The Logistics Practitioners Association of Nigeria (LPAN), in conjunction with an emerging group, the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), has condemned the exploitation of truck drivers, and demanded investigation into the perennial violence on the Mile 2/Tin Can Island route to the Lagos Port. 

The two groups alleged that the consistent exploitation at the port might have been responsible for the clash between an unregistered association, Truck Owners Association and members of the Presidential Task Force on Apapa Gridlock last Sunday morning at Fatgbems Petrol Station, Mile 2.

The public relations officer of LPAN, Tunde Oyebola, berated the parts played by those he called the ‘unregistered’ Trucks Owners and members of the task force on the incident.

Stressing that Sunday’s incident may not be unconnected with conspiracy and extortion of the truck drivers plying the Tin Can Island route from the Mile 2 axis, the LPAN PRO, therefore, called for investigations by relevant law enforcement and government agencies into the activities of all those involved in the friction.

Members of LPAN had raised concerns over alleged confrontation of the Presidential Task Force on Apapa Gridlock by members of the Truck Owners group at Fatgbems Petrol Station axis in relation to passage of trucks to access the Tin Can Island route to the port for loading of consignment.

Oyetola also reiterated their demand for investigation into allegations of extortion of truck drivers by the unregistered Truck Owners and the task force on the Mile 2 – Tin Can Island route.

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The operatives of the task force have however denied collecting of money from truck drivers.

Meanwhile, stakeholders in the transport business at the port had intervened on the crisis in the sector and came up with resolution of a broader platform for all stakeholders known as Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), to coordinate activities of transport operations at the Lagos Ports.

The meeting was attended by members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Independent Truck Owners, core AMATO members, LPAN and other transport business stakeholders at the seaport.

The meeting supported the views of LPAN, which has often condemned the traffic management and exploitation of trucks operators at the Lagos seaports.

The stakeholders decried the difficulties transporters go through under the current situation, and the reprisal effect on the national economy, including impediment on President Muhammadu Buhari’s Executive Order and other federal government instruments on the ease of doing business in Nigeria.

The stakeholders, under the umbrella of AMATO, led by Chief Remi Ogungbemi, have called for total overhaul of transportation operations at the Lagos ports, and demand immediate dissolution of the task forces for a proper restructuring of the traffic management system.