… There’s nothing like scarcity of call up tickets – TTP
…Blames terminals inefficiency for delays
The Deputy National President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF, Chief Afam Chukwuma has attributed the high cost of transporting cargo from the seaports in Lagos to any part of the state to scarcity of the Eto call up tickets.
Speaking in a chat with Primetime Reporters in Lagos recently, Chief Chukwuma disclosed that it now cost as high as two hundred thousand naira (N200,000) to transport cargo from Apapa port to anywhere in Lagos as a result of the scarcity.
According to him, the truckers don’t have call up, causing them to pay through their nose to get one and when they managed to get one, they had to charge higher in order to cover their cost.
“We have engaged NPA on this. Why would the price for call up be as high as over two hundred thousand naira? So, how much do you expect the trucker to charge? A place like Ijora, Surulere, Ikeja, within the Lagos mainland, that you could move cargo from Apapa to, we used to pay two hundred and fifty thousand naira or two hundred and eighty thousand naira and if diesel price goes up, we used to pay like three hundred thousand naira, today, it goes for almost one million naira, nine hundred thousand naira, eight hundred thousand naira, eight hundred and fifty thousand naira.
“You can’t even get the call up, the call up is artificially made to be scarce. So, the roads are free. What does it take to generate call up that it will be scarce? What is the raw materials used in producing call up? No call up and then you have so many TDOs out there and then, we have a truck, there are so many TDOs pursuing one truck. And it takes the trucker a lot of money to get the call up, both officially and unofficially.
“And then, because he has been lying there for a week or two weeks before he gets the call up, do you know how many trips he has missed? How much do you expect him to charge? That’s why we have this bogus amount on transport today. The effect of all of these is continuous inflation in the overall economy of the country”, he submitted.
Responding, the Head, Public Relations, Truck Transit Parks Limited, Nancy Nnamdi disclosed that there was no scarcity of call up tickets adding that the process was technologically driven hence all that was required of a trucker was for him to enter his details, make his payment and get his booking code or ticket and then move ahead to load.
“It is the terminal that might not be clearing on time or accepting some categories of trucks at a particular time that will cause a delay. It has nothing to do with Eto. We always have meetings with the Shippers’ Council to ensure that there’s efficiency within the terminals and that things can move faster and when we notice that there’s a backlog, we liaise with the NPA team and temporarily, we can choose to halt any movement of truck for maybe two hours to ensure all backlogs are cleared because at the end of the day, you have to consider other road users so that the trucks are not clogging the roads.
“So, that’s what we do, there’s a backend where we can see what is going on and we also have a control room where we monitor the movements in different terminals and trucks. But in terms of scarcity, there’s nothing like that at all.”
On the cost of getting the call up tickets, she said, “It’s like when you want to buy recharge card, you can go to your mobile App, you can go to your banking App, you can go to whatever platform and buy your airtime or data. But if you choose not to do that, you can buy from the people selling on the streets at a cost. So, you can choose to buy N100 recharge card for maybe N110.
“So, what I am using this analogy to say is the fact that the platform for getting a call up is the Eto platforms, Eto App or Eto website www.eto.ttp.com.ng. Every ticket there costs not more than N25,000, from N10,000 and above depending on the category.
“When you now decide that you want to go through an agent to get it, you will definitely get it at a different cost. Just like when you go to the POS to get money instead of getting from the ATM or you decide to buy on the roadside instead of buying from your authorized retailer. It’s like if I choose to buy electricity from a third party, they will add their own service charges. It is the same thing here.
“So, there’s nothing like it’s scarce because it’s online. Once you put in your booking details, you could get your call up number or your ticket, your booking code. There’s no scarcity at all because it’s not a paper, you don’t have to go through a store or an office to purchase it. Once you have your App, put in your details and you get it.
“What they could complain is that it’s taking them days to get it. This is as a result of terminal inefficiency. For you to say it is taking you days, it means that you already have your call up number which is something you get from your Eto App. So, if you are spending days, it’s because your terminal that is accepting is probably delaying. They might be slow in passing the trucks to us or their operations. That is what can delay trucks.
“But in terms of getting access to the booking tickets, there’s nothing like scarcity. It’s technology, it’s just plug and play, enter your details, make your payment and you will get your booking code or your ticket and then you can move ahead.”
Speaking on measures to control the price at which the agents sell the call up tickets, she said, “Unfortunately, they are not people that have like a recognized organization to say, okay this is an organization of ticket sellers. What people do is that they can create an account of their own, get access to tickets and they sell. Also, some of these transporters are to be blamed because they assumed that buying from the agents will sort of fasttrack their access to the port.
“We have even done videos to educate them to say just buy from the only approved platform which is the website or the mobile App but some of them felt they don’t have time to go and be typing in their details, they will rather just get it from someone who has already purchased. It’s not something that we have direct control over.”
She, however, disclosed that TTP had introduced a new payment method such that one doesn’t have to go through a third party payment App to make his payment saying, “But right from the App, you can make payment for your bookings.”
“So, all of these things are third party issues and you know we live in Nigeria where a lot of things a still a bit shaky. But in terms of the technology, it is working as designed and it will continue to be improved”, she added.
Photo: Chief Afam Chukwuma, Deputy National President, NAGAFF.
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