The Council of Maritime Transport Union and Associations (COMTUA) has urged the Federal Government to speed up work on Mile 2 to Apapa Road currently under rehabilitation.
The Council condemned the delay of the reconstruction of the Mile 2-Apapa Road and the two roads leading to Apapa and Tin Can ports, which it said, are in a terrible state.
The National President of the Council, Yinka Aroyewun, who stated the position of the association in his New Year message, said efforts of the Federal Government to reconstruct Apapa-Oshodi expressway are appreciated.
He said the entire stretch from Mile 2 to Tin can port is an eyesore and has been taken over by motorcycle riders. Aroyewun lamented that the activities of the motorcycle riders and that of area boys who attack truck drivers incessantly for extortion purpose have become a pain that members of the association no longer wish to endure.
He called on law enforcement agencies to come to the rescue of truck drivers who are always at the mercy of street urchins.
The Council’s president also pointed at the abuse of the electronic call-up of trucks into the ports.
He urged the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to rejig the workings of the ETO system, which he said is being highly compromised by unscrupulous personnel of the NPA and Truck Transit Park Limited, operators of the system.
“For the electronic call-up system to work effectively, there is a need to engage more consultants and unbundle the process. Without prejudice to what the current handlers of the electronic call-up are doing, it is appropriate at this time to appeal to the NPA, to re-appraise the whole system,” he stated.
Aroyewun, however, pledges to ensure that members of COMTUA, whose trucks are engaged in haulage operations, don’t continue to suffer the consequences of bad roads and incessant harassment by security operatives, both of the Federal and Lagos State Governments.
“We are moving into 2022 with a new road map as unveiled at the Management and Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting in December 2021. I assure you of a new era of engagement with relevant stakeholders, in our resolve to ensure that the cost of haulage is commensurate with service,” he said.
