By By Bon Peters
Port Harcourt, Nigeria — The Eastern Zone of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has strongly criticized the call by the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) for the deployment of an electronic call-up system at Onne Port, describing the proposal as “misguided” and a distraction from persistent failures in Lagos port operations.
In a press statement issued Friday in Port Harcourt, and jointly signed by the Zonal Coordinator, Mr. Joshua Ahuama, and Zonal Secretary, Dr. (Mrs.) Chinyere Okere, ANLCA described AMATO’s call as ill-informed and a stark misrepresentation of the actual conditions in Nigeria’s Eastern port corridor.
“We have observed with deep concern the recent publication in Punch Online where AMATO’s Head of Research and Technical, Mr. Adeshina, called for the deployment of an e-call up system in Eastern Ports,” the statement began.
ANLCA argued that such a system, originally introduced in Lagos to address severe traffic congestion, is wholly unnecessary in the East, where ports such as WACT, OMT, INTELS, and Brawal operate with orderliness and efficiency.
“Mr. Adeshina himself concedes that Onne Port is not congested,” the statement noted, “which completely negates the rationale for implementing an e-call up system whose core objective is congestion management.”
The group emphasized that the Lagos version of the e-call up system was born out of emergency traffic chaos and has not delivered operational excellence. “If the Lagos model was truly a success, the ports there would be a showcase—not a cautionary tale,” the statement said, citing ongoing issues such as gridlock, corruption, and extortion in the Lagos port corridor despite the system’s introduction five years ago.
ANLCA maintained that the Eastern ports—critical to oil and gas logistics, transit trade, and specialized cargoes—require flexible and reliable truck management tailored to their unique operations, not the imposition of a rigid Lagos-style model.
They urged the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to prioritize meaningful interventions such as the rehabilitation of critical access roads like the Eleme-Onne section of the East-West Road, addressing freight cost disparities between Lagos and the Eastern ports, and correcting decades-long policy bias that disadvantages the region.
“It is a national economic concern that the combined cargo throughput of all Eastern ports remains below 40%, despite massive infrastructural capacity,” the statement lamented, citing the underutilization of ports in Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Cross River, and Akwa Ibom states.
The association further stressed the need for infrastructural investment and policy incentives in the Eastern corridor to support vital sectors such as oil production, agriculture, and trans-African trade.
“We strongly advise Mr. Adeshina to redirect his advocacy toward solving the persistent failures of the Lagos corridor rather than undermining the relative efficiency of Eastern ports,” the statement added.
In conclusion, ANLCA called for regional port optimization based on operational realities and economic goals, rather than a one-size-fits-all solution. “The future of Nigeria’s port operations lies not in cloning Lagos, but in building a balanced, integrated national port system that serves every zone effectively,” they declared.
