DESPITE the genuine efforts of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), truck owners as well as other port users to ease the flow of traffic on the Lagos port access roads, the problem of extortion has continued to increase as investigations have revealed that there are over 50 illegal checkpoints on the Lagos port corridors.
These checkpoints have become extortion points for the military taskforce personnel deployed to ease the flow of traffic while touts haven’t been left out of the extortion exercise as truck-drivers are fleeced at every checkpoint.
Over fifteen illegal checkpoints exist between Ijora and Apapa, while the figure increases to twenty-two at night from 7 pm. Similarly, another thirteen extortion checkpoints exist between Mile 2 – Tin Can – Liverpool route; while eight checkpoints were counted by our correspondent on Mile 2 to Ajegunle (Boundary) route.
These points of extortion have become an impediment to the efforts of NPA and port stakeholders to curb the gridlock even as NPA has started a manual truck call-up system to dissipate traffic caused by the haphazard movement of trucks along the port access roads in Lagos.
During an exclusive chat with newsmen, the President-General of the National Association of Air Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC), Prince Adeyinka Bakare said: “We have 15 checkpoints and when it gets to 7 pm, it increases from 15 to 22 and at every point, a truck driver must part with something. I can name the spots where you have these checkpoints.”
ALSO READ: #NigeriaDecides2019 | Buhari leads Atiku in Kogi presidential election
Bakare who was assessing the viability of the manual truck call-up system recently introduced by NPA maintained that the traffic gridlock at Lagos port access roads would remain until the opportunities for extortion are eliminated.
“We have created businesses for some people and until this issue is resolved, we cannot solve the problem on the ground,” he added.
Also speaking on the issue, the Vice Chairman, Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Dry Cargo wing, Alhaji Inuwa Abdullahi told our correspondent that the number of extortion points around the ports has become too numerous to count.
“These are the problems that we encounter on daily basis. I have received complaints today of extortion despite the launch of the manual truck call-up. I’ll continue to plead with the media to publish and put these issues in the limelight until the extortion stops,” he said.
However, Inuwa explained that beyond the extortion, the manual truck call-up system may be ineffective because the call-up system only favours truck-owners resident in Lagos.
“The manual truck calls up system is a good initiative which NARTO supports. The programme, if well managed, can eliminate the problem of trucks on the port access roads without any reason to be there. However, the call-up system favours truck owners resident in Lagos who have truck parks or can easily access the commercial truck parks. How about the large percentage of trucks coming from outside Lagos with little information about available truck parks or the decision to utilise a manual truck call-up system? Since these trucks are heading to Lagos from other states they are likely to remain on the roads,” he said.
and then