TOLA ADENUBI and SEGUN KASALI bring to the fore the plights of those sustaining the largest economy in the country.
On Monday last week, the Lagos State government staved off a planned strike by the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Association (PTDA) in the state over alleged extortion of its members by security operatives and hoodlums in the course of conducting their lawful business.
Just as the PTDA complained, the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) has also alleged that a trucker pays as much as N250,000 to pass through various checkpoints mounted by security operatives in the course of completing one trip.
The national chairman of the PTDA, Salimonu Oladiti, had said on the eve of the shelved industrial action: “We don’t have much to say. If the issues of extortion and harassment of our members are addressed, we won’t go on strike but if they are not addressed, we will go on with it. Security agents and hoodlums are extorting our members and officials of Lagos State Traffic Management use taser on our drivers and this can kill. We have been reporting to the government but nothing has come out of it. The state government called us to a meeting but nothing came out of the meeting. We are still waiting for them to call another meeting.”
The state government eventually called the union leaders for another meeting on Monday and an agreement was reached, which led to the suspension of the planned strike which could have seen a statewide disruption in the distribution of petroleum products with the attendant pain for the 22-million strong population of the state. Two other unions that are crucial to the economic wellbeing of Lagos, which is considered to be Nigeria’s richest state, had already signed off on the strike, due to the extortion of their members also allegedly by security operatives.
Midnight checkpoints
Ports activities are crucial to the economy of Lagos State in particular and Nigeria in general. In an interview with Saturday Tribune, Alhaji Inuwa Abdullahi, spokesperson for one of the unions within the system, the Council of Maritime Transport Unions and Associations (COMTUA), which was part of the shelved strike, alleged extortion along the port access roads mostly at nights by security operatives attached t commercial banks around the port area and those stationed to control traffic along diversionary routes. Alhaji Abdullahi explained that complaints by the various haulage groups to government agencies regulating port operations have not been fruitful as the trend has not abated along the ports access roads.
He said: “The extortion happens mostly at nights when most offices have closed for the day. The extortion happens in two ways; firstly from security agents stationed at diversionary routes along roads that are being repaired, and secondly from security agents stationed to guard commercial banks along the ports access roads. For the diversionary routes, you know that the Marine Bridge is being repaired, and along a section of that bridge, one lane has been closed. The other lane that is open has been collapsed into two lanes through a diversion on top of the bridge. At nights, the security officials stationed at that point on top of the bridge collect between N20,000 and N50,000 from truckers who seek to enter the port to drop empty containers or to get jobs.
“Also, in the dead of the night, security officials stationed to guard commercial banks along Wharf Road, Point Road, Creek Road and Marine Road all come out and stand on these roads, demanding for all sorts of money before allowing trucks to pass through the roads. These roads, they all lead to the port, so instead of these security officials to stay inside the banks that they have been asked to guard, they troop out on the road and create checkpoints to extort our members. All these illegalities occur in the dead of the night. Once it is 3.00 a.m., these artificial checkpoints on Marine Bridge and along the roads leading to the banks are quickly dismantled and traffic will return to normal. We have complained at different fora to the port economic regulator, the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), and they have kept promising to address the situation but nothing has changed.”
N250, 000 bribe per trip
Also speaking to Saturday Tribune, the chairman of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), Chief Remi Ogungbemi, lamented that before a truck eventually gets into the ports, the driver would have coughed up about N250,000 to drop an empty container or to get a new job.
Chief Ogungbemi said: “These artificial checkpoints spring up along the ports access roads at night. You won’t see them during the day. These checkpoints number between 10 and 20, depending on your route and destination. If your destination is Tin-Can port, you pay more because the route is longer from Marine Bridge, compared to Apapa Port. At each of the checkpoints, truckers are forced to pay about N50,000 to pass through or they delay the trucks for hours. If you pass through five or more checkpoints, a trucker, at the end of one trip, could have parted with N250,000 or more. That is our ordeal at the hands of these security operatives along the ports access roads. This happens only in the night. Before dawn, the checkpoints would have disappeared. Many of these security operatives work with corporate organizations in Apapa. Many are stationed to guard offices and banks but at night, they extort our members because they are wearing uniforms and carrying arms.
“These illegal checkpoints are located along the roads that lead to the ports. The Eleganza Roundabout is a major extortion point. The Airways Junction is another major extortion point if a truck is heading towards Apapa port. For a truck heading towards Tin-Can port, we have extortion spots at Liverpool under-bridge, Second Gate axis, Point Road, adjacent Zenith Bank, among others. All these extortion spots are different from the one on top of Marine Bridge and that is why we truckers have had to factor these expenses into our charges while negotiating with potential clients. We have complained repeatedly but nothing has been done. The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) has promised to look into the matter and that is why we called off our planned industrial action last Tuesday.”
There are 20 checkpoints on Badagry Road –Lawmaker
Beyond the ports and petroleum products sectors of the state economy, another sector that is allegedly bleeding from security operatives’ extortion is goods and services. The Badagry axis is identified as the hottest spot, with a serving lawmaker, Honourable Setonji David of Badagry Constituency 2, claiming that about 20 illegal checkpoints have been identified.
Speaking to Saturday Tribune, the member of the House of Assembly claimed: “Another problem residents are facing on that road is extortion of motorists by security agents. It is only on Lagos-Badagry Expressway that at every two kilometers, you see a police checkpoint mounted for the purpose of obtaining money from motorists. They are there making life difficult for our people every day. You cannot see less than 20 police checkpoints on the road. It is terrible. We are appealing to both the state and federal governments to assist us on this because it is causing a lot of hardship and hazards for our people. There are cases of people having health emergencies and due to the poor state of the road, the vehicle would break down and the patient would die. There is no business that can thrive in such a situation? Nobody would want to come to Badagry to do business because things are very expensive in Badagry now.
“To bring goods from the Lagos metropolis to Badagry attracts a lot of money and this makes life difficult for our people. You will be amazed at what our people are going through now. On the extortion of residents by security agents, chairmen of Badagry Local Government Area and myself held a meeting with the police, the Nigerian Army, the Customs and others to register our displeasure on the activities of their men on the road and they promised that it would be addressed but the situation has remained the same. I can assure you that most of these checkpoints are illegal.”
Lamenting the poor condition of the road, which he said he believed is compounding the challenges in the axis, the lawmaker said: “The situation of that road is beyond what words could describe. I had a meeting slated for 1.00 p.m. in Lagos and I left Badagry at 6.00 a.m., but got trapped in the traffic build-up caused by the damaged portion of the road. I ended up spending almost eight hours on the road in traffic for a journey of about 40 minutes. You can imagine what the people are going through. I wish you pass through the road. The harrowing experience of our people on that road is indescribable. It is a Federal Government road. It is only in Nigeria that you see something like that happening.
“The road has failed. I am a civil engineer by profession and I know that what is there is beyond maintenance. It is total reconstruction that we need on the road. How can you allow a road of over 50 kilometers, a dual carriageway, to be damaged to that extent? As I talk to you, commercial vehicles are no longer plying the Lagos-Badagry Expressway. It is on rare occasion that you see a few vehicles. People don’t want to use their vehicles to ply such a terrible road. I think we are cut off from Lagos. That road has been like that for the past five years or so. Recently, the Federal Government awarded some parts of the road, and the little they have done has been washed away by the rain. The state of the road is now terrible.
“Recently, 14 persons drowned when a boat capsized en-route the coastal city. The deceased were forced to seek alternative means of transportation following the total collapse of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway. I am devastated by the pictures of the victims of the boat mishap that happened between Lagos and Badagry. Our people are looking for alternative means of transportation as a result of neglect of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway. We have made repeated calls for completion of work on this very important access road to Badagry. We have suffered greatly and are still suffering. Governance should be about the welfare and safety of the people. I am pleading with the government to urgently intervene and make the road safe for people.”
N1, 000 bribe per passenger?
For many residents of and visitors to Badagry, journeying through roads in the axis brings to mind the pictures of the slave trade era when human beings were brutalised and deprived of necessities of life.
Speaking on the poor state of the long abandoned Lagos-Badagry Expressway, a resident in Ajara area of the town, Podo Segla, described the international road that connects Nigeria to neighbouring countries like Togo and Senegal as an eyesore and a death trap which has killed countless number of travellers. Segla told Saturday Tribune that with the huge number of travellers and residents who use the road on a daily basis, disaster of high magnitude is waiting if the road isn’t urgently repaired.
He said: “The Lagos-Badagry Expressway is an international road that enhances movement of human and goods from neighbouring countries to Lagos. But with the poor state of the road, my fear is that Badagry will soon be cut off from the rest of the world. There are gullies and potholes in almost every part of the road. The bad spot starts from Low Cost Housing Estate and Barracks where there is a very deep pothole. The same goes for Limca and Aradagun bus stops. Sand filling is going on between Aradagun and Mowo.
“On a fateful day, I was returning from work on the Island. I got to Agbara around 11.00 p.m. amidst a terrible traffic gridlock occasioned by the bad road. At the centre of the quagmire were policemen who stood at the middle of the road collecting N1,000 from each passenger before we were allowed to continue with our journey to Badagry. Along that axis alone, there are five police checkpoints, one Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) checkpoint and two Customs checkpoints within just one kilometer of the road. You cannot but spend at least one hour in the traffic build-up caused by the police and military checkpoints while travelling along the axis.”
Segla stated that the road from Oko Afo to Agbara is terrible and that the one that leads to Area K Police Command is also bad, adding that the people of Badagry do not even know where help would come from again.
He added: “It is double jeopardy for residents of Badagry whenever it rains because the entire stretch of the road would turn messy and flooded to the extent that commuters and motorists would spend over four hours journeying from Okokomaiko to Badagry. There are commercial ferries that provide alternative means of transportation but how many of the residents can afford to pay N1,500 that is being charged by operators?”
Policemen daily extort us –Civil servant
Segla’s claims were corroborated by another resident of the area, Mr Isiaka Okunade, a public servant who claimed to spend thrice the normal amount commuting to and from work. Okunade told Saturday Tribune that apart from the hiccups created by gullies on the failed portions of the roads from Badagry to Agbara, Odofa, Magbon, Oko-Afo, MTN, Mowo, Ibereko, Aradegun and Sawmill, too many road blocks mounted by the police, Customs, highway patrol and other security agents are responsible for high transport fares along the axis.
Okunade said: “We want to beg the Lagos State government to influence the Federal Government to reconstruct the road. This shouldn’t be an issue because they belong to the same political party. The bad road has drastically affected our population as many residents have moved out of Badagry. There are too many checkpoints on the road to Badagry. The checkpoints are manned by policemen. They extort money from motorists. This has led to high costs of transportation such that we pay as much as N500 and N700 to Badagry from Oko Afo instead of N200. We have been to the police command to lodge complaints, yet there is no respite.”
I can’t comment on the extortion allegation –Police spokesman
However, the state police command refused to respond to the allegation of extortion levelled against its offers and men by users of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway. When contacted by Saturday Tribune for comments on the allegation, the police spokesman in the state, Bala Elkana declined comments. “I don t want to say anything on that allegation,” he said.
On the allegations by tanker drivers, he simply said: “I am not in a position to speak on the Apapa Expressway issue. There is a presidential task force in place. The task force is in charge.”
‘Bushes provide better alternatives for passage than Lagos-Badagry Road’
Hunwei Abel has lived in Badagry for many years and he has never experienced a smooth journey on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway. He said: “Passing through the bush is better than going through Lagos-Badagry Expressway. This goes to tell you the extent of the damage on that road. It is really affecting our health. Our representative at the Lagos State House of Assembly, Honourable Setonji David, is doing his best. He has moved many motions on the floor of the House of Assembly and has written several letters to the federal and state governments, urging them to repair the road. He is a legislator and not a commissioner. So, there is only so much he could do. This is a road that goes as far as Orile and Eric Moore but it is terrible from Mile 2 down to Badagry. We have all been having a hard time with the road since the rains started this year. The government should do some rehabilitation work on the road before the main job is done.”
We’ll continue to listen to road users –Govt
The state government is however saying it has heard the complaints and addressing them, though there are no concrete evidence to suggest the planned meeting with the heads of all security agencies in the state has taken place days after the promise was made to get the unions to shelve their proposed strike. On Monday after the meeting with the union leaders, a communique was issued, promising official actions on the complaints made against the security operatives.
The communique signed by the Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr Olalere Odusote, and NUPENG Deputy National President, Mr Solomon Kilanko, stated that both parties agreed, after the meeting at Alausa, that the state government would meet with heads of all security agencies to prevent further disturbance of vehicles conveying petroleum products.
“The two sides agreed that the issue of ‘area boys’ will be addressed by the State. A dedicated phone number will be established within one week to enable petroleum product transporters gain prompt access to security agencies,” the communiqué said. The communique also gave the assurance that the allegation of extraordinary levies charged by a particular local government would be investigated promptly, adding that “the state government will continue to relate with all road users in the planning and execution of road works in the state.”
Within a week, the state also promised to review the timing restriction on movement of petroleum tankers with the commissioner further giving the assurance that ease of access to tank farms for the drivers would also be included in the recommendation. “The Lagos State government will immediately set up a standing committee to relate with the union on an ongoing basis to address any issues as they arise,” the communique added.
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