Following the inability of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to live up to its promise of carrying out palliative works on the Tincan road, the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) has undertaken palliatives on the road in order to save their investments.
Alhaji Abdullahi Inuwa Mohammed, the Lagos State Vice Chairman, Dry Cargo section of NARTO while speaking in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos said the palliatives gulped over N2.1 million.
Mohammed disclosed that before they undertook to carry out palliatives on the road which according to him was his brainchild, about 17 containers had fallen between the Tincan 2nd gate and the Capital Oil jetty adding that no casualty was recorded within the period the containers fall but for the loss of investments of the truckers.
“Since after our last meeting with NPA management where they agreed that they will embark on some palliatives from Creek Road down to Tincan up to Capital Oil depot for the place to be motorable, here in Tincan, we did not see anything as in the palliatives coming from either the Federal Ministry of Works or from the NPA management.
“it was based on the delay that we initiated our own palliative measure. I called on my members, NARTO members that it is not good for us to fold our hands to see our investments being destroyed because of the state of the road and nobody is coming from the government to say oh, we have seen such thing, let us assist you.
“The insurance companies is not forthcoming even for those who have insurance. I sold the idea of helping ourselves to them. We understand that sometimes Royal Salt do come and pour some sand but the sand that they do come to pour especially at coconut area, once there is rain, it will be washed away.
“So, we had to go and get hard core stones from Ibadan and Abeokuta. I have to commend them my members for accepting that my initiative and they responded quickly. That was how we raised money”, he said.
On the cost of the palliatives, he said,”Each truck cost us about N150,000. We put in eight trips of stones, multiply N150,000 by eight. RTEAN also supported us with one trip apart from the labour expenses and other logistics. Our National Secretariat also contributed to the project because they helped us with two trips.
“That is why you could now see that since after the palliatives, we have never had any case, not until last month when I got a report that about three trucks were hooked at a ditch along the service lane immediately after coconut where a container fall. I called my members, we still raised another money and get two trips of hard core stones which we filled there. And there is another container that was about falling along coconut, if not because of the help of a tipper that was passing at that time that hooked the container, it would have fallen. We have to extend the palliative to support area”.
He added that the former Commissioner of Works, Lagos State, Hon. Kayode Opeifa promised to give them ten trips of concrete that they excavated from the ongoing reconstruction of Wharf Road which he said they were yet to collect.
The NARTO chieftain stated that no official commendation had come from any government agency in writing except that the former General Manager, Western Ports of NPA verbally commended their effort as well as Hon. Kayode Opeifa and other passers-by who stopped to commend them.
“We have saved them a lot because I know that any truck that falls, if you are lucky, before you will be able to bring back that truck to life, a minimum of N500,000 may have gone into repair works. Apart from that, there is no how you will go two trips following the condition of the road that you will not go for thorough check-up because some of the vehicle compartments of the vehicle may have broken down”, he added.
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