From Anthony NwaGod, Lagos
The Council of Maritime Trucks Union Associations (COMTUA) has applauded the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) for its plans to unbundle the electronic truck traffic control system (ETO) at Apapa Wharf in Lagos.
Addressing newsmen in Lagos Thursday, COMTUA President, Adeyinka Aroyewun, described the decision as “positive and bold,” and an admission that it did not meet expectations.
“Our members across board have been yearning for this decision, which is bound to arrest the lingering menace of inefficiency, extortionist practices and the burgeoning lawlessness in our maritime industry,” he stated.
‘We have been saying that the Eto arrangement has failed and everybody still insists that we are saying the wrong thing.
“We are happy that the managing director of NPA has addressed everone that there is no alternative to unbundling Eto, which means they have seen the lapses, inadequacies and inefficiencies of this Eto policy.
“To say the least, this is the height of extortion because to access the port for a single trip, you will pay between N25,000 and N30,000.
“By record today, we have done N1.4 million trips through Eto, which amounts to N30 billion that they have collected from our members without rendering any service, and with no functioning garage.
“The responsibility of NPA is purely cargo handling and their jurisdiction is not more than the gates of the NPA facilities.
“Regulating the road, our trucks, and determining what garage we are going to use is out of their jurisdiction. All this they have admitted to, saying that they have been doing this because we have not organised ourselves.”
He disclosed that the union, as part of its collective efforts to rid the maritime sector of these social tumors, has already developed an alternative, computerized application.
This application is “robust in scope and backed by a demonstrable effectiveness that is second to none in the business,” he noted.
“NPA should look no further for anything again, because we have come with a solution. They should embrace it and in less than two months we are going to do far better than Eto is doing.”
COMTUA expressed hope that in spearheading this unbundling exercise, the NPA, “whose core responsibility is in the complex area of cargo handling, would also place adequate priority on the need to promote and support all workable initiatives, such as the one developed by our great union.
“When this is done in a timely manner, Nigerians and all those who are doing business in the maritime industry shall begin to witness the groundswell of unsolicited commendations and merited encomiums being showered upon the NPA management for these very brilliant and impactful accomplishments.”
In another vein, the union condemned the continued frequent frictions between its “law-abiding members and the overzealous LASTMA officials, whose culture of extortion has been rampant and is now bordering on gross impunity.”
According to Aroyewun, “this category of road managers have become so emboldened by the Lagos State Government’s usual blind eyes in handling all public complaints against them, such that they have become uncontrollable in the indiscretions they exercise while performing some basic official duties.”
He alleged “ordinary civil cases involving drivers, such as packing by the roadside to re-fix a depleted tyre, always resulted to arrest, towing and detention of such vehicles and a punitive fine of not less than N100,000.
“These extortionist charges are being cruelly imposed without any consideration for the affected vehicle’s weight, size or even the distance from the scene of arrest to their head office.
“These types of sharp practices solely designed for self-enrichment should not be allowed to continue unabated in our dear Lagos State.”
COMTUA further claimed that “contrary to the hordes of denials and promises by the Lagos State Government, the menace of extortions and other unwholesome practices being perpetrated by some notorious state and non-state actors are still ongoing in many parts of our busy ports.”
