The emergence of the menace of road haulage and the various associations is traceable to the emergence of traffic gridlock in Apapa. And since the situation became a norm, all manners of both state and non-state actors have taken the centre stage.
This newspaper had in 2020, published a detailed investigation which revealed how security agencies consistently took advantage of truckers and owners of cargoes meant for export. The state actors that were identified in that report were officials of: Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Police, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).
The detailed report gave concluded that the Apapa traffic gridlock is a honey pot, hence difficult to arrest.
The gridlock is obviously because the port city of Apapa has grown to an almost N20-billion-a-day economy, which makes it a goldmine of some sort. Little wonder, it is common phrase is that: Apapa is better than Yahoo; an infamous reference to how freely and quickly people can become dubiously rich through any of the various means, one of which is by extortion and abuse of trucking and haulage business.
Apapa is very strategic to the economy of Nigeria, it is linked to the rest of Lagos by two major highways; the Apapa – Oshodi expressway and the Western Avenue (Funso Willaims Avenue). Of course, it can also be approached by water from Mile Two (on the mainland) and Marina (on the Island).
What is happening in Apapa is not unexpected, given its privileged location as home to Nigeria’s two foremost ports which are currently being managed by nine terminal operators. Between the two ports (Lagos Port Complex and Tin Can Island Port) more than 65 percent of dry cargoes and about 90 per cent of the nation’s liquid (petroleum products) are handled. This is because it hosts about 45 tank farms (and still counting). These are in addition to the many banks, shipping companies/agencies, licensed customs offices, factories and numerous other businesses that are located in this port city.
Before the traffic menace enveloped it, it used to be a thriving, attractive and very busy city, with free flowing vehicular and human traffic; this is in addition to other human endeavours that take place there. It is so sad that Apapa has now turned to a failed city; a bedlam of chaos and no-go-area for many.
The wealth which emanates from Apapa is what makes the ports the most viable source of non-oil revenue to the Federal Government.. This is what makes Nigerian Customs tick in terms of revenue collection which runs into Trillions of Naira annually.
Sadly, Apapa has become a very challenging environment where traffic congestion and uncontrolled activities of truck drivers and state and non-state actors.
Sadly too, several interventions in different names had been created by government as response to the challenges of traffic and trucking in the port city. They have all failed! Rather, those given the assignment have taken advantage and have become much richer than they were, prior to taking up the assignment.
The chaotic traffic and the failure of the interventions have also given rise to different associations and leaders, all deceitfully vowing to fight for truckers.
First to appear on the scene apparently to take advantage was the Council of Maritime Transport Unions and Associations (COMTUA), which had notable bodies such as the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) and the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), as members. There were a few other previously unknown bodies in the group called COMTUA.
This marriage failed after about two years, due to irreconcilable differences, and this gave rise to the emergence of various groups, all still claiming to be fighting for truckers.
Apart from MWUN and NARTO, there now exists: National Association of Maritime Truck Operators (NAMTOP), Lagos State Truck and Cargo Operators Committee (LASTCOC), and the Nexus Association of Maritime Truck Operators (NAMTOP).
Sadly, as the various groups ‘fight’ to protect truckers, they levy the hapless truckers. Thng is is where the bone of contention is. The levy runs into Millions of Naira daily,. There now exists a ring of syndicates who benefit from these illegal earnings.
Disagreements over collection and sharing often to dangerous confrontations among different groups and various trucking associations.
At a recent peace parley, the President General of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria; Comrade Adewale Adeyanju admitted that five of its members had been killed over illegal collection of fees at the Tin Can port alone.
There had been various instances of mayhem in Apapa as hoodlums who masquerade as truckers associations’ agents and task forces force truckers to part with money.
The question one may ask is: Why has it been difficult to put a stop to the menace of trucking associations and the hoodlums who work for them?
The failure of road transportation into and out of Apapa is the elixir. And for as long as the government fails to introduce a dedicated rail system into port operations in the country, for so long will the menace continue. If cargoes are evacuated from the ports by rail, there will be fewer trucks along the ports corridor.
Some stakeholders have also attributed the chaos to the emergence of tank farms in and around Apapa, a development that has not only congested the road, but has also brought a lot of non-state actors in the scene.
While this is true, all articulated vehicles. Either for wet cargoes or dry cargoes belong to unions and associations. The vehicles and their owners belong to different well-established and legal entities. So where these are quasi groups coming from. They are foot soldiers of vested interests who benefit from the mess that haulage has become in Apapa.
Sanity may never return to trucking, because the chaos has culminated into the formation of empires and there are emperors who collect royalties, in the form of the illegal levies they are imposing on truck drivers.
It will take determination on the part of government and provision of efficient road infrastructure and railways, to eliminate the gangsters and extortionists who masquerade as leaders and defenders of truckers.
