THE Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) and the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has sought the intervention of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) over extortion and destruction of seaport haulage trucks and drivers by state and non-state actors along the port access roads.
Speaking recently at a one-day sensitisation programme organised by the Nigerian Shippers’ NSC in collaboration with FRSC titled, ‘Safe-to-Load on Nigerian Roads,’ held in Lagos, the FRSC Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed, said the issue of extortion and destruction of trucks by hoodlums should be unanimously addressed.
According to the Corp Marshal: “The haulage business is contributing to the economic development of the country. I think we need to also work together to bring the issue forward to the relevant authorities such as the Office of the National Security Adviser and other relevant bodies that can make the environment and the space cleaner and more attractive for other haulage business investors that want to come in to be able to invest and reap their investment without hindrance.”
Executive Secretary of the NSC, Barr Pius Akutah, also said the council is currently engaging security agencies to look into the act of molestation of drivers and destruction of trucks.
Akutah said: “On the issue of vandalisation of vehicles, these are issues that are very important because we cannot listen to those kinds of challenges and allow them to just slide. These are issues that we need to tackle head-on. We cannot afford to have players in this sector who invest so much resources in these infrastructures to support economic activities and we have hoodlums out there who set out to destroy and extort truck drivers and also destroy these infrastructure.
“Though, it can be a truck owned by just one person, but once it is operating within the value chain of the transport infrastructure to support trade and economic activities, it has become a critical infrastructure for us to look into the welfare and the security of these infrastructures. So I guarantee you that Nigerian Shippers’ Council will not slip over these issues.
“We will do everything we can to engage all the stakeholders and security agencies to see what we can do in terms of providing the security for this infrastructure. This issue, I understand, was also raised at some other forums. But today, I guarantee you that we will take all the discussions conclusively and see what we can do.”
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