In a video seen on TikTok, the drivers were heard saying they pay a staggering N700,000 in bribes to various security checkpoints along the route.
Nigerian truck drivers plying Adamawa State through to Cross River States route have lamented the rampant extortion by security agencies, including the Nigerian Army and the police.
In a video seen on TikTok, the drivers were heard saying they pay a staggering N700,000 in bribes to various security checkpoints along the route.
They explained that Nigerian Army personnel were collecting N3000 per movement, while the policemen collected N2000 at their checkpoint.
“From Adamawa to Calabar, you can spend up to N700,000 before you reach where you are going. For produce, you can spend like N300,000,” one of the drivers said.
He continued, “There are plenty checkpoints on the road, particularly in Port Harcourt, Kogi and Benue. All those checkpoints, the army collects N3000 per truck at each checkpoint. Police demand N2000. Before we used to pay army N2000 but now they have increased their money to N3000.
“For produce, they collect like N50,000, N30,000, or N20,000 depending on the location. It is not easy for us regarding the extortion.
“So to move from Adamawa to Calabar, we normally spend N700,000 before we reach where we are going. The money is for Army, Police and the produce people,” he added.
The truck drivers who majorly move food items from the northern region to the southern part of the country said these extortions are among the factors responsible for inflation in the country.
“We have to make a profit and this is why we also put these charges on the products we are transporting,” the driver said.
Operators of trucks logistics within the Lagos seaports had also indicated in 2023 that they spend about N40 million everyday on bribery and illegal taxes within the corridor.
An official of the Council for Maritime Transport Unions and Associations (COMTUA) revealed this to newsmen, saying the syndicates collecting the monies represent both state and non-state actors.
He said the total average spending per truck per day amounts to about N38,500 while their members move over 1000 trucks through the ports every day.
Giving a breakdown of the monies extorted from them he said that a fee of N3,000 is paid at the Tin-Can First Gate roundabout while N2,000 known as waybill fee is collected by people alleged to be working for the Apapa Local Government Area, a claim the Council has denied.
He also said that another N5000 is collected by some operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service inside the port while N1000 is given to other set of Customs personnel at the Customs exit gate.
VIDEO: Truck Drivers Lament Paying N700,000 As Bribes Daily At Army, Police Checkpoints pic.twitter.com/kB3o6pLZlV
— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) October 29, 2024