LEKKI: Lagos govt,Dangote Refinery disagree over parks, call-up system for trucks

THERE are indications that the electronics call-up truck management system introduced by the Lagos State Government to prevent a repeat of Apapa port gridlock in the Lekki Port corridor may have hit a the rocks as key stakeholders disagree on implementation several years after the programme was initiated.

The two key stakeholders are Lagos State Government which is the owner and driver of the initiative, and Dangote Group, the dominant operator on the corridor.

Financial Vanguard learnt that while the state government wants to on-board every stakeholder opearating in that axis on the call-up system, Dangote Group said it could not come onboard because governmnent did not provide adequate truck park capacity.

Already, following commencement of mainstream operations at the Dangote Refinery a week ago, trucking operations have increased exponentially without commencement of the system or alternative provision to address the traffic challenges on temporal basis.

Dangote Refinery indicated that it could have provided adequate truck park capacity before commencing operations, according to the initial plan it had, but lamented that the state governmnent disuaded it on grounds that the state was already set to provide the facility.

But Managing Director of Call-up Technologies, promoters of the e-call-up system, Mr. Timi Koledu , said that everything about the system is ready and the Information Technology equipment has been deployed appropriately.

With the traffic crises now imminent, another stakeholders meeting was called by the state, last week, at the Lagos State Secretariat, Ikeja, where the Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Seun Osiyemi said that the E-call-up system for traffic management will commence today, Monday, September 23, 2024, adding that if there are issues to be corrected and resolved, they will be done as the system is operated.

Meanwhile, Mr. Yinka Akande, representing Dangote Group at the meeting stated that a truck park was part of the plan for the refinery, adding that the company was ready to build its own park until the state government dissuaded the company, claiming that government had decided to establish truck parks to service all operations in the Lekki Free Trade Zone.

Financial Vanguard also learnt that Akande insinuated that the invitation to Dangote Group for the meeting was an after-thought because it only got the notice less than 48 hours before the meeting adding, however, that because the group has respect for constituted authorities, it had to find its way round constraints by getting a high executive to discard all other pre-scheduled engagements to attend the meeting.

He stated further: “Dangote Group is desirous of the call-up system but we have a problem about the sequencing of activities and where the priority seems to be.

“A precursor activity happened before your regime, before you came into power,” apparently referring to present government under Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Financial Vanguard learnt that initial discussions between Lagos State and Dangote on construction of truck parks started during the regime of Akinwunmi Ambode as state governor.

Akande further stated: “We have already acquired a 33-hectare piece of land in the vicinity for the purpose of building a modern truck park but the governor dissuaded us from that, saying, “don’t worry, the state government is in participation with some private entity and we are going to put a very standard truck park in place; all you need to do is to be off-takers’.

‘‘So the governor said, ‘concentrate on your construction of the refinery; This is logistics and logistics is not your core function, leave that to us’.

“We agreed. But years after, nothing happened, it has not materialized and that put us in a twist. And we started running helter-skelter wanting to identify where trucks would park because we do not want a repetition of what happened in Apapa and because we are a responsible organization.

“We have had so many meetings with Call Technologies team, promoters of the E-call-up system, and we have been ready to key into the project but where are the parks?

“We went to investigate the parks and we found out that the scale and scope of the parks were nowhere near what we require. We are talking about an operations that when it comes to peak of production, we will need 2,700 to 2,800 trucks per day.

“There are ten parks and the park with the highest capacity is 300 trucks, so we are more desirous of putting more efforts on the development of these parks and once they are ready, we will be very ready to be onboard the e-call-up match up within our system. We are very desirous to be part of this after everything has been put in place, but we do not seem to have seen that everything has been put in place. We may be wrong but that is our perception and that is why we have come today.”

Responding to Akande, Special Assistant to the Governor on Transportation, Mr. Sola Giwa, assured stakeholders that the call-up system is the best way to control and manage the influx of trucks into that axis, adding that government wants to ensure that both human and vehicular traffic have unfettered access to the roads

He stated: “We understand where you are coming from and we appreciate what Dangote has done and obviously, what is going to happen in that area is nothing compared to what happened to Apapa and Ijegun combined if we do not start the e-call-up system now.

“We understand very well that all the bolts and nuts should be in place, but I am coming from the experience of how we started late in Apapa several years after the ports were concessioned. So we are actually playing catch-up. We do not want to play catch-up, let us start; we know there will be teething problems; we have met with everyone here more than ten times. That is a government that is serious; we are showing that we are proactive but we know that we cannot coarse you into this; you have to be our willing partner to make this work and that is the reason why we are here to start the process.

“It took the intervention of Mr. Governor to bring Dangote and Flour Mills to come up to this stage. So what I am saying is that you will be onboard the e-call up. We know that you want to do 2,700 trucks per day and I hope you can imagine, based on the vehicular density of Lagos and the explosion of that place, what is going to happen if we do not put in place a process by which you can sequence these trucks into your facility for them to load.

“We have about ten truck parks and in total, they have over 2,000 capacity and there is room for expansion’’.

In his additional comment, Osiyemi disclosed that Dangote is the only company that has not complied with the e-call-up because of the issue they raised.

He further disclosed that there was a stalemate between Dangote and the State Government on the e-call-up system earlier, a development which according to him made the project to be suspended.

He said that trucks will be as much as 15 kilometres away from the port corridor and can only come in when they are needed.

He further explained that the government is also in talks with a private company that will be taking containers via waterways.

He said: “We are not just looking at the land, we are looking at a multi-modal system. We are having a high level discussion with a private company that will take containers via water to reduce the stress on the road.”

Trucks already killing people

Also speaking at the meeting, Chairman of the Ibeju–Lekki Local Government Area, Mr. Sesan Olowa, lamented incessant accidents that has led to the death of people of the council area and supported the call for all stakeholders to be on the e-call-up platform with a view to controlling and managing vehicular movements in the Lekki port corridor.

Olowa stated: “A few months ago, a truck ran into a hospital destroying properties and killing people. We cannot continue to have these trucks move around the Council without proper monitoring.

“Honestly, the call-up system has to start almost immediately because we are not enjoying the current traffic situation in that axis. Everybody is focused on the money to be made and nobody care about the people in the locality.

“We have seen situation where truck ran into the General Hospital and killed people; we have had cases where tankers loaded with gas fell on the roads and these companies do not even care.

“As we plan ahead of the commencement of the call-up system, please I urge you all to consider safety and security of the people of Ibeju-Lekki.

“Most times, the speed of the trucks is not regulated and they drive anyhow and cause accidents; so for us this is a major concern.

“With proper enforcement, there will be sanctions and convictions because of the caliber of these drivers; most of them are young people that cannot be controlled; they misbehave. So there is a need for a proper enforcement to be put in place.

“The general perception of the people around that axis is that, there is so much happening around there and so little or nothing coming to them by way of opportunities and benefits.

‘‘I cannot put all on you, but what I am trying to say is that, we must come up with some form of framework to see how the people can also be integrated into that value chain.”

Speaking on the issue, Mr. Daniel Odibe, Deputy Managing Director of Lekki Deep Seaport, said that the Standard Operating Procedures, SOPs, must be defined and made available to all stakeholders operating in the Free Trade Zone.

We’re not yet on same page – Truck owners

The National President of the National Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO, Mr. Yusuf Lawal, said that one grey area that is yet to be cleared is the issue of the fee payable for the call-up service.

Lawal said that most members of NARTO have not been informed as to how much is to be paid adding that a lot more sensitization and awareness need to be created so that every stakeholder are on the same page.