Job Osazuwa
Truck owners and drivers who are discharging and picking goods from Apapa and Tincan ports in Lagos, have lamented that the suffering they go through on the roads leading to the ports has become unbearable.
At a meeting yesterday, the affected stakeholders, including elders’ forum of truckers in Maritime industry converged on Villa Park Hotel in the state, the transporters called on relevant authorities to look into their plight and find a lasting solution.
One of the affected stakeholders, Ishola Salami, said truckers sometimes pay as much as N200,000 to unofficial hands between Mile 2 and Tincan while entering or exiting the port.
He said despite the importance truck operators play in the cargo movement chain, they were faced with frustrating and dehumanising occurrences on daily basis.
“We are faced with wanton extortion under many guise that sometimes leave us go home empty-handed despite our hard work.
“There is endless harassment and so much intimidation on the road. This comes with damage to our vehicles and injuries. To the drivers and their assistants.
“Theft of cargo being moved by our members, thereby placing indemnity and burden to pay cargo owners on the truckers. Robbers have attacked and injured many of our drivers while in the traffic congestion,” he said.
Salami regretted that many truck drivers have lost their lives as a result of the chaos on the roads leading to the ports.
Also, a truck owner, Stephen Omotayo, said the major challenge facing them was the inability of the truck drivers to easily return empty containers to the appropriate holding bays.
He said everybody was hitherto blaming the poor state of the Apapa-Wharf Road to be causing the perennial gridlock, but he added that since the road has been reconstructed and opened for use, it has become obvious that the problem was beyond the bad roads.
said several measures, including deployment of Naval officers, the use of transport unions, the presidential task force, put in place to arrest the traffic congestion, but failed to address the situation.