Story by Dili Utomi.
In a bid to stem the tide of the traumatic challenges occasioned by the activities of different actors-state and non-state, a group of truck owners has come out to seek ways of making the business environment much better and more profitable.
The Kirikiri Transporters Association is the name of the new association of truck owners who do business within the maritime sectors only. We spoke with the chairman of the new association, Mr. Kevin Nedu Okechukwu and also one of the members, Mr. Richard Uzoehelu to give us insight into the circumstances that led to the formation of this new truckers group as well as their aims and objectives.
Mr. Okechukwu said that “We are a group of truck owners only with a membership strength of about fifty persons who operate basically within the maritime space. The present economic realities have hit us the most as lots of truckers have sold off their trucks and packed up their businesses as a result of the inability to cope with the harsh operating environment and the general economic downturn”.
His words ” The rate of importation has dropped and the cost of doing the business has also gone up and very belittle businesses are available making the bottom line to be very little. Some of us who have many trucks do cannibalise one to use the parts to repair the others, it is really terrible”.
On the issue of both state and non-state actors, Mr. Okechukwu said that multiple rates being collected whether the truck is carrying a container or not are so rampant and brutish and that a truck has to pay as much as fifteen thousand naira between Kirikiri to Mile 2 and the points of collection is so numerous. He noted that the local government area, the Nigerian Police, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the operators of the Eto transport software platform plus different other entities, legitimate and not so legitimate are spread all over the place and that they spend as much as one hundred thousand naira to go into the Ports to load and same amount to their cargo destination.
On the accusation against operators of not taking good care of their vehicles thereby leaving them to cause accidents on the road, Mr. Okechukwu said that the accusation is partly true because most operators operate at a loss owing to the numerous fee exacting layers and points. He noted though that the mult-national companies whose businesses are differently positioned are making profits. He noted that the issue of extortion from various persons is a serious one that impacts their businesses negatively.
Again, with regards to the proliferation of truckers associations, he said that some of the existing associations have leaders who do not have trucks to operate with, but only exist for the sake of patronage and that the need to protect the immediate turfs of the operators also added to give rise to the formation of this new group.
He advises the general public and the press to appeal to the government to bring down the cost of doing this business as it indirectly affects everyone. He also advised the non-state actors (area boys, etc) to go and look for legitimate means of livelihood.
Another member of the new group, Richard Uzoehelu while speaking with us also said that “The challenges are quite enormous. The issue of state and non-state actors is so menacing as they beat and extort money from our drivers while the public looks on. The state actors (police, local governments etc) have channels of complaints and their antics can be curtailed, the terminal operators have no standard operating system and there is no timeliness in their operations”.
Mr. Uzoehelu added that in time past that truck owners have triad to protest publicly, but some members have always tried to sabotage that line of action through appeals and refusal to participate, but that right now, a lot is being done to organise everyone to have a common front in order to meet with the government and resolve some of the challenges confronting their businesses.
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