Babatunji Wusu –
Within a week, Adegboyega Oyetola, the minister of Marine and Blue Economy, has pledged to remove truck driver extortion, illegal checks, and unapproved truck parking along the port access route.
The minister attributed the traffic jams on the port access routes to the aforementioned violations.
Speaking during a stakeholders’ conference with the theme “Review of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Truck Traffic Management along the Lagos Port Corridor” that was conducted at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) headquarters in Lagos, Oyetola promised the parties involved that the problems would be resolved in a week.
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy’s technical assistant, Busayo Stephen Fakinlede, represented him. He stated that a committee had been formed to examine all of the complaints and offer remedies.
“All of the solutions put forth here will be put together for the committee to review, and some of these issues will be resolved in a week,” he stated. “We have already set up a committee.”
He claims that the maritime sector is essential to the growth of the economy and that the objective is to prevent financial losses for interested parties as a result of delays.
“The infrastructure-related problems will take some time to resolve, but we are already tackling them one at a time,” he stated.
The state had already decided to remove parked trucks from the highways, according to Sola Giwa, special assistant to the governor of Lagos State on transportation.
He demanded that NPA’s management reconsider its Minimum Safety Standards (MSS) for trucks, citing the continued deployment of many rickety trucks on port roads.
He suggested that in order to clear the roadways of lawbreakers and police personnel who are extorting truckers along the corridor, the ministry collaborate with the Inspector General of Police.
“Too many roadblocks, security firms, and cops extorting money from truckers,” he declared.
He thanked the managers of the electronic call-up system for their years of dedication, but cautioned them against abandoning their primary responsibility of traffic control.
“Don’t discard the e-call up system; it is functional. Giwa stated, “Your solution is excellent, but you shouldn’t become a profit-making organization.
E-tag, according to AMOTO, will end call-up stealing and racketeering.
The electronic call-up system would have been successful, according to the position paper of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO). Nonetheless, a number of issues, including low productivity at the terminals, uncontrolled release of Export Processing Terminals (EPTs), intervention by governmental and non-governmental players, and system manipulation by park owners with NPA approval, contribute to the growth in traffic along the corridor.
As a result, AMATO requested that the ministry assist in addressing the threat posed by criminals known as “area boys” who are erecting unauthorized roadblocks.
The organization also mentioned that in order to prevent identity theft or circumvention of the system, EPTs should release trucks in accordance with SOP and implement e-tag technology.
