NARTO charges govt. on road concession framework

By Ranmilowo Ojalumo

“There are multiple problems in the transport sector. The problems are hampering the effective delivery of service from our members end. We have problems of bad roads. We have about 200, 000 kilometers of road in the Nigeria. Out of the 200,000; 36,000 kilometers are classified as trunk ‘A’ belonging to federal government. Then 60% of the said trunk ‘A’ road is in complete state of despair, even though this government is trying to rehabilitate the roads, in must say that in civilized countries, roads are concession to private sector that will repair the road and then recoup their money through toll collection.

Our government officials have been traveling outside the shore of this country; they should think towards road concession by putting the necessary legal frame work in place and concession the roads to private companies”. The above assertion was made by the Executive Secretary, Nigeria Association of Road Transport Owners, Mr. Aloga Ogbogo during a recent phone chat.

While lamenting the myriad of challenges bedeviling haulage business in the country, the NARTO Scribe said “we also have the problem of insecurity. There are situation in which tankers are hijacked, crude oil siphoned, drivers maimed, truck burnt. We also have the problem of extortion along the corridors. There is also case of extortion on the part of security agents that were meant to control traffic as well as local government officials. There is a situation where we have 62 check points between Warri and Benin, it is really unpalatable. The extortion is huge. Owning to this needless check points, the dwell or journey time of the truck will increase. It also cause fatigue on the part of the driver because of constant application of the brake; the wear and tear of the truck is also unpalatable”.

Ogbogo said the association has always been invited for a meeting with different government agencies, adding that meetings have been held with the secretary to the state government as well as the Minister of transportation among others but the problems persist. “We keep repeating the same thing over and over. We have suggested the idea of road concession to government on many occasions but the government has not done anything till date. The issue of insecurity that I raise earlier is manifesting in many ways, it is what is responsible for pipeline vandalization”, Ogbogo said.

Speaking further, the NARTO Secretary said “we have 21 depots in this country. If pipelines are working, trucks don’t need to come to Lagos to load, but because the pipelines are vandal as a result of insecurity, oil is no longer transported through the pipelines; this is why Lagos is over stressed. In Apapa alone, we have close to 62 tank farms and each of the tank farm has the capacity to load not less than 150 to 200 tankers. Again, most of the tank farms don’t have truck holding bay. Now let’s even assume 30 of the tank farms are in operation, if you multiply 150 or 100 trucks by 30, that is about 4,500 trucks, this is huge. Do you know what it means for these tanker trucks to be laying on the roads? Whereas, the roads are meant for passage not truck park. God has been on our side in this country that is why bridges have not collapsed.

Tincan-Mile 2 Expressroad

Ogbogo however urged the government to fix the road and as well mandated all shipping companies as well as tank farm owners to own truck holding bays. He said “80% of the cargo that have come to this country came through this Apapa; besides, flour mill, Dangote and many other big companies are in this Apapa, so there is need for the corridor leading to Apapa and port to be put in order. Then the government must implore the owner of the tank farms to have tankers holding bay.

“More important is these shipping companies in the country not having container holding bay. Shipping company should have holding bay where they will store their containers, which they should move at night into the ship. They are currently running away from it just because they are trying to cut down cost of operation but they should live up to their responsibility.

The NARTO Secretary expresses the readiness of his association to bid for road concession if the Nigeria government is able to put the legal frame work in place with the necessary backups. “It is not the question of whether NARTO is willing to be part of the road concession and take over a road and rehabilitate it; it is about the government creating the enabling environment. Do we have the legal framework in place? Government has to put the legal framework in place. The government has to propel it; it is when the government propels it through tender before people will bid for it. The government must have the political will power to do it.

“If the legal framework is put in place and there is tender, NARTO will be willing to bid. We are the greatest user of the road; we represent the interest of the transport sector in many parastastals. It may also interest you to note that NARTO is the next to the federal government in terms of creation of employment because for every truck you see on the road, there is a driver, two motor mates, the battery charger is there, panel beater is there, mechanic is there”, Ogbogo said.