Story by Dili Utomi.
A group of truck owners and operators under the aegis of Consortium of Truckers Thursday held a press conference at the hall of the Association of Maritime Trucks Owners (AMATO). It was a parked-to-the rafters situation as one could barely find an unoccupied space due to the fact that the truckers came to speak up and vent at their operational challenges.
The president of AMATO, Chief Remi Ogungbemi opened the floodgates of speeches after the initial formalities. He said that “The main objective of the gathering is about finding a way for truckers to speak with one voice and also to seek to furthering the acts of professionalism in the business of trucking while also protecting their business from the various external factors”.
A press statement released jointly by the cooperating trucking associations candidly expresses the frustrations that the operators are going through, part of it reads “We gather here today to draw the the attention of the Federal Government of Nigeria as a matter of urgency, to address the menace of hoodlums who are working under name of commuter associations like the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) and some Local Governments that are threatening our lives, vandalising our trucks, sabotaging our business and undermining the Nigerian economy”.
“As a result of the activities of these hoodlums across many roads and highways in Lagos State, our drivers have money being extorted from them, beaten and killed. Our trucks are being vandalised and set ablaze by these hoodlums ina attempts to collect money from our drivers. They have caused the falling of many trucks carrying export and import goods worth billions of naira along the Apapa/Tincan Ports corridor and the ECOWAS corridor of Lagos Badagry express road where innocent citizens have also lost their lives. The lost lives include those from the military and police and they were killed through ghastly accidents induced by multiple checkpoints mounted by these hoodlums in their attempts to stop and extort money from truck drivers”.
Rotimi Lukman Shittu popularly known as Zangalo and who is the chairman of the Lagos State Trucks and Cargo Operators Committee (LASTCOC) noted the many challenges that truckers are facing and said in a very loud voice “enough is enough”. He decried the very many extortion points that exist on the Ports access roads and said that there is an urgent need to arrest the situation. He angrily declared “We are tired”.
A member of one of the associations, Sola Justice in his submission restated the commitment of truckers irrespective of their affiliation to kick against all forms of extortion along the roads.
The board of trustees chairman of LASTCOC, Mr. Moruf added that they have informed the Lagos State government of their challenged as regards the issue of extortion and that they have set an ultimatum of 14 days for the issue to be sorted out or they embark on the drastic action of withdrawing their services.
Another member of one of the cooperating associations, Ridwan Bello restated that they are using all the available peaceful means including appeal through the press to seek solutions to the enumerated challenges facing them, but that in a few weeks time that they will embark on strike action if the peaceful steps do not work.
He also noted that while being peaceful, they are also firm in their request. He declared that “Some members of the Nigeria Police Force are complicit in this extortion racket”.
The truckers vehemently stated that while the 14 days grace period lasts that they shall start a peaceful protest next week in order to press home their requests which are outlined as stated :
1. Federal Government should declare an outright ban on the mounting of road blocks and checkpoints for toll collection on major highways in line with the sections of the Taxes and Levies act 2004 which prohibits any person, including a Tax Authority from mounting a Road block in any part of the Federation for the purposes of collecting any Tax or Levy.
2. Commuter Bus Associations and Local Governments in Lagos State to refrain from stopping, harassing and imposing/selling their tickets or interfering with anything truck as truckers do not dabble into any of their affairs.
3. Federal Government should stop hoodlums from vandalizing our trucks, beating and extorting money from our drivers on the roads.
The truck operators are obviously angry that their business growth is being impeded by acts of extortion and racketeering and that the relevant authorities seem to have left them to their fate. They are therefore decidedly focused on taking the bull by the horn and rousing the authorities out of their lethargic posture to take the necessary action of protecting truckers and their trucks on all Lagos roads.
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