Lagos petrol tanker drivers to boycott loading over N12,500 e-call up levy

Tanker drivers in Lagos State are set to boycott loading petroleum products from today, with claims that they cannot afford the E-Call Up system’s N12,500 per truck levy on the Lekki-Epe Corridor. The tanker drivers, under the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), are advocating for a N2,500 per-truck fee.

This development follows the planned enforcement of the E-Call Up system by the Lagos State Government in the Lekki-Epe axis on Monday. The system is designed to regulate the movement of articulated vehicles and tankers accessing the corridor, thereby easing traffic and preventing the kind of gridlock previously experienced in the Apapa area.

Speaking on Sunday, NARTO President Yusuf Othman said the association was still in talks with the Lagos State Government to allow its members to pay N2,500 per truck instead of N12,500.

“For now, we are still negotiating with the Lagos State Government. The N12,500 is too high. We recommended N2,500 from the beginning. Let’s see how it goes and if we can reach an amicable resolution. But if the government does not agree, our boys will not go and load tomorrow,” he said.

Also Read: Freight forwarders demand ETO call-up review amid extortions in sea port.

Amid the E-Call up enforcement, Truckers under the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) also warned that the enforcement of the e-call up regime will only be successful if it is not geared towards revenue generation. 

According to the Chairman of AMATO, Chief Remi Ogungbemi, the system should be used to ensure sanity and orderliness, thereby easing the cost of doing business within the corridor.

“In view of the following increases around Lekki-Epe corridor which includes:- infrastructures, Vehicular movements, Population’s etc, Electronic system of admitting Trucks into the area is the best, but it shouldn’t be used as an avenue for revenue generation,” he said.

Ogungbemi noted that any cost that’s going to be attached shouldn’t be borne by truckers, but by the industries the trucks are servicing. He explained that industries like the Lekki Port, Dangote Petrochemicals Refinery, and others should bear the cost of the e-call up system as they are meant to make provision for trucks patronising them.

“The congestion in Lekki needs government intervention, but not for truckers or Petroleum tanker drivers to pay for the failure to do so. If this issue is not well managed by the Lagos State Government, it might lead to withdrawal of services by truckers around the Lekki axis,” he added.

In implication, truckers warned that they might be forced to hike haulage cost or withdraw their services from the $1.5 billion Lekki Deep seaport and the $19 billion Dangote Petrochemicals Refinery,  both operating in the Lekki corridor.

E-Call Up: What the government is saying 

In a related development, the Lagos State Government has reinstated the electronic call-up system implementation, from Monday, June 16, 2025 is due to mounting traffic pressure caused by the increasing volume of articulated trucks along the Lekki Epe corridor. 

In a statement released on Sunday by the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, the enforcement of a technology-driven system is due to the increase in the number of trucks plying the Lekki axis. The Ministry revealed that between 360 and 400 Trucks currently ply the corridor daily.

“We currently have between 360 and 400 trucks operating in the corridor daily, but projections show that the number could increase significantly — with Dangote Refinery alone capable of dispatching 3,000 to 4,000 trucks once operations reach full capacity,” part of the statement reads.

Also defending the levy, the Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, Olawale Musa, noted that the N12,500 was not going into government funds. He explained that the fee is meant to recover the finances spent on the facility built for drivers in the Lekki axis to avert gridlocks and environmental pollution.

In addition, Olawale said that the E-Call Up system was built by a private investor and urged drivers to obey rules and regulations to prevent the Lekki-Epe axis from turning into the old Apapa road.