10/03/2024
LASTCOC, A STRATEGIC INTERVENTION
On the 25th day of November 2023. The Lagos State government inaugurated a 12 Man Committee made up of veterans in the Trucking/ Haulage industry with a mandate to improve the ease of doing business through the management and control of truckers' activities on Lagos roads, interface with the Lagos State government on matters relating to trucks and cargo business operations, to act as the representatives of Lagos State government between the public and private sectors as it relates to truck and cargo business in Lagos State, to ensure reduction of traffic on Port access roads, reduction in the average hours of pick and dropping of Cargo and boxes, eradication of the menace of touts harassment of truckers and double taxation through adoption of harmonized tickets for truckers in Lagos State, among other things.
The twelve-man committee which has Alhaji Lukman Sh*tu, AKA Zangalo, the CEO of Zangalo Haulage and Logistics as the Chairman, also has Mr Adeyanju Adewuyi, of TACAN, and Alhaji Isiaka Olalere of NARTO, as the 1st and 2nd deputy Chairman, Mr Bala Muhammad is the Admin. Secretary, Mr Raji Adeshina, CEO Rajica Nig. LTD as the Fin. Secretary, Alhaji Rasaq Igabalaye as the Treasurer, Mr Olaseni Oladimeji as the Organizing Secretary, Mr Ganiyu Femisun as the head of operation, Alhaji Musa K Shabiri as Asst. Organizing Secretary, while Mr Akeem Yusuf, Shola Omolola, and Seyi Mordecai are members.
Although this is not the first time that the Lagos State government will be setting up a committee, this committee is unique because of its composition which is made up of key stakeholders in the Trucking business. As such, this committee can be called a square peg in a square hole, as the Lagos State did not only give the truckers the backing of the State government but decided to put the truckers' destiny, in their own hands, by integrating them into state transport administrative organs.
The committee, although faced with the teething challenges of creating a workable structure that will endure the test of time, has hit the ground running, by commencing the gradual reductions of street urchins on the roads, through the assistance of the State Task Force on environmental offences, and decongestion of the ports access roads in collaboration with NPA and relevant agencies of government. This is to ensure reduction and stability in the maritime haulage charges, and in extension, reduction in inflation and the stability of the prices of essential commodities.
LASTCOC'S CHALLENGES IN THE PORT CORRIDORS.
Many may not see the present or the future challenges facing this committee, but the fact on the ground and events that have taken place since the inauguration of the committee shows that the road ahead may be rough. This is evident by the resistance from the beneficiaries of the rots plaguing the trucking industry.
Beginning with the systemic failure of the e-call-up system and the attendant congestion on the port access roads. For instance, the challenges and their effects on the truckers and the national economy are multipronged. It ranged from a conspiracy between the corrupt TTP staff, and key players in the trucking industry. These key players include, but are not limited to bad elements at the decision-making level of the regulatory bodies who are benefiting from the passing of trucks for big companies, and those on the roads that benefit from the passing of trucks for individuals. They include various security and traffic monitoring agencies made up of corrupt elements in the police, NPA, LASTMA and various task forces and ad-hoc committees. These elements are so entrenched to the extent that they won't allow enforcement of vital recommendations from the stakeholders to work once they know it will block their means of extra income. A good example was the decision of the stakeholders to introduce microchips called e-tag that will give room for live monitoring of the itineraries of any trucks on demand by the relevant agencies. The idea was adopted at a stakeholders meeting, and directives were given to TTP to implement the decisions, but months after, the story is that: there was an order for a stay of ex*****on of the project.
There are also powerful businessmen and union leaders who feel shortchanged and believe that they stand a good chance to replace TTP if its contract is terminated or renegotiated if it eventually fails. Finally, there is this unspoken rivalry and attempt by the formal (corporate trucking companies) trucking industry to muscle out the informal sector (individual owners) of the trucking industry. This is done through the corruption of the key regulatory agencies' helmsmen to thwart genuine efforts at regulating the industry and its sanitization, because, it helps create an artificial scarcity of trucks which props up the haulage charges.
THE LAGOS AREA BOYS CHALLENGE
Likewise, the attempts by the committee to clear the Tin Can Ports Access roads have been forcefully aborted twice in a row, by the entrenched extortionists controlling the extortion points between the ports access roads, and Mile 2 axis, leading to serious violence where dangerous weapons like Cutlass and guns were freely used on the members of the committee. The police refuse to create deterrence, by bringing the perpetrators to book, because, it help sustained traffic bottleneck that enhance police extortion points . This influenced the decision of the stakeholders to enter into a collaboration agreement with MWUM & NARTO to ensure peace, through the prompting of the Committee and the Maritime Elders.
Apart from incidents around port access roads and corridors. The committee is facing a more harculean task in the area of arresting the societal vice among the youths in Lagos State. These sticks wielding youths who has notable men in the society, as their beneficiaries and backers can be seen in virtually all parts of Lagos from the Ibadan to Lagos to Lagos Abeokuta toll gates to Lagos Badagry ECOWAS /international access roads will stop at nothing to ensure continuity and the spread of extortion points on Lagos roads, even when it is an eyesores. These youths who make more than an average truck owners on each truck are not only destroying trucks on the roads and the economy by raising the receipts for haulage charges, but they portrayed the nation in a bad light in the eyes of foreigners plying these routes. They and their backers have chosen not to contribute anything to the nation's economic development, as they did not only refused to encourage engagement in any worthwhile vocational activities, but thrives in discouraging other youths from being productive as the productive ones are gradually radicalized and encouraged to become extortionist and violent groups and street cults through peer pressure.
One thing that is sure is that the establishment of the Lagos State Truck and Cargo Operators Committee (LASTCOC) is not only a timely intervention, but strategic in nature,as it will help solve three major problem of insecurity, economic instability, and youth radicalisation and restiveness..
The above probley are not only a fundamental responsibility of the government, but a collective one that must be jointly addressed. The creation of LASTCOC is thus a visionary and bold step by the office of the Special Adviser to the Government on Transportation and the Ministry of Transportation.
