The Delta State Seaports’ Stakeholders Association has debunked report of illegal collection of an unreceipted N4,000 levy from truck operators at the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), Warri by its host communities.
Reacting to the report headlined: ‘NPA Helpless as Warri Indigenes Kill Delta Ports with N4,000 Illegal, Un-receipted Fee Collections At Port Gates”, the Chairman of the association, Mr. Emiko Oghomienor, at a news conference in Warri, explained that the said amount was agreed upon in the last week of March 2024, by the concerned unions.
According to him, the agreement was between the ‘Mother Union’, where flour is offloaded inside the port (flour mill) and the leadership of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Warri South Council, as well as Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO).
Mr. Emiko noted that the NPA Warri host communities have no direct business with the collection of levy from truck operators, going in and out of the Warri Port.
He added that the initial levy of N2,000 that was increased to N4,000, was spilt between NURTW, NUPENG, Warri South Council and NARTO.
Oghomienor, who doubles as the State Treasurer of NARTO, posited: “If anybody is to object to the increment, it should be the leadership of the unions that agreed to pay the N4,000, not anybody to come and indict the host communities, making the general public to feel that Warri Port is not conducive for business.”
