Abuja (Precise Post) – The main reason why the federal government through the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, (FMOWH) concessioned the truck park at the second gate of Tin-can Island port to a company belonging to former senator has been revealed.
It was gathered that the decision to concession the facility built by the ministry may not be unconnected with the illegal toll collection set up by some security agents, the Vanguard Maritime Report said.
A senior official of the Tin-can port told Vanguard Maritime Report that the port management faced a lot of challenges in its efforts to bring law and order to the place.
The staff said that initially the security operatives of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, that manned the facility traded accusations with officers of the Nigerian Police over extortion at the vicinity.
This, development, according to the source, resulted in handing over the security and traffic control function to the association of truckers, which allegedly brought sanity to the area with a queue system in orderly access in and out of the port.
However, he said this order was truncated when another queue known as the ‘DPO line’ was established outside the official line.
The source further disclosed that the port management had to take the matter to the Commissioner of Police, Maritime Command, before that second/illegal line was stopped.
According to the source: “The port is like a sugar field that will continue to attract ants because it is owned by government, therefore control is difficult. The problem at the port cannot be isolated from the fact that it is a government facility. The Police gave us a lot of problems, but thank God that facility has been concessioned.
“The former senator has deployed his company’s security personnel to man both gates of the facility. There is some level of control and sanity there now and we are very happy about it because, in the first place, the facility does not belong to NPA.”
Confirming the development, the concessionairing firm said that the Ministry of Transport gave them the consultancy to manage the truck park adding that the firm has also done presentation to the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA. (Vanguard).
