.Leye Thompson is the President of Committee of Maritime Truck Unions and Associations (COMTUA). In this interview with Oluyinka Onigbinde, he speaks on issues relating to haulage rates, alleged extortion of truck drivers and sundry issues.
Because of recession, the economy is bad, the level of importation has dropped drastically”
So far this year, will you say COMTUA has been able to achieve its set objectives?
COMTUA is a collaboration of seven different associations, we know that sometimes when you present your case individually, sometimes government will not attend to you; that's why we decided to come together and so far so good we've been able to achieve some of the things that made us come together. Early last year, before the arrival of the task team, you can't drive from wherever you are coming from and say you want to enter Apapa, but that has become a thing of the past, even Apapa residential association can testify to that, we are all alive last year when the residents of Apapa staged a protest concerning the gridlock and then a lot of houses where empty, people where leaving Apapa, offices were closing down, but now Apapa is getting lively, the roads are getting better, we are not saying there is no traffic, but it's better compared to last year and then if you look at the road you cannot still access Tin Can from Apapa because of the construction that is ongoing, and then secondly the major problem in the port now is APMT, sometimes they perform well, sometimes they don't perform well, but since last week the Nigeria Railway Corporation started construction of another rail line into the port and out of about eight or seven exit gate APMT is using, they've narrow it down to three now and these are the things that cause gridlock in Apapa, but in terms of whether COMTUA has achieved or the Presidential Task Team has achieved its set objectives, I can tell you there have been a lot of tremendous improvement in the performance of both COMTUA and the task team on this route.
What are the other functions of COMTUA asides ensuring traffic flow in the port access roads?
Well, it is also to see to the welfare of the drivers, the truck owners and to see that all the extortion is checked to the barest minimum. Let's stop deceiving ourselves, everybody knows there is corruption in Nigeria, but what we are experiencing presently you can’t compare it to the days of military task force when if you don't pay N180,000 you can’t access the port and even if you have to cross, you will pay to the last kobo, and it was a selective thing then, but this time with the Presidential Task Team, if you have your call up, I can assure you 100% that if you don't go that same day you will go next day, so out of your own will, you can say I want to appreciate this person and say ok take this N1500 which is normal. So nobody can force you and say pay a certain amount, in fact it's long I heard about that.
Are you saying there is no extortion by the Task Team or you are just speaking for COMTUA, because freight forwarders have alleged extortion by the team?
I am speaking for both, because I am a member of the Presidential Task Team and I am the president of COMTUA and right from the inception of the Presidential Task Team, the presidency invited us, so we have two members of COMTUA in the Presidential Task Team and if we notice that one or two things are not right, we tell them, so there is no decision taken by the Presidential Task Team without consulting us. So, if I am talking; being an insider I know what I am saying and I can say it anywhere, when did freight forwarders come to the road to assist, we do work here round-the-clock, to make sure that there is free flow of traffic, are they not the same persons telling their importers that haulage companies are charging abnormally; that if you don't pay N800,000 your container will not move from the port and I tell the importers that nothing of such happens again, although sometimes last year there were a lot of crazy charges here and there, but this year, as I am speaking with you now, the highest you can move a 40ft container from Apapa port to Ikeja is not more than N350,000, so if they are charging N800,00 as at December last year and this year, it is N350,000 and we have even held meeting with our members that nobody should increase haulage rates not even by a single naira, because we know what happened in the system worldwide and it's still happening till now; the economy is bad, the pandemic is causing a lot of problem, so things are not working the way they should. So, by adding to haulage rates, we are creating more problems and we can't create more hardship for the common masses.
But freight forwarders are saying haulage rates have skyrocketed by over 1000%?
Tell them to prove it, they use these things to extort money from their clients; this is what they do, I am telling you, I can show you my invoice, but when these freight forwarders want to extort their clients, they cook up all sort of stories and put it at the door step of the transporters and we won’t accept that.
Nigeria entered recession recently and according to reports, this is the worst recession in 40 years. What is the impact of the recession so far on haulage?
We are really feeling the heat of the recession, this is supposed to be the best season for us because this is peak period, but because of the recession and the economy is bad, the level of import has dropped drastically. So we that we are looking for job, how do we still increase charges, when we are still looking for regular jobs, so it's not possible, a lot of trucks are hanging around the port, they are hanging around to get containers to move, but there is no job, so it is really affecting us and that's why we cannot increase haulage rates for now.
COMTUA recently opened an insurance package for its members, what motivates you to do so?
Every organization that doesn't think of the welfare of its staff or members, I don't think it's worth to be in existence at all. We discovered that the drivers are suffering, some of them when accidents happen, there is no insurance cover for them, some of them might have minor injury; some permanent injury and some leading to death and nobody will care about them, that is why the executives decided to look at how we can touch the lives of this people, because they are the engine room of our business and we look at the major thing that they are lacking and we thought about the issue of insurance and we decided to have insurance for all the drivers, even if anything happens tomorrow we want their family to be sure that there is something for them to fall back on, and in case of accident they are sure that somebody is there to take care of their hospital bill, some of the drivers have died because of N20,000 some have died because of N10,000, but with the insurance they are sure that even if the accident happens outside Lagos, they are sure someone will pay the bills. So this will help them know that someone feels for them and have them at heart. Secondly, most of the drivers when they are on queue especially on the Tin Can road, some may be on the road for more than two days, because of the road construction ongoing in that axis, we looked at it that most of these drivers don't have access to toilets and bathrooms, so we now also decided to get them a mobile toilets and bathrooms and it's because we care about them. Like I said, they are the engine room of our business, so this is just to encourage them and let them know they are not just working and toiling, someone cares about their welfare and I am sure, this kind of thing has never happened in the haulage business here in Nigeria, for you to think let us have insurance for all the drivers, the owners will do for them as well and what is the contribution just N500 and with the insurance, if it is permanent disability it's N1 million and if it is minor it is up to N500,000 and the insurance company will take care of that.
What are the challenges confronting your association?
The major challenge in the port is that there is no stable programme, today we talk about call-up system by NPA, tomorrow we will talk about another one by APMT, now as we are speaking TTP is coming up with their own, so the system is not stable
What are your projections for 2021?
2021 belongs to God, in 2019 we were all jubilating and expectant of year 2020, but we see how things turned out. Since I was born, I have never seen a year like 2020, the pandemic disrupted activities and we are just praying to survive the year and by the grace of God we will. So in 2021, we hope for better, we believe that God will help us control this pandemic so that we can all pre- plan our lives; what makes Nigeria run into recession is because of the pandemic, and until this problem is resolved, I don't think it will be alright.
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