Terminal operators under the auspices of the Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) has faulted claims by Kayode Opeifa, a former commissioner of Transport in Lagos State, that the poor utilisation of the rail line in cargo evacuation from the Lagos Port Complex, Apapa is caused by terminal operators.
Bolaji Akinola, the spokesman of STOAN, described Opeifa’s claim in a statement issued on Tuesday, as “baseless, libelous and highly misleading allegation,” against terminal operators that are not in charge of the train services.
BusinessDay can recall that railway, which was supposed to be a major mode of evacuating cargo from the port, is yet to take its pride of place in the nation’s logistics sector due to poor infrastructure in the area of rail track and good coaches.
“For the avoidance of doubt, terminal operators are not responsible for operating the train service in and out of the port. We are also sufficiently equipped to discharge and load all the ships, barges, trains and trucks that come to the port. We therefore urge the port community to disregard the claims credited to Opeifa,” Akinola said.
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According to Akinola, Opeifa has lost touch with the reality of the port system since the activities of the committee on traffic management, which he worked with, was disbanded by the Federal Government in 2020 after several complaints of inefficiency and alleged extortion by truck drivers.
“The truth is that Opeifa knows nothing about port operation or what is happening in the port. He is not a port or shipping expert. The only brief contact he had with the port was when he worked with a committee set up by the Federal Government to clear the gridlock on the port access road. That committee was dissolved more than a year ago by the government after several complaints of gross inefficiency and allegations of massive corruption leveled against it by truck drivers,” he stated.
Akinola however questioned the capacity of Opeifa, who is not a port operator or port user, to lay claim to knowing what is happening in the port.
“The committee that was set up to succeed the one Opeifa served on is doing a much better and professional job. Traffic management on the port access road has improved tremendously under the present committee than under the Opeifa committee. We advise Opeifa to mind his own business and not use his relevance-seeking propaganda to discredit terminal operators who are working very hard and making significant investments in the port,” he added.
