Haulage operators carrying out legitimate businesses at the Lagos ports of Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports have continued to lament increasing spate of extortion at various checkpoints manned by security operatives and hoodlums along the ports access roads. Checks by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that the number of checkpoints between Liverpool roundabout and Coconut bus stop along the Apapa-Oshodi expressway increased from four to eight in the last two weeks.
Speaking recently to the Nigerian Tribune, the Vice-Chairman, Dry Cargo Section of the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Alhaji Abdullahi Inuwa lamented that, “As I am talking to you now, the checking points where trucks are stopped and monies collected from them are in multiple dimension now. From Liverpool roundabout to Abuja Gate at Tin-Can second gate along the Apapa-Oshodi express road, there are four illegal checkpoints manned by security operatives and officials of the Apapa Local Government.
“From Tin-Can Second Gate, down through the Apapa-Oshodi express road till you get to Mile-2 area, that axis is under hoodlums control. You will see stick wielding hoodlums mounting benches along the road, demanding N2000 or N1000 from each truck that wants to pass through. These checkpoints are up to eight in numbers and whatever you pay there also has no receipt.”
Findings by the Nigerian Tribune have however revealed that this illegal business has defied all odds because of the lack of redeployment or transfer of security officials posted to the ports to man traffic operations within the last five to six years.
Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune on this anomaly, an official of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) who wouldn’t want his name in print revealed that some officers have been in their duty posts within the port logistics chain for more than five years now.
“Do you know we have security officials who have been here for moré than five years now? In 2015, I was redeployed from the port to another part of Lagos, around Alausa to be precise. However, when the Vice President came to the ports sometime in 2019, I was among those mobilised to the port area ahead of the Vice Presidents visit. Do you know that some officials that I knew in 2015 were still manning strategic traffic routes along the ports access roads in 2019?
“I want to believe that the trend still persists because from some of my colleagues who now work around the port, they still mention names of security operatives that I knew in 2015 as of today. So tell me, how do you expect an end to extortion along the port access roads?
“Unless there is a total overhaul of security operatives along the port corridor, port users will continue to get extorted because the current people manning that corridor have benefitted from extortion for more than four or five years, and are not ready to stop since their expenses have far outweighed their salaries due to gains made from extortion.
“It is not about redeploying some and leaving others. We are talking of a need for a total overhaul of security operatives along the port corridor. When the Kayode Opeifa-led Task Force was initially introduced in May of 2019, they were succeeding until some of them got corrupted by these officials who have benefited from the confusion over the years.
“At a point, truckers were pointing fingers at the Opeifa Committee anytime issues of extortion are discussed. That Task Force was disbanded in December of 2020 but extortion along the port access roads still persists.
