The Publisher of MMS Plus newspaper, Mr Kingsley Anaroke, says there is need for the Truck Transit Park (TTP) Ltd., operators of the electronic call-up system for trucks called ‘Eto’ in the port to have a legal backing.
Anaroke gave the advice at the Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria (MARAN) breakfast meeting with the theme, “Repositioning ETO Call-up System for Optimal Performance’, on Thursday, in Lagos.
He said that to back this proposition up with legislation, the electronic call-up system operates within the Apapa municipal jurisdiction as such all that was needed was to enact a Bye- Law or an Ordinance, which was the responsibility of elected councilors to carry out to give it effect.
He also advised the leadership of the Nigerian Ports Authority ( NPA) to license two more electronic call –up companies for competition and keep reviewing and improving the infrastructure.
According to him, enforcement as well as prosecuting officers or culprits in electronic call –up racketeering to deter others was of essence.
“I recommended the use of mobile court to adjudicate Eto cases with measures of penalties capable of discouraging fraud or cutting corners,” he said.
He raised a concern that the platform had shifted from problem-solving to revenue generation with the handlers neglecting the real issues and placing premiums on the volume of vehicles they receive.
He asserted Eto had yielded the sum of N34.4billion in the two years of operation using N21,500 truck booking call- up fee charged by TTP as basis of calculation.
Also, Mr Remi Ogungbemi, Chairman, Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) said to address the challenges of automation system, the association call for the introduction of the Truck Scheduler System (TSS) to help improve the lapses in the Eto process.
He noted that the system had been presented at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) January monthly meeting and a committee set up to look into the system.
He also advised those that indulge in the practice of making fake Minimum Safety Standard (MSS) sticker and Eto ticket to desist from such act,
“I equally advise the buyers of black market call up to stop, because if there are no buyers, there will be no sellers,” he said.
Earlier, Mr Godfrey Bivbere, President of MARAN, noted that despite Eto positive impacts, the electronic call-up system had faced criticism, with some operators alleging that it had worsened the traffic crisis and facilitated corruption and extortion.
According to Bivbere, it was based on this concerns that MARAN as the watchdog and agenda setting body for government decided to put up the meeting.
“Critical stakeholders have raised concerns that the platform had deviated from its original purpose and turned into a source of revenue generation and that the port environment has returned to the pre-Hadiza Bala-Usman era.
“We are here to discuss workable solutions to rectifying these anomalies and ensure that the platform delivers on the mandate for which it was created to the benefit of the industry at large,” he said.