Tincan Island Port truck operators have given the Nigerian Ports Authority one week to address the challenges bedevilling the new electronic call-up system, known as Eto, in the port.
Coordinator of the group, Sylvania Keshinro, during a peaceful protest on Wednesday, warned that failure to address the challenges would lead to the withdrawal of their services at the port.
Noting that they were not averse to the innovation, he said the problems of implementation should be addressed for ease of operation for the truck operators.
Keshinro alleged that the process was fraught with fraud and extortion by owners of the holding bays assigned to drop empty containers.
He accused NPA of failing to approve their own holding bays, thereby forcing them to use the accredited parks.
“Though we have our own holding bays, NPA refused to approve of them; thus forcing us to park our trucks in the accredited truck parks and paying exorbitant fees,” he said.
The chieftain of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria stated that trucks were forced to turn at Sunrise, some kilometres away from the port, despite evidence of call-up with the drivers.
According to him, only 48 hours is given for expiration of the call-up ticket, whereas it can take more than four days to enter the port, leading to surcharge of the trucker.
He, therefore, called on the Federal Government to review the system or the operators would be forced to withdraw their services at the port.
“We are asking the government to ensure that NPA goes out with transporters to check if truly the designated holding bays are functioning or not.
“Again, let the NPA investigate the amount payable for empty containers at the holding bays; at least with these two facts, they will know that the holding bays and the call-up system in place are not functioning. We also want NPA to join us and visit Sunrise bus stop and see things and look at how to make amends,” he added.
Get real time update about this post categories directly on your device, subscribe now.
