The Lagos State Truck and Cargo Operators Committee (LASTCOC) has condemned what it described as unjustified and unwarranted extortion and assault of truck drivers by hoodlums.
The condemnation came on the heels of last weekend’s attack on a truck driver by hoodlums along the Mile 2- Oshodi expressway, which left the driver hospitalised.
Chairman of LASTCOC, Lukman Shittu, who addressed the media concerning the incident yesterday, said some toll-collecting thugs at Berger Bus Stop, outward Mile 2-Oshodi expressway, on Saturday morning, flagged down a loaded containerised truck to extort the driver.
He said when the driver refused to stop, one of the thugs jumped onto the driver’s side and started contesting the steering wheel with him. This made the truck swerve to the other side of the road and crash into some imported fairly used vehicles parked along the road.
According to Shittu, as the driver attempted to grab one of the hoodlums, he was stabbed and later rushed to a hospital. He said that on December 5, 2023, at the same spot, the same hoodlums contested the steering with a driver, causing the truck to fall over. He said the activities of the hoodlums are killing transport business in Lagos State and discouraging foreign interests from investing in the sector.
According to him, the hoodlums damage trucks, break into containers in transit, extort money, assault drivers, and cause road accidents and traffic gridlocks, thereby causing pain to members of the public.
Shitu said the hoodlums, who are not adding value to the economy, have made the transport business environment in Lagos State hostile to operators, on account of multiple illegal checkpoints in Mile 2, Lagos-Badagry expressway, Ikorodu, and other parts of the state.
He said the men are a potential threat to domestication and derivation of benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and achievement of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s policies in the area of transportation.
He warned that the trucking community will not continue to fold its arms and watch hoodlums jeopardise the haulage business, import and export economy, revenue generation, trade facilitation, and seamless evacuation of cargoes to and from the nation’s seaports.
He said the men perpetrate the menace under the guise of working for the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), local councils, and some individuals.
He added: “We are, therefore, calling on government at all levels, relevant stakeholders and those who wish well for the economy of Nigeria and Lagos State to rise and curb the menace of hoodlums that are destroying our trucks, robbing our drivers, burgling containers in transit, blocking highways, causing traffic and ghastly accidents that have been claiming innocent lives, and militating against the progress and stability of trucking business in Lagos State.”
