Oluyinka Onigbinde
Remarks by industry stakeholders and checks by Shipping Position Daily have revealed that Lagos ports, particularly the Tin Can Island Port are gradually becoming a theatre of deaths owing to several attacks being carried out within the port premises.
Stakeholders who responded to enquiries by our correspondents disclosed that attacks and killings within the Tin Can Port environment are gradually becoming a daily occurrence, where hoodlums now gain access to unleash mayhem on both truck drivers, freight forwarders or any stakeholders perceived to be a threat to their livelihood.
Our correspondent gathered that there have been not less than 12 attacks within the Tin Port environment in the last 10 months, leaving not less than six dead and others with severe injuries.
Recall that four members of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) were killed over an alleged attack by members of the Lagos State Park and Garage Committee (LASPGC) at Tin Can Island Port Lagos State on August 1st 2022.
It was gathered that members of LASPGC invaded the port’s corridor at the popular ‘National Bus Stop’ by dislodging members of truckers’ unions and commenced issuance of tickets to truck drivers at the second gate axis of the Tin-Can Island Port in Apapa.
Our correspondent was told that the brawl disrupted port operations and movement within the port and its environs, as port users and commuters flee for their lives.
In June 2022, Shipping Position Daily also recall that a truck driver lost his life within the Tin Can port over a brawl with hoodlums demanding that he paid some money to them before leaving the port.
And very recently, a member of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and Chairman of the MWUN under the Barge Operations district; Mr Wale Cole, was attacked within the port premises by hoodlums leaving him grasping for his life at the intensive care unit of an undisclosed hospital.
Following the mayhem unleashed on him and other port users by the hoodlums, the union suspended activities at the Tin Can Port, even as it warned that any further attack on any of its members shall be met with consequences.
Stakeholders while reacting to the killings and attacks bemoaned the porous state of the nation’s port, lamenting that such attacks can’t take place in other ports of the world. This is even as they demanded for profiling of all port users to certify those with genuine reasons to be within the port environs.
In a chat with our correspondent a clearing agent and member of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) Deacon Udok Ukpai, who operates within the Tin Port environs, lamented the porous state of the port. He said the port environs is gradually becoming a motor garage where touts can unleash attacks whenever they like, he bemoaned the security architecture within the port environment, this is even as he called for strict security measures within the port area.
According to him, “The port area is gradually becoming a motor garage and attacks are being carried out almost every month, the port area should be a restricted area, you can’t find this in other ports of the world, the security here needs to be tightened and there is need to know who is who, it is not everybody that you allow into the port environs, but in our own case it is all commerce affairs which ought not to be so”.
Speaking also, the acting national President of ANLCA, Dr. Kayode Farinto suggested that there is a need to profile all port users, while calling for more empowerment of the security operatives at the port.
He said: “What we need to do in this part of our world is to define which is a port area, who are supposed to be in the port area and anybody that does not have a business to do at the port area, is not allowed to come into the port area. Let’s empower the Nigerian Police to do their work because even the Police are doing the work as if they are not well empowered, how many operational vehicles do we have and what do we have in the port area and the fact also is that we need to sanitize the port.
“Going forward, I want to see a situation where the port is well-illuminated and everybody within the port system should be profiled; if I’m working in the port environment I should be profiled, the security agency the Nigeria Police, DSS and others should know who and who in that area, we don’t have that for now, we just have a situation where the Police is trying their best but they have challenges here and there I think we need to illuminate the port and also empower the security agencies to be able to do their work, and part of the empowerment is to build their logistics, if we don’t have logistics there is nothing they can do”, he advised.
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“They don’t have data, Nigeria Port should be able to profile everyone within the port; be you big man or small man, the moment you say you want to work in the port, Nigeria Police should have a data on everybody, this is lacking, so I still push it back to the Federal Government, I will only want to advice for a solution going forward”, he said.
On his part the National Secretary of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN), Frank Obikezie opined that the attacks witnessed within the port environs are as a result of the crisis in various associations, he said if there is peace in the associations there will be peace also within the port environment.
“I don’t think it has to do with the port setting, because these things are being done by individuals. Even the one you’re referring to did not happen inside the port, it happened somewhere around ‘National’. So we should be talking about individuals and possibly the associations.
“What we should ask is, why it is difficult for associations to practice internal democracy. It is where there is no internal democracy that all these resentments come up. And when they come up, people find different ways to settle scores. I don’t want to say it is peculiar to Tin Can Island. That is part of what we do in AREFFN. We ensure that there is internal democracy. The question is why can’t the associations settle their issues in-house” he questioned.
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