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•Cargo movement, exports suffer delay
By Steve Agbota, [email protected]
On February 27, 2021, when the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) commenced the implementation of the electronic call-up system for all trucks calling at the nation’s ports, stakeholders had hoped it would be the end of the crisis plaguing the industry.
The decision then was to find a permanent solution to the problem of truck congestion in Apapa and also to return sanity to the port environment. The system, which has been managed by a private sector firm, Trucks Transit Parks Limited (TTP), came onboard after the dissolution of the Presidential Task Force set up in 2018 by the Federal Government and headed by Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, with the mandate to solve the Apapa gridlock, was dissolved.
The electronic system was designed for management of truck movement and access to and from the Lagos Ports Complex and the Tin Can Island Ports, Apapa, Lagos, with the aim of putting an end to the perennial logjam caused by articulated trucks within the port corridor.
The truck electronic call-up system, which is being powered by a web application called “Eto”, then was said to be responsible for the scheduling, entry and exit of all trucks in the ports.
The beginning of operations, the system had faced stifling opposition from those who do not want the system to function optimally because they are the real beneficiary of extortion along the port corridors. Barely two weeks after NPA commenced the implementation of the electronic call-up system, fraudsters cloned the system and printed counterfeit call-up slips for truck drivers. The system was reprogrammed to counter the fake tickets.
Today, thereare allegations of ticket racketeering known as black market by middlemen, where ticket is being sold for as high as N150,000. This has been causing delay in the ETO call-up system, hamper the movement of cargo and export produce. The middlemen and truckers are said to be behind the black market ticket on e call-up system.
For instance, before now, it takes less than three days for truck drivers to exit Lilypond Terminal in Ijora, which is the designated pre-gate terminal for all port-bound trucks, to be issued an Eto ticket. But currently, it takes between two to three weeks for trucks in Lilypond with terminal delivery orders (TDOs) to legitimately get an Eto ticket to be able to access the port. With this delay, desperate truck owners procured Eto tickets from third parties at exorbitant price of N150,000 to access the port.
This however, pushed up the haulage cost to about N700,000 from N250,000 from where it was few months ago.
Apapa to Sango-otta, Ogun state that goes for N250,000 is now N700,000, while Apapa to Ikeja that truckers, hitherto, charge N200,000 now goes for N600,000.
Also, truckers that charge N200,000 from Apapa port to Costain and Tin Can Island port to Mile 2 now charge N500,000 respectively.
However, a truck owner, Yusuf Liadi, said the racketeers are responsible for the high cost of hauling cargoes from the Lagos ports.
Liadi, said the racketeers started selling the Eto ticket for N50,000, and moved to N100,000, but that the ticket currently sells for N150,00 stressing that before the end of December it may hit N200,000 because of the Christmas and New Year festivities.
He stated that currently, it takes as much as two weeks to get called into the port by TTP, thereby creating a backlog that leads to truckers sabotaging the system.
“If you want easy and fast access to the port, you can buy an Eto ticket for N150,000. Two weeks ago, it was sold for N100,000 and when it just started, it was N50,000 but the demand has continued to increase alongside the cost. “But if you want to buy the ticket online using the normal process of going to the Lilypond garage, a trucker will spend between one and two weeks due to the delay. Unfortunately, we don’t know what is causing the delay.”
He said the racketeers are currently selling fake tickets to truckers, while urging TTP to resolve the backlog because they are losing their money.
Speaking with Daily Sun, the Secretary General of AMATO, Mohammed Sani, said that the price of Eto call up has not been officially increased by TTP, the company managing the system.
He added that there is now a black market where truckers who do not want to face delays in securing Eto call-up system go to buy genuine tickets at N150,000 without having to go through the normal process.
“The official charges for securing an Eto ticket is between N10,800 and N21,500 but truckers who do not have business at the port would go to Lilypond, generate call-up tickets and return to the black market to sell the tickets to truckers with TDO who are desperate to access the port to pick up cargo,” he said.
According to him, terminals slow operations is the major reason behind panic buying of ETO black market call tickets up above official price.
“The fear of truckers losing their jobs and fear of importers spending millions of naira to revalidate their terminal loading papers encourage them to purchase black market call up tickets in order to access the terminals on time before their terminal loading papers expire.
“If Terminal operation is fast, truck release from the pregates would be faster and nobody would see the need to patronize black market call up racketeers for call up in order to shunt. Black market tickets are only relevant when there is traffic along the ports corridors arising from slow terminal operations. When truck queue is moving faster into the terminals, nobody would buy black market call up tickets,” he added.
Meanwhile, Head of Operations for TTP, Irabor Akonoman said that the fraud was not carried out by TTP or Eto system, adding that there was never a time that the call-up tickets were sold for N150,000 by the company.
“We would like to categorically state that at no point has an Eto ticket been sold for the reported amount of N150,000. The approved and standard pricing structure is transparent and fixed. Costs range from N10,750 and not exceeding 21,500 (VAT inclusive),” he said.
According to him, this price depends on the parks or pregates that these trucks are electronically scheduled to go through before they are batched and released to progress to the port, adding that the primary issue with irregularities arises from the fact that truckers, fail to affix their plate numbers on their vehicles.
“Consequently, this allows for the potential swapping of plate numbers between trucks, leading to resale of tickets at inflated prices. It is important to emphasize that these practices are not endorsed or facilitated by Trucks Transit Parks Ltd or the eto system.
“The escalated costs reported are a result of individual truckers engaging in fraudulent activities, reselling their own tickets at prices significantly above the standard rates. This is against the laid down standard operating procedure put in place by the Nigerian Ports Authority for the electronic call-up system for Apapa and Tincan ports.
“This practice is detrimental to the industry and the interest of truckers in general. TTP condemns such behaviour and actively discourages any involvement in ticket racketeering. Truckers found to have engaged in this practice are blacklisted with the approval of NPA.
“We would like to draw attention of the public to the fact that the complainants themselves may play a role in perpetuating these illicit activities. While they possess the knowledge and ability to book Eto tickets through the standard procedures, some opt to circumvent the process by not using their tickets but reselling them to those in a hurry to access the port. This involves purchasing tickets, often at exorbitant prices from individuals who have already processed theirs, and for some reason become unable to carry out their business at the port,” he added.
With the approval of the regulator, NPA, a consequence management system has been implemented to immediately disable the truck or user account of any transporter or agents found to have committed this infraction or any other ones that contravenes the SOP and sabotages the success of the electronic callup system.
However, he said from inception, Trucks Transit Parks Ltd is committed to addressing emerging challenges to the implementation of the Callup system and is actively collaborating with relevant authorities, saying the company is in the process of implementing advanced technologies such as Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) and other measures, including the mandatory display of permanent plate numbers on trucks.
He stated that these initiatives aim to prevent the swapping of plate numbers and, subsequently, discourage ticket racketeering.
“We appreciate the concerns raised by the media and the public, and we want to assure all stakeholders that we are taking decisive steps to enhance the integrity of the eto system. Our commitment to transparency and fairness remains unwavering, and we will continue working diligently to eradicate any malpractices within our purview,” he said.
