LASTCOC Expresses Concerns over Incessant Hoodlums’ Attack on Truck Drivers

Gilbert Ekugbe

The Lagos State Truck and Cargo Operators Committee (LASTCOC) has condemned the unjustified and unwarranted extortion and assault on truck drivers in Lagos State by hoodlums.

The call came in the wake of an attack on a truck driver by hoodlums on the Mile 2 – Oshodi expressway at the weekend, which has left the driver hospitalised.

The Chairman of the committee, Lukman Shittu, while addressing journalists on the incident, said some toll-collecting thugs at Berger bus stop outwards Mile 2-Oshodi expressway last Saturday morning flagged down a loaded containerised truck to extort the driver.

 He said when the driver refused to stop, one of the thugs jumped onto the driver’s side and started dragging the steering with him, which made the truck swerve to the other side of the road and crashed into some vehicles parked on the road.

Shittu said as the driver made attempt to grab one of the hoodlums, he was stabbed from behind and was rushed to hospital.

He further stated that on December 5, 2023, at the exact spot, the same extortion hoodlums dragged steering with a driver leading to the falling of a truck and its loaded container, causing huge financial loss to the importer and the truck owner.

He said the “activities of these destructive and lawless hoodlums is killing transportation business in Lagos State, and discouraging foreign investors from investing in the transportation business.”

According to him, “These hoodlums damaged trucks, burgled containers in transit, collected money and assaulted the drivers, causing road accidents and traffic gridlock thereby making life unbearable for members of the public.”

Shittu said these hoodlums, “who are not adding any value to our economy apart from destruction have made the transport business environment in Lagos State so hostile for truckers to operate with their illegal multiple checkpoints in Mile 2, Lagos-Badagry expressway, Ikorodu, and other parts of the state.”

He said the marauding hoodlums on roads in Lagos State are potential threat to the domestication and deriving benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), as well as achieving the THEME agenda plus policy of the state Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s government in the area of transportation.

The chairman warned that the trucking community cannot continue to fold its arms and watch hoodlums under the guise working for the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW); Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), local governments and some individuals to be jeopardising the haulage business, import and export economy, revenue generation, trade facilitation and seamless evacuation of cargoes to and from the nation’s seaports in the state.

 “We are, therefore, calling on government at all levels, relevant stakeholders and those who wish well for the economy of Nigeria and Lagos State to rise and do the needful on the menace of hoodlums that are destroying our trucks, robbing our drivers, burgling containers in transit, blocking highways, causing traffic and ghastly accidents that have been claiming innocent lives and militating against the progress and stability of trucking business in Lagos State,” he said.