Following the restriction of the movement of trucks and other articulated vehicles on Lagos roads between the hours of 6.am and 9pm by the Lagos State government recently, a Coalition of Truck Operators operating in the nation’s maritime sector has announced the withdrawal of services of its member.
The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, Oluseyi Whenu, speaking on Sunday against the backdrop of a fatal container truck accident which claimed three lives at Ojuelegba on Wednesday last week, said the trailer involved in the accident contravened Section 2 (i) (ii) of the Lagos State Road Traffic Law.
Whenu said, “The state government will henceforth go tough on any trailer and long vehicle that contravened the law, as such vehicle will be impounded and made to pay the stipulated fine accordingly.”
The section of the state traffic law bars trailers from travelling within the Lagos metropolis between 6am and 9pm. It states that “any driver found contravening the provisions of this section shall have his vehicle impounded by a duly authorised officer of the authority and shall upon conviction be liable to a fine of N50,000 or a term of imprisonment for six months or both.”
But speaking in a joint press briefing yesterday, the Chairman, Joint Council of Seaport Truckers (JCOST), Alhaji Kayode Odunowo stated that the withdrawal became imperative as all attempt at trying to get the Lagos State Government rescind its decision fall on deaf ears.
Alhaji Odunowo recalled that despite made by the truckers to get the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Transport see the implication of the policy on their members, he maintained that there was nothing he could do as the decision was final.
He argued that even when they operate during the daytime, members were still faced with security issues not to talk of when they operate at night when their security and safety was not guaranteed even as he wondered why petroleum tankers were exempted from the policy.
“Even when we load during the day, they still burgle our trucks. What is the different between wet cargo and dry cargo? Wet cargo, they are carrying petroleum products while we are carrying a more expensive product than what a petroleum tanker can carry but they were exempted. I don’t know for what reason.
“And that is why we decided yesterday (Monday) that we are coming here today to put heads together and decide on what we are going to do as far as this matter is concerned.
“Therefore, we have decided that immediately, we are going to withdraw our services from the roads in Lagos starting from today (Tuesday). All our trucks will be off the roads with immediate effect till when Lagos State Government will listen to what we are saying”, he said.
When asked if the withdrawal of service was for Lagos alone, Alhaji Odunowo who is also the Deputy State Chairman of National Association of Road Transport Owners, Lagos State Chapter had this to say,” We are withdrawing our services nationwide starting from this moment”.
On his part, the Chairman of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), Chief Remi Ogungbemi noted that the coalition of truck operators within the state that still represented other operators and associations had resolved in the meeting that they were not fighting government adding that it was their wish as Nigerians that the new government at the Federal and state levels succeed.
Ogungbemi observed that it was in the light of a policy that Lagos State Government had decided to start implementing as regards the movement of trucks within the state and with the backdrop that they could not fight the government that they decided the withdrawal of service option to get the government to listen to them.
“So, we have decided to withdraw our services until when the environment is conducive for us to operate. As I speak, our intention formerly was to mellow down and see how things unfold but as I speak, we have started seeing sporadically, some uniformed Military personnel in uniform, task forces arresting our members. Personally, I rescued many people today.
“So, in order for the authority not to see us as working against the authority, we decided to withdraw our services”, He said.
Present at the meeting/press briefing were the five trucking associations that make up JCOST namely; National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Truck Drivers’ Unit of the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Truck Terminal Users’ Association (TTUA) and Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) as well as the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
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