The myriad of illegal checkpoints on the Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports roads in Lagos, have become a channel of organised impunity, official lawlessness and excesses that defy the authority of the Lagos State Government.
Security personnel, who showcase a false sense of duty of controlling traffic and providing security on these routes, have resorted to extortion and elevating corruption to a national priority.
A recent report by a national newspaper revealed that over 26 illegal checkpoints exist within the Apapa and Tin-Can Island Port corridor where truckers are compelled to pay between N80,000 and N100,000 per trip to access the port, despite having valid electronic call-up tickets.
The agencies that mount the checkpoints are the Police, Army, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Federal Road Safety Corps, Customs and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), as well as local government officials and thugs.
Haulage operators reportedly spend a significant part of their profits paying their way in and out of the ports. As expected, monies spent by truckers on checkpoints are factored by cargo owners into the amount charged as the cost of haulage. This development threatens the stability of the electronic call-up systems recently introduced for port-bound trucks.
Another report by SBM Intel, an Africa-focused geopolitical, market intelligence and communications consulting firm, revealed that the unfriendly business environment of Nigeria’s ports is one of the worst in the world. According to the research firm, the unfriendly business environment of Nigeria’s ports system, owing to its harsh policies and corruption, has led to the diversion of Nigerian-bound cargo to most ports in neighbouring Benin Republic, Togo and Ghana. This is a window of significant revenue and job loss to Nigeria.
In 2020, SBM tracked shipments over a period of three months to three ports in Africa and came up with the average cost of shipping charges, terminal charges and local transport to cost of warehousing. The costs for Apapa Port in Lagos were by far the highest, five times higher than in Durban, South Africa and three times higher than Tema in Ghana.
While each of the component parts of this dataset: shipping charges, terminal charges and local transport are highest for Lagos, local transport in Lagos, which is 10 times the cost in both Durban and Tema is what really makes Lagos an expensive place to do business in.
For a very long time, the Lagos port area has been seen as another ‘arm’ of government with powers to make its own ‘laws’ and enforce them in the most aggressive and brutal manner. THEWILL had, in a previous publication, reported that perpetrators of illegal activities at the ports operate like a ‘task force’ set up to kill the economy. The “businesses” are facilitated by bare-faced officials of government agencies on uniforms that carry their name tags.
The fact that Nigeria’s major ports have become a zone of official lawlessness and all forms of contrary behaviour is, indeed, a matter of grave concern. The challenge of multiple illegal checkpoints compound the fact that Nigerian ports are marked with high charges and tariffs and notorious for their closeness to densely populated cities and bus stops, which makes human movement and port operational performance very difficult.
The maritime industry in Nigeria is undeniably important to the country’s economic growth. Its role can either affect the economy positively or setback the economy. A high percentage of Nigeria’s cargo trade is facilitated by sea carriage as it accounts for about 95 percent of the vehicular means of Nigeria’s international trade. Nigeria trades about 180 million tons of seaborne cargo per annum.
In December 2021, the Federal Government estimated an investment of N7.73 trillion for the maritime industry and other industries under the transport sector in the N348.1 trillion earmarked for the five-year National Development Plan (NDP) covering 2021-2025. President Muhammadu Buhari said the government was expected to contribute N49.7 trillion while the remaining 85.7 percent, which is N298.3 trillion, would come from the private sector.
With this objective in view, it is unacceptable that corruption, collusion and confusion – rolled together – should be allowed to produce the frustration that reigns among users of Nigeria’s foremost seaports in Lagos. Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, cannot afford to develop by towing this line of ‘instituted’ corruption.
The Lagos State Government and the Maritime Police Command, which have been collaborating on this matter, should adopt concrete measures to end extortion and multiple checkpoints on the Lagos ports roads.
By convention, it is the role of the security agencies to enforce order and provide security so as to ensure orderliness, especially in the aspect of traffic flow. But the reverse is the case. They have become agents of extortion, intimidation and corruption.
It behoves the authorities of the various security agencies to see to it that their personnel do not continue to engage in these shameful acts. The Federal Government and Lagos State Government should collaborate and save Nigerians the embarrassment, logistics torture, extortion and corruption that the Lagos ports have been subjected to. We cannot be mouthing ‘ease of doing business’ when it does not practically exist in our system. It is a culture that drives foreign investors away.
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