Following the failure of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and truck operators under the aegis of the Joint Council of Seaport Truckers (JCOST) to reach a consensus over the payment of N10,000 permit fee by the truckers, the leadership of the JCOST has decided to down tool and stay at home if the NPA insist on collecting the permit levy come Monday, 21st of March, 2016

JCOST which is a fusion of all the truckers association namely Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Truck Terminal Users Association, Truck Drivers Unit (TDU) of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) and Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO); have said that they will stop working if NPA does not rescind its decision.

According to the Chairman of JCOST, Kayode Odunowo, in an exclusive chat with our Correspondent, “we have tried our best to make the NPA see reasons why we cannot pay that amount. We have held several meetings but all has been deadlocked because they have refused to shift ground. Now, they have given us a deadline of March, 21, 2016 to pay or not be allowed to go inside the ports to lift cargoes.

“Since they have refused to see reasons with us, then we are also going to embark on a nationwide strike if we are not allowed to go inside the ports come 21st of March, 2016.”

It will be recalled that the management of the Western ports of the NPA early this month introduced the implementation of truck entry permit and also asked the truck drivers and owners to pay a fee of N10,000 before they could be allowed access to the port.

The Western ports of the NPA comprises of the two busiest ports in Nigeria, the Apapa ports and the Tin-Can Island Ports.

The NPA had initially shifted the deadline for the implementation of the policy from the 29th of February to 21st of March because according to the authority, the numbers of trucks that have complied with the N10,000 permit levy are not enough to lift the volume of cargoes that come in at the nations seaports.

The NPA had insisted on the permit levy following incessant falling of containers off the back of trucks along busy road inside and outside the ports.