The Council of Maritime Transport Unions and Associations (COMTUA) has accused the Lagos State Trucks and Cargo Operations Committee (LASTCOC) of ignoring an agreement reached at a peace meeting called by the Commissioner of Police, Western Ports Command. The union said LASTCOC had continued to operate unauthorised checkpoints, impose levies and allegedly extort truck operators along the Lagos port access routes despite the resolution.
COMTUA National President Prince Adeyinka Aroyewun made the allegation in a statement, explaining that the meeting followed a directive from the Inspector General of Police to end extortion and illegal roadblocks on routes used to move goods to and from the ports. He said COMTUA, LASTCOC and other stakeholders met at the Western Ports Command headquarters to resolve operational and logistics problems affecting port traffic.
Aroyewun said participants agreed that no union, association or committee would carry out organisational activities, set up checkpoints or collect levies, tolls or tickets anywhere along the corridor linking Coconut, Tin Can, Apapa and Mile 2, including the Ijora-Apapa route.
“The meeting produced a clear and unequivocal directive that no union, association or committee may conduct its business, establish checkpoints or demand any levy, toll or ticket on the corridor from Coconut through Tin Can, Apapa and Mile 2, or along the Ijora-to-Apapa Port route,” he said.
However, the COMTUA president alleged that LASTCOC personnel returned to the affected roads less than a day after the agreement and restarted what he called unlawful toll collection, extortion and harassment of truckers.
“Regrettably, within 24 hours of the agreement, LASTCOC operatives came back onto the road, erected unauthorised barriers and resumed toll collection, extortion and harassment of truckers with even greater impunity.
“Such conduct directly challenges the authority of the Commissioner of Police, Western Ports Command, shows contempt for the Nigeria Police Force and risks undermining public order,” Aroyewun said.
COMTUA said the alleged conduct breached the understanding reached in the presence of police officials.
The union added that the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, the Nigerian Ports Authority and other Federal Government bodies had previously rejected the collection of tolls on roads providing access to the ports.
It said the alleged resumption of collections, despite the stated positions of those agencies and the police directive, indicated that LASTCOC might be acting outside the law.
COMTUA therefore instructed truckers and its members to reject levies and avoid buying tickets at checkpoints it considers unlawful.
“We urge every trucker and COMTUA member not to submit to extortion. Do not purchase LASTCOC tickets or make payments at illegal checkpoints. Each payment helps sustain the practice,” Aroyewun said.
The union warned that continued alleged extortion and disruption of traffic on the port corridor could heighten tensions among truckers and interfere with port operations.
“If LASTCOC continues to obstruct the road and extort users, the port corridor could face a complete collapse of law and order and a serious threat to public peace. Our members are increasingly agitated and unsettled,” he added.
COMTUA appealed to security agencies to act swiftly to avert a deterioration of security and safeguard commercial activity around the country’s principal seaports.
It specifically asked the Commissioner of Police, Western Ports Command, to implement the resolutions from the meeting, remove the checkpoints it attributed to LASTCOC and prosecute anyone found to have breached the order.
“We call on the Commissioner of Police, Western Ports Command, to enforce the resolutions adopted at the meeting he convened yesterday, promptly dismantle every LASTCOC checkpoint on the port corridor, and arrest and prosecute those who have chosen to defy his lawful instruction,” Aroyewun said.
“COMTUA will continue to respect the law and support peace and economic expansion at the ports. But we will not permit an unlawful committee to convert the port road into a toll route. This must stop,” he added.
