– Gives three days ultimatum to disband Committees
– Fines are paid into private Bank accounts
Esther Oritse
Lagos — A coalition of the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), and the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) withdrew their services from Lagos port on Monday, protesting what they described as the “increasingly provocative and exploitative activities” of the Lagos State Committee on Removal of Abandoned Vehicles and the Special Traffic Management Committee and Enforcement Team.
The groups have also given the authorities three days ultimatum to meet their demands or face the consequences of their action.
In their statement dated February 24,2025, the transport unions highlighted a recent incident where trucks released from the Lillypond Pre-gate under the directive of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) were stopped by the Committees.
“Shockingly, all the trucks that were on the move following the directive of the Nigerian Ports Authority were flagged down, some of the trucks were forcefully arrested and slammed with their usual unregulated bills,” they stated.
The unions further alleged that trucks were often seized and driven to the Committees’ yard, where operators were forced to pay excessive towing charges.
They also condemned an attack on truckers on February 20, 2025, near Area B, Apapa, where the Committees, accompanied by “a contingent of street urchins illegally acting at the Committees’ behest,” allegedly assaulted and extorted truck owners and drivers.
“Suffice to say that when it appeared that the trucker had no intent to comply with their baseless demands, the Committees’ members set the street urchins in their company upon the hapless trucker,” the statement read, noting that one victim suffered grievous injuries and was hospitalized.
Additionally, on February 23, 2025, the unions claimed that the Abandoned Vehicles Committee “invaded Unity Bonded Terminal, where they hijacked over 100 trucks from drivers on queue to drop empty containers and tagged them abandoned.”
They accused the Committees of unfairly targeting maritime truckers, sabotaging port operations, and inflicting financial losses on transporters and businesses.
“It is almost as if there is a spoken directive to ensure the grounding to a halt of the businesses of the stakeholders in the haulage sector,” they stated, adding that many companies were forced to suspend operations due to the arbitrary seizure of trucks.
Declaring their stance, the unions concluded: “It is on this note we are saying ENOUGH IS ENOUGH to the ignoble and exploitative activities of these two Committees against maritime transport operators.”
