal where the trucks will come from?
According to the project owners, the Trade Fair Complex is being renovated and that it was going to be optional for trucks that want to come there. How do you see it?
Imagine locating truck terminal at the Trade Fair, what is the traffic situation from there to Apapa Wharf? How many days will truck take to come from there to Apapa? When you talk of a call up system, you call a truck to come to Apapa because its name has appeared on the call up, but how long is it going to take him to get to Apapa from Trade Fair? How long will the hook of the vessel be standing to wait for truck?
Number two, when we met with Lagos state government, they said Trade Fair was not meant for a truck park, that there was supposed to be an environmental impact assessment and that the heavy presence of truck is going to damage the roads and I stand to be corrected. The then commission of transport for Lagos State; Mr. Kayode Opeifa said at one of our meetings, even Baba Dantata was in that same meeting, Remi Ogungbemi was there as well when Lagos State Government said they will not endorse a residential area for commercial activities because the presence of trucks will cause pollution and all these are fundamental issues
What is the relationship between NPA and NARTO as regard the ports access roads?
Our trucks do go to the ports, our trucks load from the ports and I have course to tell NPA sometime ago that they are applying divide and rule among trucks. And the last meeting we had when there was this crisis, somebody asked NPA that why is that it is only one transport industry group that you always call went there are issues ? But for us in NARTO we don't look for relevance, rather what you own or have will make you relevance. We prefer to work very hard in silence and let our work do the noise for us and NARTO represents the interest of transporters and at Petroleum Product Price Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), NARTO represents the interest transporters at FERMA, NARTO again represents the interest of transporters again at SURE-P ,NARTO represent the interest of transporters at NACCIMA and as investors in road transport sub sector in Nigeria economy, NARTO represents the interest of Nigerian Employers Consultative Agency (NECA) and in our capacity that is borne out of labour we have a condition of service with the Petroleum Tanker Driver(PTD) because all the tankers in this country belong to NARTO members , NARTO is a member of West Africa Road Transport Owners (WARTO) and you must be aware that the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Works came here recently to discuss with NARTO on how we can take over that park opposite Tin Can Island port because of the complaint that we had laid. I expected that the park would have been used for the call up system considering the proximity of that place to the ports.
But the holding bay is not functional as we speak?
It is in the making and once it is 70% completed that place is inhabitable now and once it is illuminated and there is with water, then we are good to go and if you are mindful as well they are going to construct an access road leading to the park. Above all, that is the right place that is supposed to be used for a call up system. You don't set up a call system in Ikorodu or Shagamu and expect that you will be get effective result. In the first instance, what is the definition of a call up system? Is it not a place where trucks will stay at a very short interval? It is the process whereby they are called to the port to load and move out immediately to avoid congestion. When you say there will be a truck park in Festac as holding bay when do you expect such trucks to come to the port to lift cargo when we all know the traffic situation in that axis.
What is NARTO doing to assist the government on how to fix the deplorable state of the roads?
The state of the roads today is bad and we are the greatest users of roads in the world. Lagos – Ibadan expressway, Jebba – Mokwa, Benin – Ore , Onitsha – Owerri, Enugu – 9th Mile, Ogbulafo- Otukpa; all those roads are in a deplorable conditions. It takes four days to cross 5km road between Jebba – Mokwa and what are the consequences of such poor roads; it will impact on the economy of the nation. Jebba to Mokwa is the road linking the north to the south and by the time a truck spend three to four days on that road alone what do you think would be the consequences; one, it will begin to affect the turnaround of the truck owner and as a result of the pot holes along, the road becomes a den for robbers, again the wear and tear of the vehicles will be exposed. We will continue to say it that there is no country in the world that will progress without a good transport system in place. Transport is pivotal to any economic growth of any country and as far as we are concerned, there is no alternative to road transport system in Nigeria.
Why are all the trucks coming to Lagos to lift wet cargoes?
If the pipelines are functional do you think that all the trucks you find in Lagos State will be there, when they know they will go to the closest depot in order to avoid the stress and the social problems encountered in Lagos. The depots are moribund because of the pipeline vandalism. Of the 200,000 km of roads we have, federal government has about 34,000km of those road then the state and local share the rest. In the 34,000km of road own by the federal government, 60% are in a state of disrepair. Even if you triple the federal budget it will not be enough to fix the bad roads; it will not be able to put Nigeria roads in order. So, my own humble submission is that the roads should be concessioned out to private operators or investors.
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