Considering failures upon failures of government promises to fix Apapa port access roads, President of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), Chief Remi Ogungbemi, has given indication that truckers are set to withdraw services.
He said the decision is being taken by the group to save their lives and articulated vehicles.
According to him, all angle of access to Lagos ports especially Apapa and Tincan are in terrible state and was hampering truckers business.
Ogungbemi revealed that his men would have downed tools before now but for the intervention of some respected operators.
He said “The association intends to have a meeting with some operators on Oct. 25; if this meeting fails to proffer feasible palliatives, truckers will not have any other option.
“For a long time now, we have been drumming it in the ears of the authorities without any attention on their part. “We cannot continue to work in a vicious circle in which trucks break down after every trip to the ports due to bad roads.
“We end up expending a huge amount to put them back on the road,” Ogungbemi said.
He disclosed that the condition of the road was so bad, causing trucks to stay longer than expected on loading queues or to drop empties.
He said apart from truckers wasting business hours trying to get to the ports, “It seems the only way left for us to make the authorities listen to us and fix the roads is to down tools”.
Investigation shows that some Apapa youths have taken advantage of the situation by undertaking temporary repairs to the road and putting in place makeshift platforms for vehicles to pass for a fee.
It would be recalled that last few months, an understanding was worked out between Western Port Command of the NPA and some stakeholders along the Apapa road to reconstruct the road. Leading the sponsorship include Dangote Group and others.
