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In its drive to deepen efficiency at Nigerian Ports, Trucks Transit Parks Ltd has promised to revolutionise operations through continuous technology and infrastructure upgrades, smarter data use, and stronger enforcement collaboration.
The company made the disclosure during a media chats held in Lagos, stressing its resolve to expanding technology footprint with e-tags, RFID and AI-driven compliance systems that will improve traffic control, security, and safety standards.
Jama Onwubuariri, Managing Director, Trucks Transit Parks Ltd, during his keynote address at the conference, highlighted the achievements of the company, noting that over three million truck trips were successfully scheduled through Ètò since inception, thereby enabling drastic reduction in gridlock and improvement in truck and cargo turnaround time.
According to him; “We are here to discuss pressing challenges in our sector, and to seek your continued partnership in telling the story of transformation. The issues at stake are not abstract; they affect the cost of food on our tables, the competitiveness of our local businesses, and indeed the general welfare of the common man on the street.
“The maritime and logistics industry is the backbone of commerce in Nigeria. Unless you grow your own food, drill your own borehole or manufacture your own generator, 90% of the items we need daily would need to be delivered to us from somewhere else. In our case, in this country, most of these materials are imported.
“Every single day, about 2,000 trucks move through our Lagos ports and industrial corridors to pick up and drop off consumer and export cargo. But for over a decade leading up to 2021, this critical artery of trade has been clogged by problems we all know too well.”
Onwubuariri, said the sector has been face with the challenges such as perennial congestion on the access roads; inefficient cargo evacuation; safety lapses, bad roads and substandard trucks; racketeering and middlemen distorting pricing and processes among others.
“Trucks Transit Parks (TTP) introduced the Ètò electronic call-up system in 2021. Our vision was simple: to transparently combine innovative technology, infrastructure and stakeholder collaboration to solve a problem that had become almost “normalised.”
“When the then Governor-Elect, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, called in March 2019 to ask about how our company can solve the Apapa traffic situation, it was difficult to see into the future transformation that this initiative would go on to have on Nigeria’s port efficiency, maritime operations improvement and quality of life for Apapa and Tincan residential and commercial stakeholders. The decisiveness of the Lagos State Government and the vision of the Nigerian Ports Authority management have been invaluable.
“I am proud to say that Ètò has changed the narrative. Port roads, once infamous for unending gridlock, are now more orderly and predictable. Access to the ports is no longer based on who you know or how rugged your boys are, but on a pre-set, transparent, technology-enabled process,” he said.
Onwubuariri said TTP is ready to collaborate with ECOWAS and support regional governments in deploying technology that will make seamless intra-African trade not just a vision, but a reality.
“Imagine if every ECOWAS country operated a harmonised port truck scheduling, rest stop, and electronic tolling system that supports the multiple currencies used in the region, how much faster goods would move, how much cheaper trade would become, and how much closer we would be to realising the promise of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). This roadmap is ambitious, but it is necessary if Nigeria is to remain competitive and if West Africa is to unlock its full trade potential,” he explained.