Categories: Business

Why extortion claims threaten to consume NPA’s Eto

Published by

3 years ago

Trucks lined up along one of the ports access roads in Lagos

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) introduced its e-call-up system popularly referred to as Eto to address the issue of unnecessary pile up of trucks along the ports access roads of Apapa and Tin-Can ports. However, almost one year after, the initiative is muddled up in extortion controversies cum litigation threats, writes TOLA ADENUBI.

When the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) launched its e-call-up system on February 27, 2021, the initiative was set up to bring an end to the issue of extortion and unnecessary traffic snarl along the access roads of Apapa and Tin-Can ports of Lagos.

The deployment of the Eto initiative was applauded by stakeholders and port users as it immediately led to the clearance of the ports access roads and restored sanity to the way and manner trucks access the ports in Lagos.

Eleven months after that laudable initiative, the same stakeholders who lauded and appreciated the Eto at inception are now accusing it of festering the same ills and chaos that pervaded the ports’ access roads prior to its introduction.

ECOMOG boys

A major reason extortion has returned to the ports’ access roads, particularly the Tin-Can section is the activities of miscreants popularly called ‘ECOMOG boys’ in Apapa. With the ongoing repair of the Tin-Can section of the port’s access roads dragging on for too long, these miscreants have used the opportunity of the road repair to erect artificial checkpoints along that stretch of road where truckers are daily extorted when they are either going in or exiting the ports. The ECOMOG boys have gained prominence due to the backing of some port security operatives who tip them off anytime there is a security patrol aimed at ridding the roads of illegal checkpoints. The appearance and disappearance of illegal checkpoints along the Tin-Can stretch of the port’s access roads have made a mockery of the NPA’s e-call-up system, thereby leading to calls by some stakeholders that it should be unbundled.

Cracks among truckers

Another issue threatening to consume ETO is the breakaway of some truckers from the main amalgamated body, Council of Maritime Transport Unions and Associations (COMTUA). For reasons best known to them, truckers under the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) and the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) pulled out of COMTUA in 2021. During its last Annual General Meeting (AGM), COMTUA accused these breakaway groups of leaving because they wanted to be collecting their revenue separately from the larger group.

IN CASE YOU MISSED THESE FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

COMTUA also accused the groups of stopping truckers along the ports’ access roads to demand for dues and other forms of payment which ordinarily should have been collected at the amalgamated level. With truckers not as united as before, all forms of fees collection now take place along the ports’ access roads, thereby making it difficult for security operatives to distinguish between illegal and legal fee collections along the ports’ access roads.

Litigation threats

With Eto struggling to maintain law and order along the ports’ access roads, truckers have threatened to drag the NPA to court over what they labeled failure of the agency’s e-call-up system.

In a letter written to the Managing Director of the NPA by legal counsel to the Council of Maritime Transport Unions and Associations (COMTUA), Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, (SAN), the group labeled the Eto initiative of being fraught with discrepancies and other issues.

According to the letter, with reference number A&C/RC/L/14/01/2022 which was sighted by the Nigerian Tribune, “Our client reliably informed us of certain developments and unfair activities in the maritime sector for which countless letters of complaint have been written but serially ignored by your office and other concerned offices such as the office of the Lagos State Government. Some of the disturbing facts which were reliably disclosed to us are as follows: That there has been reported cases of discrepancies and misrepresentation of facts and figures emanating from the electronic call up regime (ETO/TTP PROGRAM) created by Truck Transit Park Ltd on the instruction and directives of your office, the Nigerian Port Authority. Our client is vehemently disputing the cost and value of the services being rendered by ETO/TTP as there have been cases of extortions and breach of agreement on the part of your office.

“That it was mutually agreed that the sum of N10,000 was payable for the booking process as entry permit into the terminal but TTP now extorts a whooping sum of N31,250.

“Contrary to the intent and purpose of TTP which was meant to eradicate payment checkpoints, there has been a proliferation of illegal checkpoints along the terminal routes with attendant extortion of the sum of N5,000 per checkpoint.

“That despite assurances to the contrary, members of our client now pay outrageous sums ranging from N50,000 to N150,000 to return empty containers at the authorised holding bay.

“That there have been cases of connivance and abuse of office by the holding bay operators and some agencies of the government who would arrest and impound our client’s members’ truck so as to illegally extort money from them.

“The continuous harassment and extortion of our client often lead to further arrests and detention of our client’s members by clearing agents on container demurrage.

“That the initial arrangements that trucks would move from the satellite parks to the pre-gate and then into the terminal within the period of two days has not been realised as trucks take more than weeks to move into the terminal from the satellite parks.

“The initial arrangement to install Close-Circuit Television (CCTV) to monitor movement of trucks into the terminal to ensure speedy movement of vehicles and other purposes has not been effected by TTP.

“That there has been consistent violation of movement procedures and illegal parking of trucks on the express road by some preferred truck drivers of which modus operandi are antithetical to the aim and purpose of the Electronic Call Up Regime.

“On the other hand, the involvement and activities of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) and the Lagos State Committee on Abandoned and Disused Vehicles headed by the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Government on Transport, Mr Toyin Fayinka is regrettably inimical to the legitimate activities of the truck drivers. That there have been cases of extortion; creation of illegal garages; indiscriminate and illegal tagging of vehicles as abandoned vehicles; compromise and selective enforcement of the law against perceived enemies and truck drivers are being extorted on a daily basis without issuance of receipts.

“Refusal to yield to extortion would often degenerate to violence and in some cases, death of truck drivers might occur just as it happened for instance in Mile 2 resulting in the death of several people.”

With Eto being threatened by so many extortion claims and the NPA facing a litigation battle with truckers, only time would tell if the e-call-up system would survive the stormy tide.