Nigerian Govt sets up joint ministerial committee over harassment of truck drivers

The Federal Government has constituted a five-man joint ministerial committee to address the ongoing harassment of maritime truck owners.

The committee, which includes representatives of the Federal Ministry of Transportation and the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, has been given the mandate to mediate, address and proffer remedies to challenges faced by the Association of Maritime Truck Owners.

The members of the committee are: Permanent Secretary of Marine and Blue Economy, Oloruntola Olufemi as Chairman and his counterpart of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, Adeleye Adeoye as Co-Chairman.

The Director Legal Services, Pius Oteh, is the Secretary while the Director, Road Transport and Mass Transit Administration, Musa Ibrahim, and Director, Maritime Services, Babatunde Sule, are members.

The committee is expected to submit its findings and recommendations to the minister within two weeks.

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The Minister of Transportation, Senator Said Alkali, announced this on Wednesday when he received a delegation of the National Executive of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) and the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) in Abuja.

Alkali explained that the meeting and constitution of the joint committee became imperative following correspondence from the unions on their intent to embark on a nationwide strike due to unabated destruction of trucks, brutalisation of truck drivers, illegal tariffs, amongst others by various associations and groups.

On her part, a member of the Board of Trustees (BOT), AMATO, Folake Soji-George while presenting the union’s position, stated that challenges faced by the association informed the unanimous decision of maritime trucking stakeholders to withdraw services to press home their demand.

Also, the Executive Secretary of NARTO, Aloga Ogbogo said the body has highlighted the excessive towing practices by the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and also raised concerns of increasing intimidation, harassment, brutalisation and killings of truck drivers.