• We Will Remove Our Trucks, But…., – NUPENG
After what appeared like they are untouchable, the Lagos state government last week ordered all articulated vehicles off the ever busy Apapa –Oshodi expressway and the approach to the port from the Ijora axis.
The directive also coincided with a visit to the state Governor, Mr Raji Fashola by the presidential committee on port reforms, headed by the special adviser to the President on project monitoring, Professor Sylvester Monye.
• We Will Remove Our Trucks, But…., – NUPENG
After what appeared like they are untouchable, the Lagos state government last week ordered all articulated vehicles off the ever busy Apapa –Oshodi expressway and the approach to the port from the Ijora axis.
The directive also coincided with a visit to the state Governor, Mr Raji Fashola by the presidential committee on port reforms, headed by the special adviser to the President on project monitoring, Professor Sylvester Monye.
The committee had last Thursday told the governor that it had already given notices to the truck owners and that they have also given undertakings to comply.
"The operation is being supervised by the Inspector-General himself, so it is going to be a major operation and we are delighted that the Lagos State Government is totally with us on this assignment."
"So, it is going to be a total operation because from tomorrow (last Friday,) we will deploy security to all the truck users. We have a substantial number of Policemen and women who would lead the operation.
But, in a swift reaction to the two directives, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers Union (NUPENG), Alhaji Nojeem Korodo told Shipping Position Daily that tanker drivers have all been directed to comply.
“We have given similar directive to all our members to vacate the road, and in as much as we are law abiding we should not rule out the problems that are on ground, when you are beating a child and you are expecting the child not to cry out, there is no way, he won’t cry out, there is no alternative being provided for us”, he pointed out in an apparent displeasure with the order.
He also hinted of a possible indiscriminate parking in other areas by the tanker drivers. “We told them that they should move to anywhere they deem conducive for them, because the little space we have at Orile Iganmu has been reduced because of the expansion work going on along Badagry expressway, and we keep on telling government the implication, yet they asked us to go to another location.”
He also confirmed that tanker drivers have started vacating the expressway by last Friday, adding that, “before a directive is given, you must also consider a lot of things that will be put in place, we believe the government is to maintain law and order and since they have given the directive we have told our members that they must comply, if you get to that area now you will see them moving away, we have even told them to start moving from today (last Friday).
Speaking in like manner, the chairman, Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), Chief Remi Ogungbemi confirmed that truck drivers have agreed to comply. “The position of AMATO is that we have no choice than to comply with the directive, as law- abiding citizens, we have told our members to comply with the directive given by the government”, he stated, even as he hinted that the directive is capable of hampering port operations.
However, when contacted a marketer at one of the tank farms around Ibru gate told Shipping Position Daily that it might be difficult for the government to achieve a hundred percent result as expected because most of the tankers along the axis have been abandoned due to mechanical faults so, “it will take concerted efforts to really get them to leave the place”
According to him, not all the tanker drivers are aware of the directive, because some of them especially those travelling down to Lagos from the North and other parts of the country will be arriving in Lagos over the weekend and may fall into the hands of the law.
He also said that the holding bays are filled to the brim and that most of them are very expensive to patronize, he said that many of the tank farms have holding bays which they have refused to develop, therefore the federal government ought to compel them to develop it before asking the tankers to vacate the road.
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