15th September, 2015
Coalition of truck operators under the auspices of Joint Council of Seaport Truckers (JCOST) have blamed terminal operators for the recent truck accident at Ojuelegba in which three people died.
JCOST is a fusion of Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Truck Terminal Users Association, Truck Drivers Unit (TDU) of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) and Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO).
Rising from a joint meeting, the Chairman of AMATO, Chief Remi Ogungbemi said terminal operators do not possess necessary equipment for loading of containers on trucks at the ports that is why containers fall frequently.
“The terminal operators too have not been doing enough in the area of providing necessary equipment to make sure that the trucks are well loaded and to even certify trucks suitable for carrying certain weight of goods,” he said.
He also said government was partly responsible for falling of trucks on the highways as roads were not good for vehicles to move safely.
Ogungbemi pointed out that the government has failed to play its own role by providing suitable roads for their trucks to move and therefore should lay the entire blame on the truck drivers alone.
He added that the recent container that fell at Ojuelegba could be as a result of the state of the bridge because according to him, the bridge is tilted and could have caused the container to fall off the truck.
“The coalition of truck operators within the state that also represents other truck operators across the nation have resolved in today’s meeting that we are not fighting government because the government is our government and it is our wish and prayer that both the state and federal governments will succeed and anyone who loves the government will not do anything that will have a negative effect on the government.
“But as a result of the policy that the state government has decided to start implementing as regards the movement of trucks within the state, we have decided to withdraw our services until when the environment is conducive for us to operate.
“As I speak, our intention initially was to mellow down and see how things unfold but as I speak, we have started seeing some men in military uniform, task forces arresting our members,” Ogungbemi stated.