Victor Ezeja
AdminImpunity and corruption are steadily sipping into the administration of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Truck Transit Park Limited (TTP) electronic call-up system (ETO) for trucks accessing Lagos ports as black marketers who have no business with the ports, book the tickets way ahead for profiteering purposes.
The set of individuals who buy the ETO tickets and other associated charges at the cost of N21,500 per truck, hoards and resell them at N150,000 to truckers who, out of fear of losing their terminal delivery order (TDOs) and desperation, buy at the cut-throat prices to access the ports. Through this sharp practice, these individuals prevent those who need to enter the port from getting the tickets, especially when the ports are filled with trucks.
Recall that NPA had temporarily suspended the release of flatbed trucks from Satellite truck parks to Pre-gate from entering various terminals in the Lagos Port Complex.
Speaking on the impacts of the decision by NPA, the Chairman of Lilypond Export Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Femi Olabanji, lamented that trucks could no longer enter into the terminal as the TTP and NPA would claim that the portal is full.
He said people are now going through the expressway directly into the port, which is a practice that has since been stopped through the introduction of the call-up system.
Olabanji said the call-up system was bought for around N27,000 and is now selling for N150,000 by certain cabals.
“They are telling us that the portal is full and that we cannot go into the terminal, but they are generating a call-up system and selling it for N150,000.
“After buying the call-up for N150,000, you would use N30,000 for access for the truck into the port. Sometimes, you can spend N200,000 before entering the port. This has taken away the whole grace of whatever achievements recorded before,” he said.
He said demurrage on a 40 ft container at the terminal costs N60,000 per day, while 20 ft container demurrage is N45,000. Before now, he said, they were paying N15,000 as terminal charges.
When contacted on the phone, the Corporate Communications Manager, Trucks Transit Parks Limited, Nancy Nnamdi told The Guardian that the problem is with some private ‘pre-gate’ operators who generate call-up tickets they do not need for their private trucks to access the ports.
She said these call-up tickets eventually find their way to the black market and are sold at outrageous prices especially when there is traffic. The TTP spokesperson said persons who buy the tickets earlier, change their truck number plates with those they sell the tickets to, who then put the plate numbers on their trucks to skip the line and enter the port on time.
According to her, the total amount paid for the call-up ticket of a truck from the portal is N10,800, with a breakdown from one of the tickets spotted by The Guardian, to include, N10, 000 as subtotal, N750 tax and N50 for stamp denotation.
Nnamdi insisted that the TTP ticket price plus matching puts the total amount spent on ETO at N21,500 and not N150,000 as alleged.
“What we have are unscrupulous elements within the trucking community, they will buy call-up tickets two weeks ahead and sell them to truckers who are eager to enter the port on time at an exorbitant price. Nobody can change the cost on the app, it is people who are buying tickets ahead and now sell it to others at a higher price,” she explained.
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