DEPLORABLE PORTS ROADS IS SENDING US OUT OF BUSINESS, STAKEHOLDERS

Stakeholders in the maritime industry have described the poor state of the port access roads in the Country, saying members lost a lot of their trade-in Apapa and Tincan Island Port axis in the last 5 years alone.

The stakeholders stated this at the special congress organized by Powerful Pen Media Chapel in Nigeria Union of Journalist Lagos Council led by Mr. Adeleye Ajayi and Maritime Journalist Association of Nigeria (MAJAN) in Apapa recently.

Speaking on the occasion, theme, Apapa traffic and skyrocketing inflation in the Country: Effects on Ports operations.

The Chairman of Bonntex Nigeria Limited and a long-standing member of ANLCA, Mr Boniface Okoye disclosed that members playing their trade in the Ports have left the business in droves because it is becoming increasingly unprofitable due to the very poor state of the port access roads and the downturn in the Nigerian economy which has according to him cut imports coming into Nigeria through the seaports. He lamented that while the poor access roads is damaging their vehicles daily, the cost of acquiring new trucks has doubles even as the cost of spare-parts has gone astronomically over the years.

Boniface further stated that our very bad road situation is made worse by the fact that instead of the cost of freight going up following the rising cost of business, the cost of freight is rather falling.

Traffic gridlock contributes about 50% to why Nigeria ports have become most expensive within West Africa sub-region. The Government and its agencies in the industry have allowed cabals to hijack the maritime sector.

Also the current Public Relation Officer of Council of Maritime Truck Unions and Association (COMTUA) Alhaji Abdullahi Inua tasked the government and its agencies to identify individuals contributing nuisance who have no business on the ports access roads to leave the terrain, terminal operators, shipping companies not providing holding bays must be sanctioned. Most of the shipping companies owner are not in the Country, suggesting that the Federal Government should revoke their license if they violate the maritime laws. Customs meet their target every day, he asked through where?

He, however, denied the allegation that members of the association park their trucks indiscriminately on the roads thereby causing traffic gridlock, saying the reason why trucks litter the roads is that the terminal operators have failed to provide trucks bays as well as the failure of the government to provide a parking lot for trucks coming into the ports.

We the transporters are not responsible for the problem, the issue of terminal operators are there if you see containers queue up from the first gate to the second gate, from Apapa to Ijora, that is the problem of the terminal operators and again, we don’t have holding bays, even the shipping companies do not have functional holding bays. “if there is a functional holding bay, after offloading, you will have a particular place to drop the empty container. That one is not there, you must bring your empty container back to the port and we are not happy about that. “Truck terminal is not there except the one under construction which nobody knows when they are going to complete it, that is why you see our trucks littered on the roads. It is not our making and sometimes they tell you that their servers are not working.

Alhaji Isa Kazeem Chairman Tincan port chapter National Council of Managing Directors of Customs licensed agent said insincerity on the part of maritime regulators is the cause of the problem in the maritime industry. He charged the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to wake up to its responsibility of managing the port access situation.

According to Isa, the Federal Government should open up the Eastern and Southern ports and barge operations, encourage to decongest the Apapa and Tincan ports.

Further stated that the traffic managers creating artificial toll gate to collect huge sums into private pockets must stop henceforth.

Majan President Comrade Ray Ugochukwu thanked all the stakeholders who attended the Powerful Pen Media congress despite their tight business schedule, Thanked sincerely Hon. Tony Iju Nwabunike, ANLCA Chairman who supported the Powerful Pen Chapel Congress.