The Managing Director of Trucks Transit Parks at Apapa Ports in Lagos, Jama Onwubuariri, has alleged that government cartels, in collaboration with certain individuals, are undermining the E-call-up system for trucks and heavy-duty vehicles.
Speaking with journalists in Lagos on Thursday, Onwubuariri expressed concerns that some individuals benefiting from the illegal manual truck call-up system—which previously led to road blockages and infrastructure damage—are now sabotaging the progress of Trucks Transit Parks.
The E-call-up system is designed to streamline port operations by allowing only trucks with immediate business access, reducing congestion and road blockages.
Onwubuariri revealed that before the introduction of the E-call-up system, a certain group extorted truckers, charging between N250,000 and N300,000 for access to pickup or drop-off points.
He stated that government-backed supporters of the illegal collectors are actively hindering TTP’s efforts to introduce new innovations in its operations.
He said, “Some of the people who were on the road collecting N250,000 and N300,000 per truck in 2020 and early 2021 are not happy that an electronic system has now come to take over their work and their so-called means of livelihood. So, we’re still experiencing a lot of opposition and challenges from such individuals and sometimes organisations.
“There are also those who are found within the government sector. They are part of the employees of government agencies, but because of their particular roles, they were part of those who were benefiting from the old system. So sometimes when approvals for innovations come to them for recommendation, their recommendations are negative.”
The park’s boss said despite the opposition, “We have made over 160 upgrades to the ETO app since February 27, 2021. Just like you have your Google application and other apps that you use, and they are upgraded from time to time, we’ve made over 160 upgrades to the ETO app since its inception. These upgrades are to increase the security, the ease of doing business using the application and to cure identified problems, which we get from our workers in the field.”
Onwubuariri emphasized that with the growing population and the port’s reorganization, the E-call-up system is more essential than ever.
He explained, “After the port concessions in 2006, a lot of the spaces within the ports that were being used for packing trucks temporarily while they were waiting for their cargo or to drop or to pick up are now being used for stacking containers.
“Again, as I said, the population has grown, so import and export activities have increased. The spaces that the trucks used to wait in the ports while they were being serviced are now being used to keep cargo.
“So because of that, we now had a tailback of the trucks on the port’s access roads. Now, when you bring in what we typically call the Nigerian factor, some people want to make quick profits out of any negative situation that they see. So, you had law enforcement agents; you had private actors getting involved to help drivers to get faster access into the ports.
