By Uzor Odigbo
Truck owners under the auspices of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) Kirikiri Lighter Terminal (KLT) Phase 1, has embarked on a peaceful protest over a seven-day eviction notice by the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) for them to vacate premises once managed and developed by them.
The holding bay has the capacity to accommodate a total of 100 trucks and has been under the care of the association for close to two decades.
The facility it was gathered belong to management of the NPA but was handled over to the association due to the congestion that occurred at KLT in time past; for them help assist to decongest the terminal.
The Quit Notice from NPA reads : ” All Trespassers on this land are hereby given seven days notice from 27th January, 2021 to quit with their possessions .
“Defaulters will be prosecuted and properties found will be confiscated; Order by NPA management.
But reacting on the development , members of the association explained that the facility has been given to them by management of the NPA for over a decade.
Speaking at the peaceful protest held at the complex, Chairman of the Association, KLT chapel ,Comrade Peter Eze expressed disappointment on the sudden U-turn by management of the NPA over the facility, saying that series of letter were written in time past to develop the holding bay as proposed in the master plan.
Eze reiterated that former officials of the NPA had given the association the assurances of sustaining the facility adding that the sudden eviction notice came as a shock and surprise to members of the association.
The Chapel Chairman who frowned at management of NPA action’s , disclosed that the short notice for truckers to vacate the holding bay without proper consultation with members, does not go down too well with the operators and may likely seek court injunction if not properly managed by the authority.
Though , he expressed high hopes of sustaining the garage pointing out that the association has a robust working relationship with management of NPA for over two decades.
“We will do our best to ensure that we sustain this facility. We have engaged the Chief Estate Officer of NPA and he had assured us that we will manage the place only for us to see the quit notice last week.
“The word Trespassers is what am not comfortable with because we have spent millions of naira to develop this facility and I don’t think it’s proper for NPA to carry out such actions.”
Also speaking, Coordinator of the protest and former Secretary RTEAN KLT Phase 1 Chapel, Comrade Godwin Ikeji lamented that despite several letters written to the management of NPA for the association to maintain and upgrade the facility, they chose to act evict the truckers from the facility.
Ikeji maintained that there must have been some foul play along the line for the highest bidder to take possession of the facility.
He added that the issue about garage eviction had been reported to the state union of RTEAN
