The management of Truck Transit Park Limited, has stated that the Nigerian economy will bleed if the platform (TTP) is withdrawn from the port.
The Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of TTP, Mr. Jama Onwubuariri, stated this at the weekend while addressing some journalists in Apapa, Lagos.
He stressed that TTP has done what it is supposed to do as contained in the contract agreement.
Onwubuariri maintained that the company is not bothered about the renewal of the contract, stressing that as a technology company, TTP can operate anywhere.
“Our job is to make sure that those things that are in our contract to do, we have done. And then the requests that our contract requires us to do are also done. So the next step is with the Nigerian Ports Authority.
“And frankly, NPA should be more interested in renewal than we are ourselves. We are a technology company. We can work anywhere in the world. But the service we are rendering has become such a critical aspect of the port process that if you pull it out, you are going to bleed. And the Nigerian economy is not ready for that,” Onwubuariri said.
He reiterated that the company has concluded plans to extend its services to other states in the country.
“So originally the work we are doing in Lagos was meant to be a pilot project. And the understanding was that it takes off immediately in Lagos and is successful, then we will replicate that in other ports. But we understand that there are other interests.
“And the management of NPA has also changed. So sometimes priorities change. So we are not bothered about that. We have opportunities to work in so many other states,” he stated.
Onwubuariri, however, commended the NPA for the opportunity to implement the platform in Lagos. “So we are actually happy for the opportunity to have experimented with this in Lagos. It provides a platform to do it as well,” he stated.
The TTP boss stressed that between 2021 till date, “Our agri-exports have increased by over 464 per cent from Nigeria to other countries. And since we earn foreign currency when we export from here, then that is a huge revenue for Nigeria.”
“Another way it has impacted port operations is that the number of, the volume of cargo that is now treated by these same ports has increased from what it was before. Because trucks are coming faster. And we are also working with the terminal operators to improve their own speed,” he stated.
He pointed out that since the coming on board of Eto, the cost of haulage has reduced. “And when the cost of haulage reduces, the goods that are being carried, their prices will also be impacted,” he mentioned.
The Electronic Call-Up System, also known as ‘Eto’, was launched to address severe truck congestion around major Nigerian seaports, especially at Lagos ports.
By scheduling truck movement digitally, NPA aims to control entry into port complexes, reduce unauthorised access, and improve the efficiency of cargo evacuation. It is part of a broader modernisation and automation agenda by the NPA.
The NPA entered a partnership with TTP under a public-private partnership arrangement to develop and manage an electronic call-up system. TTP would supply the technology platform and manage truck transit parks, while NPA would regulate and enforce the system for port access.
The system, named “Eto,” is effectively a scheduling, booking, and access-control platform for trucks doing business at the Lagos ports. Under the agreement, trucks are required to park at approved and staffed truck parks managed by TTP. From there, trucks are “called up” in batches into the ports when their cargo or containers are ready to be loaded or unloaded. The formal rollout by NPA was announced in 2021.
There is clearly an ongoing debate within the industry about whether the TTP–Eto agreement should be continued. This implies there is a potential or proposed renewal under consideration.