- Apapa Truck Drivers Protest Against Extortion
There was drama on Wharf Road, Apapa, Lagos on Thursday as truck drivers embarked on a peaceful protest against extortion by security operatives and traffic management officials, including the Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Police, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority and the Federal Road Safety Commission.
The truck drivers accused the security and traffic management officials of extortion and deliberately creating chaos on Wharf Road to slow down movement so as to collect money from the truckers.
The truck drivers eventually chased the traffic officials away from their duty posts and appointed some of their own to manage traffic along the ever-busy but severely damaged road.
An official of the Lagos Port Complex, Apapa, who witnessed the truckers’ action and who spoke with Ships and Ports on condition of anonymity, said, “We had an incident this morning with truckers loaded since Monday, November 20, 2017 who were unable to exit the port complex due to earlier identified challenges with the road, especially the outbound lane.
“They (the truckers) protested, took over the management of the traffic from the port gate to under the Ijora Bridge, and got the outbound traffic moving again. If the truckers can clear the road, why can’t our traffic managers?”
Some of the truckers, who spoke with journalists, said apart from the bad roads, ongoing construction work and a lack of truck parks, the activities of security and traffic management officials working in Apapa was a major contributor to the perennial gridlock that had characterised the area.
One of the drivers, Emeka Michael, lamented the incessant extortion by the security agencies, saying he had been in queue for two weeks because he did not have money to offer as a bribe.
He stated, “I have been in the queue since two weeks and it is because I don’t have N40,000 to pay. The frustration is too much and that is why some truck drivers mobilised themselves today to go and control traffic to see if some trucks that are already loaded can leave the terminal and others can enter.
“The Navy officials fired teargas in the air when we got under the bridge and we ran back because we don’t have anything to fight them.”
Another truck driver, Saidu Usman, who claimed to ply the Apapa and Tin Can ports regularly, said, “Whether you are going to the port to drop container or whether you are coming out of the port, you are at the mercy of the traffic officials.”
