BAYO AKOMOLAFE 
There is currently a major threat that has to do with foreign firms gradually taking over haulage of containers in the country’s ports. What can you say about this?
To my perception there three to four influences have contributed to it. First of all, they came into the haulage business with enough capital. Secondly, majority of the shipping and manufacturing companies operating in the countries are owned by the foreign firms. So, they patronise their foreign counterparts more than they would do to the indigenous haulage firms which is not suppose to be if there is proper regulation.
These foreign firms bring in capital to the country and at the same time take it back to their countries and it shouldn’t have been so if the indigenous haulage firms are well positioned. This is why there should be policy to protect the indigenous firms by the Federal Government. The third aspect is that they are provided with special treatments by government agencies. Today, police provide escort to the majority of trucks owned by foreign firms to the port without any hindrance on special arrangement by all agencies concern.
Now that the gridlock on the port access roads has been cleared, what other challenges are your members facing?
First of all let me thank the Lagos State Government, management of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the two commissioners of Police, that is the Port Police Command and Lagos State Police Command and Lagos State Transport Management Agency (LASTMA) for their efforts in bringing relief to what the transport owners, truckers and other road users have been clamoring for years on the port roads.
Infact, their hard work have restored sanity and confidence to investors within the maritime industry. Tincan and Apapa ports have gained back it glory. However, the current challenges the road users are experiencing now is mostly in the outward Mile 2 bridge. The activities of commercial bus drivers and motor cycle operators are in the habit of blocking the road when picking passengers, while the traders have converted the place to markets along, thereby inhibiting smooth movement of heavy duty vehicles coming from the ports to their respective destinations.
Apart from this, the hoodlums, called area boys and agberos are still in the axis attacking haulage drivers, especially, along Otto wharf axis of the Apapa-Osodi express road by breaking container forcefully with dangerous weapons to steal from trucks that are trying to navigate from the bad potion of the road. They are also at Ijora axis of the road rendering havoc to containers coming from the ports.
Why is the cost of moving cargoes from the port still high?
Apart from the extortion and other challenges we face to move cargoes from the port alone, truck owners are facing high cost of truck maintenance. For instance, 25 litres of engine oil we normally buy at N20,000 about two years ago is now between N75,000 and N80,000. The tyres we buy from China has been increased from N75,000 or N80,000 to N250,000 by 300 per cent or N300,000, depending on the brand.
Before, a litre of diesel is sold for N235 or N250 but now it is 460 per cent or N1,400 per litre. Let me inform you that about 35 per cent of truck owners doing haulage business in the transports have scraped and sold their trucks, while other some have parked their vehicles because they can no longer afford to operate at a loss. So, if there is much cargoes in the port, the cost of haulage in and out of the port will be higher because of the limited vehicles and high demand for trucks to move cargoes. So, high cost of spare parts, maintenance, fuel and extortion are the major challenges.
You mentioned extortion, can you shed light on this?
There is still other areas where the extortions are resurfacing, especially, from Mile2 inward to sunrise. Some groups are at Kirikiri bridge by the Tokunbo car sellers outward Mile 2 and Mr Bigs Junction around Nifee motors extorting truckers coming Apapa Port. Ordinarily, Lagos State Government shouldn’t have allowed any group of people to be mounting road block under the guise of union dues collection.
Government should limit dues collection to their parks or garages. Collecting dues and other activities have been causing road obstruction and congestion to other road users. Many times, they have accidents that led to lost of lives and properties.
So in which area do you now want the government to assist your sector?
First of all, we need intervention from government, especially the multiple taxations on the highways paid on the highways to some government agencies and unauthorised people. Government should help us to clear the area boys and agberos attacking our drivers
Today, police provide escort to the majority of trucks owned by foreign firms to the port without hindrance
and vandalising of our trucks. From Mile 2 to Agbara, we have more than 10 extortion points. The maintenance of truck is too high and we all know the cost of purchasing a new truck is very high, even if used truck, called tokunbo is on the high side. This is why government should intervene in order to protect our investment.
Also, government must assist the industry by providing enable environment and bank similar to bank of agriculture, where farmers are accessing loan or bank of industry, where industrial and small scale companies can equally access loans to do business. So, the entire transport sector is in need of specialised bank reserve solely for transporters, especially, where a truck owners can access loans with less interest rates for a specific period of time.
I will like the Federal Government to initiate some policies that will protect the indigenous transport firms against the foreign dominance in the haulage business. This will boost our Gross Domestics Products (GDP) because it will curb capital flight and boost job creation for the youths.
How much contribution is the transport or haulage sector actually making to the Nigerian economy?
For over 30 years, when our rail system had completely failed, the entire modes of transportation depend on road by using trucks and other vehicles in the distributing of petroleum products, general cargoes, finished products and movement of passengers nationwide. The sector is the backbone moving the economy and contributing significantly to the other sectors for their growth.
This sector plays important role, the distributions of billion of litres petroleum products from all the country oil depots to all the 36 states including their local governments and villages. Apart from the carriage of petroleum products, the sector is responsible for the movement of general cargoes, containerised cargoes and machineries equipments from all the seaports and jetties to their final destinations. The sector takes care of cargoes coming to Nigeria airports from abroad to the end users nationwide.
Haulage is well regulated by the major government agencies such Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCLtd), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) because of the sector’s revenue contribution to the economy growth of this country. You can imagine if there is no modes of transportation, the economy will sink down because everything would be static.
As we all aware, manufacturing companies in the country depend on the transportation sector to carry raw materials and finished products to consumers and other end users in the market, warehouse and even at the construction sites. Look at the agricultural sector, farm products, livestock and other inputs depend on the sector, particularly from the farmland to consumers in the villages, towns and cities.
About 97 per cent of the activities in the all the various sector of any economy depend on the industry. This is the major reason why every sub-sector of the economy depends on transport industry to thrive. You can imaging the revenue coming from the sector on daily basis to the government through various registrations, renewals of vehicle particulars and other taxes collected by the state, local government and the Federal Government.
So, I believe you will agree with me when I said that the sector is the backbone and movers of the economy, contributing significantly to our economy growth. This is why in my association, our motor and slogan is dedication and service to the nation.
Unemployment has remained a big problem for the country and job creation appears difficult because of the economy. What is the employment rate in the haulage sector?
The haulage sector is next to government in terms of employment. At least about 20 or 25 people derive their living on every single truck. The driver and his family, motor boy, loaders and off loaders, fuel sellers, rewire, spare parts sellers, mechanics and artisans, even the food sellers at the truck parks and other group of people are found selling one thing or the other where five to 10 drivers parked their truck to relax before they continue their journey.
This is why I said that the transport or the haulage sector is next to government in terms of employment opportunities. For example, in the area of revenue, the four modes of transportation can contribute more than $30 billion yearly, if there is adequate road infrastructure, security, ease of doing business and other incentive than can lead to more productivity.
As you are aware, today, road mode of transportation is one of the largest producers of labour. It can generate over 10 million labour and $5 billion as revenue annually because it is the trucks that will carry all the cargoes in the port to their destinations. Apart from this, the country can generate as much as N600 billion annually from Chad and Niger because they are landlocked countries which depend on Nigeria and other countries to import and export their cargoes. There will be a lot of business activities if adequate infrastructure and ease of doing business transport are provided.
Is the country doing well in transport when compared to other West African countries?
Nigeria is far backward when compared with other countries. Go to our neighboring countries Benin Republic, Togo and Ghana. Their governments have created enabling environment for the transport industry in terms of funds, good road network and truck parks which are all managed by the private individuals, transport unions and associations.
The countries not better than Nigeria but they are doing well. In fact they depend on us to survive. However, we thank God that this present government has started making some rehabilitation and construction of roads, rebuilding the railtracks, inland depots and river ports. We only pray for their continuity and sustainability.
Does your association have insurance coverage to protect your trucks, workers from hoodlums and vandals?
Each truck owners is responsible for the insurance coverage of his or her trucks and the association’s responsibility is welfare package for only the drivers of wet cargo section because the sector is more organised than the dry cargo sector. The reason behind simply because the tankers owners belong to one association called National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO).
On the other hand, the tanker drivers too have only one union they belong to Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD). So both the owners of the trucks and their drivers are enjoying the unity. However, in the dry cargo sector, it is not the same, more especially, within the maritime industry. This is where you hear so many names of unions and associations not recognised by government and the major stakeholders.
However, my association had made efforts some years back by initiating some welfare packages for our drivers lifting dry cargoes. I was even the field coordinator of the welfare scheme called (DRYCDIS) and it was test run for some period of time, but we have suspended it temporary base on the new collaboration with other union and association with our national body for a collective take off of the welfare scheme. We have ongoing plans and arrangements on welfare package to take care of the dry cargoes of our drivers.
Why it is difficult for government, shipping companies and terminal operators to provide holding bays for trucks and empty containers?
The issue is corruption, there is nothing difficult there. The people saddled with the responsibility of making the industry functional are corrupt. Instead of implementing government policy, they prefer to exploit the system to make illegal money.
An importer with his consignment is expected to move his cargoes to the warehouse, where he would distribute them to the market or consumers; but in a situation where you brought your consignment and you don’t have where to house them and you now decided to send them all to the market then what will you expect than to jam-packed the market? This is the situation of the shipping lines in Nigeria.
They shipped in their containers into the country and they don’t have where to warehouse them or control the movement of those boxes back into the port and final destinations. The global standard is for the shipping lines to have their holding bays outside the port where they would stack empty containers but the government regulatory agency that suppose to monitor and enforce the law allowed them to manipulate the system, thereby creating ways for impunity.
The truck drivers are not to be blamed because they are not the owners of those containers. If government officials can shun corrupt practices by enforcing the law with stiff penalty everybody will sit up and there will be sanity in the industry. Unless the government do the right thing, the problem in the sector will continue to linger and this is one of the reasons the ease of doing business in the port has flopped.
