Save us from touts extorting money from us, truck drivers beg government

Truck drivers operating along the Mile 2-Tin Can axis have appealed to both the Lagos State and federal governments to save them from the hands of touts who, they alleged, are extorting money from them on a daily basis.

The drivers also claimed that the touts who, they said, operate under the guise of being security operatives, were the cause of the gridlock in Apapa.

The spokesman of the drivers, Salami Ismail, said in a statement he issued yesterday that contrary to a petition being circulated on the social media, members of the Presidential Task Force should not be held liable for any gridlock in the axis.

Ismail said,  “A recent petition written by some disgruntled individuals is false and a deliberate attempt to slow down and stop the Presidential Task Force from its ongoing job of returning sanity to our Lagos ports access roads.

“The coming of the Task Force has put a stop to incidents of extortion and harassment against our members.

“It is worthy of note that the Task Force has succeeded in dismantling the criminal activities that constituted breaches to the federal government’s ease of doing business policy.

“Before the inauguration of the Presidential Task Force, these petitioners, who were active in the haulage sector as truck pushers, usually extorted money from truck owners to the tune of N150,000 per truck before they gave access to trucks to proceed to the ports.

“Investigations carried out by the Presidential Task Force corroborated the position of truck owners, hence the dismantling of the exploitative network of these truck pushers.”