The leadership of the Road Transport Employers’ Association (RTEAN) as expressed fear over the demand by the Nigerian Shipper’s Council (NSC) that they submit to its office their operational cost quotation for documentation.
Speaking The leadership of the Road Transport Employers’ Association (RTEAN) as expressed fear over the to Primetime Reporters in his office in Lagos, the Secretary of RTEAN, Tincan Island Chapel, Mr. Dele Jagun stated that the association’s apprehension stemmed from its inability to determine the motive of NSC in making such demand.
Jagun disclosed that the association was yet to give them any quotation for fear that it may be for political reasons adding that they to have meeting with NSC before resolving to submit the quotation as requested.
According to him,” we have not given our own quotation because we are thinking may be it is political. How can the shippers’ Council who knows what is affecting us be asking us of our current rates? So we are to have meeting with them, for us to know why they are calling for our current rate, to know whether they are negotiating a contract with the federal government, to which they said no, that they have been empowered to put these things in order so that people will not be cheating one another and to arrive at a uniform operating costs”.
When asked whether the association had submitted its own price quotation, he said that they were yet to submit their own quotation as they were putting facts together in order to arrive at a uniform price list for their members.
On what the prices would look like, he opined that the body had different prices that they charged according to the destination of the consignment arguing that since all consignment don’t go in the same location, the charges were bound to differ.
The RTEAN Scribe maintained that the association had no intention of increasing the fare from its original price last year while admitting that things had changed drastically from what it used to be in the last one year as according to him, the price at which they bought tyres last year was not the price at which it is selling today as well, mechanics no longer charge what they charged last year for maintaining their trucks.
Also reacting, the Chairman of RTEAN, Tincan Island Chapel, Alhaji Isiaka Olalere disclosed that the association was not the only one asked to submit the price list as other trucking associations had been told to do the same.
Olalere revealed that at the end, all the trucking associations that were operating in the maritime sector that had submitted the lists would be brought together on one table where the prices submitted would be harmonized and the harmonized version would become the generally accepted guideline for trucks operating in the maritime sector.
According to him,”our position is not different from the position of others. Others have given theirs and we are going to do the same. Our report is to give them the present price that we are taking. By the time we might have submitted all these things, the time will come when they will call all the concerned bodies to defend their prices from which they will arrive at the price that will be the operating cost for the truckers”.
As at the time of filing this report, the Public Relations Officer of NSC, Mr. Ignatius Nweke could not be reached as every efforts made at reaching him was unsuccessful.
