E-CALL UP SYSTEM: NAFFAC Cautions NPA Over Saboteurs

The Nigerian Association of Air Freight Forwarders and Consolidators  (NAFFAC ) has called on management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to overhaul personnel involved in the e-call up system operations recently introduced to address traffic congestion along the Lagos port corridors.

 

 

The air freight forwarding association warned that the e-call up system might be truncated by  officials of the port authority involved in the process alleging  that the progress recorded so far might suffer setbacks by saboteurs mostly from the NPA personnel.

 

National President of NAFFAC , Prince Adeyinka Bakare in a chat over the weekend alleged that  personnel of NPA have benefitted from the gridlock in time past and may possibly frustrate the progress of the e-call up system in the future.

 

Bakare who lauded  innovations by management of NPA on the technological driven portal cautioned that there are indications of the system to  encounter some level sabotage by government officials .

 

He suggested to management of NPA to outsource the e-call up system innovation to competent organization that can drive the project successfully without fear of compromise and sabotage.

 

According to him, the process of accessing the ETO Apps was smoothly operated by some stakeholders since inception but maintained that some insiders from the government agencies were unhappy with the innovation because some of them have fed fat from the gridlock.

 

You can build a system around people you know that can sabotage your efforts.ont

 

Honestly speaking, the e-call up system is a perfect idea but you cannot build that same system around someone who used to get N50,000 or N100,000 from the system everyday before the system changes.

 

If the system changes and the same people or persons are still involved in the process then you should expect some level of frustration because those people will scuttle the system in order for them to go back to basis and Begin collection of those said monies which had initially stopped .

 

 

Technically speaking I think there should be a system overhaul by management of NPA . Management should bring in people that are trained specifically for that project to succeed and not those who are in the system.

 

Bakare who is the Managing Director, De Potter’s Nigeria Limited, a freight forwarding and total transportation logistics chain company, stressed  the need for the sustainability of the  free flow of vehicles along the port corridors adding that the progress recorded must be encouraged.

 

 

Bakare who is a governing council members, Council for the Regulations of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) observed that the Eto Apps might encounter some teething problems initially but added that management must be commended for the idea of e-call up system.

 

He however maintained that it is too early to comment on the development recorded on the progress recorded along the port corridors.

 

 

 

 

Recall that NPA announced the launch of Eto, an Electronic Truck call-up system designed for the management of truck movement and access to and from the Lagos Ports Complex and the Tin Can Island Ports, Apapa, Lagos.

By Roland Ekama