The Managing Director of the Trucks Transit Parks at the Apapa Ports in Lagos, Jama Onwubuariri, says cartels in government in connivance with some individuals have started frustrating the E-call-up system for trucks and heavy-duty vehicles.

The system is an electronic system that calls only trucks that have immediate business at the ever-busy port to avoid congestion and road blockages.

Onwubuariri, who made this complaint while speaking with journalists in Lagos on Thursday, lamented that individuals are benefiting from the illegal manual means of trucks calling up, which in the past nosedived into blockage and destruction of government roads, and have rather started “throwing clogs in the advancement process of TTP”.

The TTP boss explained that before the commencement of the e-call-up system, an unnamed group usually extorts up to N250,000 and N300,000 from truckers to allow them access to their pickup or drop-off point.

Backers of the illegal collectors in government, according to Onwuabuariri, have also continued frustrating efforts of the TTP to ensure new innovations in its operations.

He said, “Some of the people who were on the road collecting N250,000 and N300,000 per truck in 2020 and early 2021 are not happy that an electronic system has now come to take over their work and their so-called means of livelihood. So, we’re still experiencing a lot of opposition and challenges from such individuals and sometimes organisations.

“There are also those who are found within the government sector. They are part of the employees of government agencies, but because of their particular roles, they were part of those who were benefiting from the old system. So sometimes when approvals for innovations come to them for recommendation, their recommendations are negative.”

The park’s boss said despite the opposition, “We have made over 160 upgrades to the ETO app since February 27, 2021. Just like you have your Google application and other apps that you use, and they are upgraded from time to time, we’ve made over 160 upgrades to the ETO app since its inception. These upgrades are to increase the security, the ease of doing business using the application and to cure identified problems, which we get from our workers in the field.”

The TTP boss further stated that due to increased population, the port has been rearranged, and the need for the E-call-up system cannot be overemphasised.

He explained, “After the port concessions in 2006, a lot of the spaces within the ports that were being used for packing trucks temporarily while they were waiting for their cargo or to drop or to pick up are now being used for stacking containers.

“Again, as I said, the population has grown, so import and export activities have increased. The spaces that the trucks used to wait in the ports while they were being serviced are now being used to keep cargo.

“So because of that, we now had a tailback of the trucks on the port’s access roads. Now, when you bring in what we typically call the Nigerian factor, some people want to make quick profits out of any negative situation that they see. So, you had law enforcement agents; you had private actors getting involved to help drivers to get faster access into the ports.

Onwubuariri, however, called on the state government and the Nigerian Ports Authority to ensure enforcement of the standard operating procedures.