Truck drivers and importers have raised the alarm over alleged multiple extortion from louts and area boys on port access road and Lagos state roads.
The area boys, according to the importers, inflict hardship on the truck owners and truck drivers by making life and business difficult for them.
Speaking on the menace, truck owners, Dike Ekene Collins, said that truckers are in hell, adding that those in the trucking business in the country are suffering and going through a lot in the hands of none-state actors in the state.
"I want to go and drop a container, area boys are everywhere preventing the truck from accessing the terminal. They were demanding for N5000 from me, if not my truck will stay there, they will go and call Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA), to come to tow it away. Non state actors are controlling everything in this country, nobody is saying anything or doing anything about it.
He said the non-state actors now demands new naira note or they will give truckers their account details to pay money, saying there are a lot of extortion everywhere.
"I even have the receipt of the ones we paid yesterday. There are receipts of N13,000, N20,000 like that. Extortion everywhere even in Apapa road and port axis. There is no where a truck will spoil in Lagos state even if you cleared well that area boys gather you to pay."
money ranging from N20000 to N50000.
He said sometimes if a trucker couldn't meet the touts' demand, they would threaten with LASTMA or police, lamenting the harrowing experience truckers are experience drivers pass through everyday.
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"Due to this problem, 65 per cent of trucks are not working. Even seven of my trucks are parked right now. The small ones that are working, are being harassed by area boys who are not allowing us to work and extorting us here and there. We have been milked by these tugs and nobody is doing anything about it.
"We have three major problems in the maritime industry. The first one is the federal government. We have Federal Ministry of Transport, which is under federal government. Then we have the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), which is under Federal Ministry of Transport," he lamented.
"I will give you an example, when we were having issues, when everywhere was filled up with trucks. The problem is not from us, it was just three problems, which include the roads, the management of empty containers and the problem of terminals. That was what the problem in the past.
"Another problem is the Lagos state government . We have been extorted, stripped naked by the state government traffic law. We can't even pay our children school fees, change brake pads and maintain our container hooks. Nobody cares about the financial situation of truckers," he lamented.
