• Schedules over 3m truck trips at Lagos Ports

By Steve Agbota

The Trucks Transit Parks’ (TTP) Limited on Wednesday said that the deployment of the electronic call-up system to manage traffic along the port corridors has saved the maritime sector an estimated N2.5 trillion ($1.7 million) and reduced the cost of moving cargo across the country by 65 per cent.

Since its inception, the system has also processed 3.2 million port and non-port truck movements.

Speaking during a media parley in Lagos, on the milestone achieved in the 54 months of operations, the Managing Director, Trucks Transit Parks (TTP) Limited, Jama Onwubuariri, said truck turnaround time has also been slashed from weeks to just two or three days, easing supply chain pressures.

He said with gridlock stretching from Apapa to Maryland and Cele Express, logistics costs surged by as much as 450 per cent, stifling competitiveness for exporters and import-dependent businesses alike.

He said beyond traffic management, the platform has successfully integrated with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Nigeria Export Proceeds (NXP) system to streamline export processes, while introducing direct fund payments to enhance transparency.

Looking beyond Nigeria, Onwubuariri noted that TTP has its sights set on regional integration, revealing that during a recent strategic tour across ECOWAS countries, from Abidjan to Ouagadougou and Monrovia, he encountered similar inefficiencies along trucking routes.

He said the company is ready to partner with regional governments and ECOWAS institutions to deploy scalable logistics technology that will drive seamless intra-African trade.

He explained that the company introduced a dual-code system comprising visible and invisible codes linked to each booking, which has helped reduce stolen tickets to less than 0.5 per cent across transactions.

On the payments side, he said the feature has significantly reduced failed transactions, cutting them from a peak of 10 per cent to below one per cent.

He said another major innovation is the Electronic Control Module (ECM) version 2, which syncs with TTP’s parking system and IoT-enabled barriers to ensure only authorised trucks access restricted areas.

He said the upgrade improved barrier uptime and efficiency by more than 80 per cent while making it easier for users to track their parking zones.

Giving the firm’s operational milestones and future plans, the Head of Corporate Development, Richard Emenim, said before Etò’s deployment in 2021, the gridlock crisis reached city-wide proportions, choking major Lagos roads from Apapa to Surulere and driving cargo evacuation costs up by as much as 550 per cent for cars and 450 per cent for trucks.

He cited a 2018 Lagos Chamber of Commerce study, which estimated that the economy was losing N2.5 trillion yearly due to congestion at the ports.

“Truckers often spent two to three weeks waiting for access, paying between N500,000 and N700,000 in bribes just to move cargo. Manufacturers struggled to repatriate goods, while oil and gas evacuation also faced delays—costs that were ultimately passed on to consumers through higher prices.

“Today, cargo is being cleared faster, manufacturers have regained efficiency, and transporters are back in business without crippling bottlenecks,” he said.

Beyond efficiency, Emenim said the system has created 225 direct jobs and more than 700 indirect jobs within the logistics ecosystem.

He said the company has conducted research across more than 25 states and identified traffic management challenges in major trading hubs such as Jigawa and Cross River, which serves as a gateway for trucks from Chad and Cameroon.

He further added that the company plans to develop a network of logistics hubs nationwide, offering gated facilities where truckers can park, refuel (including CNG options), rest in hostels, and access recreational and repair facilities.

The General Manager, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), TTP Limited, Olaoluwa Olorunda, said the company has also deployed over 170 customer experience features, including DirectFund, a seamless booking and payment solution that has eliminated chargeback issues and delays in transaction processing.