TOLA ADENUBI has operated around Apapa and Tin-Can ports for years. His report on the corruption ring on the access roads is an eye-opener on why government’s efforts at ending the menace have so far come short.
HAULAGE operators at Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports in Lagos State have lamented the increasing rate of extortion at various checkpoints manned by security operatives and hoodlums along the ports’ access roads. Checks by Saturday Tribune revealed that the number of checkpoints betweenLiverpool Roundabout and Coconut Bus Stop along the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway has increased from four to more than 10 in recent weeks.
Speaking recently with Saturday Tribune, the vice chairman of the Dry Cargo section of the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Alhaji Abdullahi Inuwa, said: “As I am talking to you, the checkpoints where trucks are stopped and money collected from them are numerous. From Liverpool Roundabout to Abuja Gate at Tin-Can second gate along the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, there are four illegal checkpoints manned by security operatives and officials of Apapa Local Government.
“From Tin-Can Second Gate, down through the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway to the Mile-2 area, that axis is under hoodlums’ control. You will see stick-wielding miscreants mounting benches on the road, demanding for N20,000 or N10,000 from each truck that wants to pass through. There are no fewer than eight of these checkpoints around that axis and whatever you pay there has no record because there are no receipts issued for such payments.”
For people aiming to make use of either Apapa or Tin-Can port, about 10 illegal checkpoints have gained prominence for the notorious way container-carrying vehicles are brazenly extorted. In some areas, private vehicle owners are not spared once it is late in the evening.
The 10 notorious checkpoints are located at Ijora Badia (LPC axis), Mile 2 under and over the bridge, UBA (TCIPC corridor), NAGAFF, Area B, RRS Marine Bridge, 7up, Fidelity Roundabout, Etisalat Roundabout (LPC axis) and RRS (TCIPC corridor).
Most of these illegal checkpoints are manned by miscreants popularly referred to as ‘ECOMOG Boys’. However, not all the illegal checkpoints operate during the day. But most of these illegal checkpoints are only a few minutes apart from one another and they easily spring up at intervals, depending on the movement of the different task forces saddled with the responsibility of curbing extortion along the ports’ access roads.
The illegal checkpoints at NAGAFF, Area B and RRS Marine Bridge are just a stone’s throw from one another and are manned by security, mostly police, operatives.
‘How they extort us’
Alhaji Inuwa revealed that: “For a truck to navigate the Marine Bridge towards the Apapa port, such a truck has to go through the RRS Marine Bridge checkpoint, NAGAFF checkpoint and Area B checkpoint, which is less than 10 minutes’ drive.
“You will be asked to pay money at these checkpoints or your vehicle will be delayed for days while others that arrived after you and parted with money are allowed to go. Sometimes we pay as much as N20,000 at each of these checkpoints, meaning that between Marine bridge and Area B, a truck parts with N60,000 for a journey of less than 10 minutes.
“Also, the Ijora Badia checkpoint, 7up checkpoint and Etisalat checkpoint are all located in Ijora. These ones are checkpoints manned by miscreants with the backing of security operatives. During the day, it is the police that you will see at these checkpoints stopping and delaying truckers just to extort them and make them do undocumented payment.
“Once its evening, anything from 7pm, the hoodlums take over the checkpoints in Ijora. They don’t work alone. Security operatives withdraw into parked buses or their Hilux vans while the hoodlums do the stopping and collection of money from truckers. Any trucker that refuses them will have himself to blame. They collect as much as N20,000 per checkpoint. In Ijora alone, we have about three of such illegal checkpoints. So, at the end of the day, a truck driver loses about N60,000 to these illegal checkpoints.
“With N60,000 collected at Ijora and another N60,000 collected between Marine Bridge and Area B Junction, that is N120,000 collected without receipts. Yet, you are not anywhere near the Apapa port gate. You are just some minutes away from the Apapa port gate, and there are still other checkpoints that await your truck before it is allowed into the port.
“For trucks coming in from the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, the Mile 2 under and over the bridge checkpoints have to be navigated. It is after that place that you will face another checkpoint around Abuja Gate. These are also checkpoints manned by policemen and other security operatives during the day. Once it is evening, miscreants take the stage and collect these charges while the security operatives give them cover.
“All these illegal checkpoints collect nothing less than N20,000 from truckers at each stop and that is why the cost of doing business at the ports is on the rise. The cost of taking a container from the port via road haulage is high because these illegal checkpoints have to be factored into the cost by the trucker except he wants to run his business at a loss.”
Private vehicles not spared
Saturday Tribune discovered that private vehicles are not spared at night when leaving Apapa area. Findings showed that just after the Sifax Offdock terminal in Ijora lies an illegal checkpoint under the Badagry Expressway bridge where miscreants gather at night to extort truckers and private vehicle owners.
The checkpoint is under the overhead bridge which links Badagry Expressway to Orile. It is in-between Sifax terminal and Costain Roundabout. The miscreants use the opportunity of a very bad portion of that road to extort road users.
For private vehicle owners who refuse to stop, it is either their windshields get smashed or their cars are damaged by the miscreants.
Speaking with Saturday Tribune, a staff member of one of the commercial banks in Apapa, Femi Atobatele, explained that due to the activities of miscreants under the Badagry Expressway bridge, after Sifax offdock terminal in Ijora, he preferred parking his car inside the National Stadium at Surulere and accessing Apapa using motorcycle (okada).
Atobatele said: “There is a very bad portion of the road under the bridge before you get to Costain when coming from Apapa. The bad portion of the road slows down vehicular movement and allows miscreants to emerge and demand all sorts of things from you. If you ignore them, they will smash your windscreen or even damage your vehicle.
“That portion of the road is so bad that you cannot speed off. So, it is either you settle them or risk your vehicle being damaged. They harass truckers and there are so man of them. You cannot come down from your vehicle to confront them because they come out in their numbers under the cover of darkness to perpetrate the act.”
Why anti-extortion policies fail
Findings by Saturday Tribune showed that the illegal business has defied virtually all solutions due to the retention of security officials posted to the ports for traffic operations for six years or thereabouts.
An official of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) who declined to have his name mentioned, told Saturday Tribune that some security officials had been at their duty posts within the port logistics chain for more than five years.
The official said: “Do you know we have security officials who have been here for more than five years? In 2015, I was redeployed from the port to another part of Lagos, around Alausa, to be precise. However, sometime in 2019, I was among those mobilised to the port area ahead of the vice presidents visit to the ports. Do you know that some officials that I knew in 2015 were still manning strategic traffic routes along the ports access roads in 2019?
“I want to believe that the trend persists, because some of my colleagues who now work around the port still mention names of security operatives that I knew in 2015 who are still there today. So, tell me, how do you expect an end to extortion along the port access roads?
“Unless there is an overhaul of security operatives along the port corridor, port users will continue to get extorted because the people currently manning that corridor have benefitted from extortion for about five years and are not ready to stop since their expenses have far outweighed their salaries due to gains made from extortion.
“It is not about redeploying some and leaving others. We are talking of the need for an overhaul of security operatives along the port corridor. When the Kayode Opeifa-led task force was initially introduced in May 2019, they were succeeding until some of them got corrupted by these officials who have benefited from the confusion over the years.
“At a point, truckers were pointing fingers at the Opeifa committee anytime issues of extortion were discussed. That task force was disbanded in December 2020 but extortion along the port access roads persists. Until there is a total overhaul of the security system at the ports and at the Area B Police headquarters, extortion will continue to thrive at the ports.”
Will new move end menace?
With the spate of extortion reaching an alarming height, the Lagos State government and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) recently announced a partnership to bring an end to it along the ports’ access roads.
Saturday Tribune observed that since the disbandment of the Opeifa task force two years ago, there had been no other coordinated arrangement, leading everybody to just be taking up spots to extort until the new move by the state government and the NPA.
Recently, when some policemen on the illegal duty were approached for clarification on the levies being collected without receipt, they directed journalists to seek answers from their head office.
The state command of the police referred Saturday Tribune to the head of the port command.
However, in a statement, the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Transportation, Oluwatoyin Fayinka, declared that the state government would enforce zero tolerance for extortion and activities of miscreants along the corridor through special mobile courts created to address the challenges.
The statement reads in part: “As part of the Lagos State government’s efforts to eliminate traffic gridlock and curb extortion along the Apapa/Tincan axis, it has reached a consensus with the Nigerian Port Authority in streamlining checkpoints along the corridors and feeder routes.
“At a stakeholder meeting with transport unions, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Hon. Oluwatoyin Fayinka, declared that the state government will enforce zero tolerance on illegal extortions and activities of miscreants along the corridor through special mobile courts created to address the aforementioned challenges.
“Fayinka also explained that in streamlining the corridor, illegal extortion points will be disbanded and the agencies charged with the role of managing traffic flow along the axis have been clearly defined and assigned to prevent any illegal activity that can hinder the smooth port operations for all stakeholders.
“The Transport Special Adviser further stated that trucks will no longer be stopped for ETO at Ijora Badia (LPC axis), Mile 2 Under and Over the bridge, UBA (TCIPC corridor), adding that Truck movement will not be interfered with at NAGAFF, Area B, RRS Marine Bridge, 7up, Fidelity Roundabout, Etisalat Roundabout (LPC axis) and RRS (TCIPC corridor).
“Fayinka also revealed that the agreed checkpoints have been assigned to specific agencies. He explained further that some checkpoints will be manned by the NPA alone, while some other checkpoints will be assigned to NPA and the Lagos State Government. In the same vein, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Rapid Response Squad and the Nigerian Police Force will manage some points independently without interference from the other agencies, while military checkpoints will no longer exist along the port corridors.
“The Transport Special Adviser however sounded a warning to unions and hoodlums extorting motorists along Tin-Can, saying their activities will no longer be allowed on the corridors as they are also inimical to seamless traffic flow.
“The Special Adviser urged all stakeholders to cooperate with the new strategy and coordinate themselves accordingly as this will improve movement along the port access roads which will better economic activities.”
As the enforcement of this new policy by the Lagos State government and the NPA begins, port users and stakeholders are hopeful that the extortionist syndicate terrorising Apapa and its environs will be finally dismantled.
“The Lagos State government, in collaboration with the NPA, has outlawed all these illegal checkpoints. They have even said no more military checkpoints in Apapa. We are hopeful and watching how this new policy will be enforced, a port user, Kingsley Ubani told Saturday Tribune.
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