Amid Nigeria’s grapple with subsidy pains, The Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) has decried the unbearable cost of operation which has made them operate continuously at a loss. They threaten to suspend operations by Monday.
The National president of the association, Alhaji Yusuf Lawal Othman, in a press statement issued from Abuja said that NARTO’s efforts at getting intervention of key stakeholders in the federal government and industry to help tackle the high costs of operations has not yielded positive results.
Othman said what was spent in the cost of operations is more than what they get in return. While emphasizing that the Association had endured for months, he shared that the same rate offered for freight services during former President Mohammadu Buhari’s tenure is what is still offered, even with the geometric fall of the naira since then.
He said “Everybody is aware that all our consumables in terms of operation are not produced in the country. So, by virtue of the rate of dollars, every consumable has increased. But the freight they are paying us has been the same even during Buhari’s time.
“So how is that feasible? During Buhari’s time, the dollar was N650. Today, the dollar is now N1,615. The average freight from Lagos to Abuja is N32.”
Explaining further, he said “What I mean by local, you load Lagos, you discharge in Lagos. And bridging, you load from Lagos, you come to Abuja. Lagos to Lagos, we are paid N120,000. AGO alone to distribute fuel within Lagos is N140,000 because it is N1,400 per litre.
So, they give you N120,000 and you spend N140,000. So, how do you want to operate? “Talk less about the cost of vehicles, cost of loading, driver’s allowance. That is for local. For bridging Lagos to Abuja, they gave us N32.
“If you have a truck of 40,000 litres, you are talking of N1,280,000-N1,216,000. Less 5% of the amount of N1,280,000 Withholding Tax N64,000. Less 55,000 loading expenses and 15,000 driver allowance. Total expenses N134,000 while balance is N1,146,000. AGO is N1400 for 900 litres, totalling N1260,000.
There is a total loss of N114,000. The diesel that you use from Lagos to Abuja is 900 litres. So when you use 900 litres at 1,400, that will be N1,260,000. So it is by far more than what are paid.” He explained
While he revealed the association’s decision to stop services, Othman added that he has written severally to the Chief of Staff, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Director general, Department of State Services (DSS), Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) Chief executive officer, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) group chief executive officer and marketers.