By BON PETERS, Port Harcourt

The Eastern Zone of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, has described the call by the Association of Maritime Truck Owners, AMATO, for the introduction of the E-Call up system at the Eastern ports as misguided and a distraction from Lagos failures.

In a press statement made available to our correspondent Friday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and jointly signed by the Zonal Coordinator East, of ANLCA, Mr. Joshua Ahuama and the Association's Zonal Secretary, Dr. Mrs. Chinyere Okere, noted: "We have observed with deep concern the recent publication in Punch Online Newspaper, where Mr. Adeshina, Head of Research and Technical at the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), was quoted as calling for the deployment of an e-call up system in Eastern Ports."

The statement continued," While industry stakeholders welcome constructive discourse, Mr. Adeshina?s suggestion is not only ill-informed, but a stark misrepresentation of operational realities in Nigeria?s Eastern maritime corridor.

The statement insisted that, "ironically, Mr. Adeshina himself concedes that Onne Port is not congested and completely negates the rationale for an E-call up system whose primary function is to manage congestion."

The statement went further, to posit that ?applying a Lagos-style intervention to a region that has no such challenge is a classic case of "if it isn't broken, don?t fix it."

The statement added that the E- call-up system in Lagos was borne out of emergency traffic chaos and systemic collapse, not as a model of operational excellence, noting that despite five years of implementation under Mr. Adeshina?s watch, Lagos ports have continued to struggle with "Chronic traffic gridlock, Corruption and multiple layers of extortion; inefficient access to terminals and severe dwell-time delays that cost the economy billions."

The statement queried: "If the E-call up system is truly functional, Lagos should be the showcase?not a warning label."

The statement also maintained that in contrast, Eastern Ports including WACT, OMT, INTELS, Brawal among others have continued to maintain discipline, orderliness, and efficient cargo evacuation, using their own fit-for-purpose truck management systems.

Maintaining that these terminals support critical oil and gas logistics, transit trade to landlocked areas, and project cargoes?all requiring flexibility, speed, and reliability."

The zone, according to the statement, reiterated that superimposing a rigid Lagos-style digital queuing model on such high-value and specialized operations would be disruptive, counterproductive, and economically hazardous.

The statement therefore advised that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) should focus on areas that need attention rather than force uniformity where it made no sense and urgently prioritize fixing and maintaining Port access roads in the Eastern corridor, including critical link roads like Eleme-Onne axis of East/West Road, addressing freight imbalance between Lagos and Eastern Ports, which hikes transportation costs and inflates market prices in the South-East and South-South, reducing the national over-dependence on Lagos ports, which is a risk to national security and economic resilience.

The statement also said that the use of Eastern Ports should be encouraged by correcting the artificially high freight premium imposed by shipping lines among others due to decades of policy bias.

They argued that it should be of national concern that the combined cargo throughput of all Eastern Ports is still less than 40%, despite their enormous infrastructural capacity, decrying the lopsidedness in national logistics which according to them undermined competitiveness and puts undue strain on Lagos, while states like Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Cross River, and Akwa Ibom are underutilized despite their coastal advantages.

They further stressed that the key Maritime logistics in the East support oil production and servicing, Agricultural exports, manufacturing, and trans-African trade routes, saying: "These ports require infrastructural investment and policy incentives, not hasty imposition of ill-fitting traffic solutions."

They insisted thus: ?We strongly advise Mr. Adeshina to redirect his advocacy efforts toward fixing the persistent failures of the Lagos corridor, and not undermine the relatively efficient operations of the Eastern Ports" Noting that " uniformity for its own sake is not progress but Freight uniformity to Port Harcourt and Onne should be advocated by NPA while reduction in NPA Tariff for Eastern ports to make Eastern Ports competitive is of great importance."

They opined that "what Nigeria needs is regional optimization based on realities, strengths, and strategic economic objectives" Even as they called on "policymakers, industry regulators, and development partners to treat the Eastern Port Corridor not as a periphery but as a vital component of Nigeria?s economic security architecture" insisting that "the future of Nigerian port operations lies not in cloning Lagos, but in building a balanced, efficient, and integrated national Port system that works for all zones," the statement maintained.

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