MWUN Cautions NPA Port Managers Of Over Poor Traffic Mgt, As Truckers Demand Disbandment Of Lagos Committees On Traffic

By Roland Ekama 

 

The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), has cautioned the Port Managers , Lagos Ports Complex (LPC) and Tin Can Island Port Complex (TCIPC), Nigerian Ports of the Authority (NPA) to wake up to their responsibilities toward ensuring sanity at the seaports and port corridors.

President General of MWUN Comrade Adewale Adeyanju who gave the warning in Lagos during a work visit by truck owners and haulage operators from the maritime sector, called for the disbandment of the Lagos State Committee On Removal of Abandoned Vehicles and Special Traffic Management Committee respectively.

The visit had in attendance, members of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO,) Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) .

Adeyanju reiterated that the MWUN cannot fold its hands and allow outsiders to frustrate the ease of business within the nation’s seaports in Lagos , stressing the need for the disbandment of the two committees.

Lending his voice, the President General reiterated that the issue at hand had to do with the union because the.union had a haulage district, even as he tasked the port managers and NPA management to stand up , hence correct the action that is about to cripple the activities of the port.

He added that some people who have no business in the ports have hijacked port operations from genuine operators in the maritime industry, a situation the MWUN will continue to kick against.

“I want to use this medium to appeal to the 2 port managers to wake up to the action that is about to take place .

“If after 3 days nothing is done, there will be collaboration in support of the strike actions. Some of our members are truckers and some of them have been suffering the fate. I also sit as the Deputy President of NLC, we are concerned about the activities of the truckers on the road.

“We are going to support them if nothing is done after three days. The port managers and NPA should stand up and correct the action that is about to cripple the activities of the port.”

Earlier the truckers decried the unwholesome activities of the Lagos State Committee on Removal of Abandoned Vehicles and Special Traffic Management Committee and Enforcement Team .

Speaking on behalf of the haulage operators, Comrade Thompson Leye , said that the activities of the committee negate the purpose for which they were created.
He alleged that the Lagos State has totally deviated from the mandate of traffic management by becoming a law unto themselves with indiscriminate arrest and imposition of arbitrary outrageous penalty charges paid into private accounts.

He further alleged that the committee members extort innocent truck owners of sun’s ranging between N200,000 and N400,000 on each truck they forcefully hijack while on their way from pre-fates to the ports.

As a result, the group the truckers demanded that the state government as a matter of urgency, to disband the two committees,and unconditionally release all the impounded trucks.

Leye added that failure for the state to address the two demands of the group’s within three days which will expire on Wednesday, 26th February, 2025, the group’s would immediately embark on an industrial action and withdraw the services of all their members throughout the state.

“In line with our unambiguous demand as stated above, we hereby issue this NOTICE OF THREE (3) DAYS ULTIMATUM, which would expire on Wednesday, 26th February 2025, within which three-day period we hope our demands as above would have been granted.

“We wish to state further that at the EXPIRATION of the THREE (3) DAYS ULTIMATUM issued herein, and in the event that the authorities refuse to lend their ears to our plight and dissolve these two Committees as demanded, we shall immediately embark on an industrial action and withdraw the services of all our members throughout the state.

“Further to the above, we wish to bring to your esteemed attention the disheartening events of Thursday, 20th February 2025, at Area B Apapa, during which members of the Committees, alongside a contingent of street urchins illegally acting at the Committees’ behest, attacked a group of haulage truck owners, drivers, and stakeholders who were in transit along the Apapa Port Road. This latest attack occurred during another bout of harassment, verbal and physical assault, and belligerent demands for outrageous amounts in penalties by members of these two Committees.

“Suffice it to say that when it appeared that the trucker had no intent to comply with their baseless demands, the Committees’ members set the street urchins in their company upon the hapless trucker, resulting in grievous bodily injuries, with the victim struggling for his life in the hospital. The matter is being handled by Area “B” Police Station.

“Additionally, in the early hours of 23rd February 2025, members of the Abandoned Committee invaded Unity Bonded Terminal, where they hijacked over 100 trucks from drivers on queue to drop empty containers and tagged them as abandoned.

“We do not know if the activities of these Committees are by reason of their written mandate restricted to specific localities within the Lagos metropolis, because we observed with bewilderment that all of their activities are mainly focused on maritime truckers and limited to the Apapa Port access roads/Oshodi-Apapa Expressway axis of Lagos State. It is almost as if there is a spoken directive to ensure the grounding to a halt of the businesses of the stakeholders in the haulage sector who contribute to the GDP of Nigeria and Lagos State and who also need to use the Port Access roads and its immediate vicinities in Lagos State.

“The undue interference with the movement of trucks to the Ports from pregates by these Committees is sabotaging Port operations, ease of doing business, and inflicting huge financial losses on truckers for aborted trips, with importers and exporters forced to bear additional costs of document revalidation arising from arbitrary truck impoundment by the Committees. Many factories/companies are forced to suspend operations due to the inability to get imported materials delivered to them, and when they arise from truck hijackings by the Abandoned Committee on the roads and into Ports access roads. It is on this note we are saying ENOUGH IS ENOUGH to the ignoble and exploitative activities of these two Committees against maritime transport operators.”