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By Steve Agbota
The Lagos State Truck and Cargo Operators Committee (LASTCOC) has condemned what they described as unjustified, unwarranted extortion and assault on truck drivers in Lagos State by hoodlums.
This is coming in the wake of an attack on a truck driver by hoodlums along the Mile 2-Oshodi express road at the weekend, which left the driver hospitalised.
The Chairman of LASTCOC, Lukman Shittu, while addressing the media on the incident, said some toll-collecting thugs at Berger bus stop outwards Mile 2-Oshodi expressway on Saturday morning, flagged down a loaded containerised truck to extort the driver of an undisclosed amount of money.
He explained that when the driver refused to stop, one of the thugs jumped onto the driver’s seat and dragged the steering wheel with him, which made the truck driver lose control and crashed into some used vehicles parked at the other side of the road.
According to him, as the driver made attempt to grab one of the hoodlums, he was stabbed from behind and rushed to hospital.
“This happened on December 5, 2023, at the exact spot, the same extortion hoodlums dragged steering with a driver leading to the falling of a truck and its loaded container, causing huge financial loss to the importer and the truck owner.
“The activities of these destructive and lawless hoodlums are killing transportation business in Lagos State and discouraging foreign investors from investing in the transportation business,” he said. He added that the hoodlums damage trucks, burgle containers in transit, collect money and assault the drivers, thus causing road accidents and traffic gridlock thereby.
“This is making life unbearable for members of the public.
“These hoodlums who are not adding any value to our economy apart from destruction have made the transport business environment in Lagos State so hostile for truckers to operate with their illegal multiple checkpoints in Mile 2, Lagos Badagry express road, Ikorodu and other parts of the state.
“The marauding hoodlums on roads in Lagos State are potential threat to the domestication and deriving benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) as well as achieving the T.H.E.M.E agenda policy of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s government in the area of transportation,” he added.
He warned that the trucking community cannot continue to fold its arms and watch hoodlums under the guise working for the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), local governments and some individuals to be jeopardising the haulage business, import and export economy, revenue generation, trade facilitation and seamless evacuation of cargoes to and from the nation’s seaports in the State.
“We are, therefore, calling on government at all levels, relevant stakeholders and those who wish well for the economy of Nigeria and Lagos State to rise and do the needful on the menace of hoodlums that are destroying our trucks, robbing our drivers, burgling containers in transit, blocking highways, causing traffic and ghastly accidents that have been claiming innocent lives and militating against the progress and stability of trucking business in Lagos State”, he pleaded.
