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Messrs Truck Transit Park Limited (TTP) and the Council of Maritime Trucks Union Associations (COMTUA) have disagreed over what they called monopoly of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) electronic call-up system for trucks.
President of COMTUA, Adeyinka Aroyewun, insisted that there must be an alternative to the TTP-operated electronic call-up, alleging that the system is incapable of handling the demands of the system.
But the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Truck Transit Park Limited, Temidayo Adeboye, has described the call by truckers for the unbundling of the electronic call-up system as selfish.
Adeboye stated that there is nothing wrong with the ‘Eto’ app that is being used for the call-up, noting that the system is the best thing to have happened to the Nigerian port environment.
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He said while the app has brought heightened sanity to port environs, it still faces some challenges. Speaking on some of the challenges faced by ‘Eto’ since inception, the COO informed that the major challenge is dealing with extortion from area boys and the transport union groups.
He, however, informed that the company is in talks with the Lagos State government as regards changing some of the policies that allow the union to collect dues or extort truckers on the road.
Adeboye also informed that many of the truck drivers are not tech-savvy and as such, they find it difficult to use the app.
But the COMTUA President disagreed, saying the truckers group is calling for the total unbundling of the truck call-up system as well as a credible, sustainable and formidable alternative.
Recall that COMTUA had last week threatened to withdraw its services from the port owing to alleged extortion and the inefficiency of the electronic call-up system.
But the group’s president disclosed that the planned withdrawal has been suspended following an appeal from relevant government agencies, including the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Lagos State government to enable them to achieve some resolution.
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