Amos Fasanya, an Invoice Manager at Tincan Island Container Terminal (TICT) Ltd., Apapa, Lagos, has expressed displeasure over the sudden termination of his appointment after serving the organisation in different capacities for over 14 years.
Prior to his faceoff with the management of TICT, Fasanya had worked with Bollore Group, a shipping company in the country. When Olusegun Obasanjo started concessioning of ports to private companies, Bollore, according to Amos, bid for Terminal B at Apapa Port. “After winning the bid, I was sent on a secondment to manage Tincan Island Container Terminal Ltd. in 2006,” he told FIJ.
Amos served in various sections, including invoicing, commercial, customer control and treasury. In 2013, the company employed Pawan Kapur, an Indian national, as the commercial manager. Amos said Kapur tried to merge his (Amos) section with the commercial section, but he resisted it with the support of Kotik Yehuda, the then managing director.
Yehuda, before his retirement in 2014, promoted Amos to the management cadre. The promotion entitled Amos to an official car, which he never got until four years later.
As FIJ would learn, Ettiene Rochas, a French man who succeeded Yehuda as the new MD, denied Amos his official car for years.
“When Kotik promoted me to the management cadre, he retired from his duty,” Amos told FIJ. “Supposedly, I was to be given an official car, but the new MD (Rochas) delayed it until 2018 when the maritime workers union stepped in.”
‘BLACK MONKEY’
In 2018, Sunday Audu, a Kaduna-based TICT customer, approached Amos in his office to demand an invoice discount for his container housing an artificial football field. “I did not have the power to give him the discount, because I no longer served in the commercial section,” he said.
Audu told Amos he was an ex-Super Eagles player. “I told him I could not recollect the name as one of our national heroes,” he said. “To confirm his claims, I called Olumide Banjo, a former Super Eagles player. I asked him if he knew any Sunday Audu and he could recognise him. They even exchanged pleasantries.”
