Haulage operators in the country have bemoaned the increasingly high cost of operating amid bad roads and insecurity challenges.
The operators, therefore, urged the governments at all levels to improve on the necessary infrastructure, particularly roads for the betterment of the citizenry.
Founder of Associated Bus Company (ABC) Transport Plc, Frank Nneji, said this during the yearly conference and exhibition organised by Haulage and Logistics Magazine in Lagos, stating that the biggest distraction to the haulage business was the government.
Due to bad roads, he said purchasing a brand new N100 million truck would in less than 18 months look like a dilapidated truck. Speaking on the theme: “Employer/Contractor Relationship in a Difficult Operating Environment”, the Managing Director, Logistixone Nigeria Limited, Stephen Opayemi, lamented that the impact of the haulage services on the Nigerian economy was grossly underestimated and undervalued.
Noting that the sector has historically been the key driver of economies, unfortunately, he said for Nigeria, it is one of the most negatively impacted and about the least resilient sector, especially, when there is an economic challenge.
He stressed that the fluctuation of the naira has hit the sector directly, vis-a-vis the high cost of diesel.
According to him, despite the growth and significant investment in the sector in the last few years, the current economic and regulatory conditions have made things extremely difficult for the haulage sector.
The challenges, he said have led to a significant increase in operating costs, shrinking margins, insecurity, infrastructure decays and a lot of uncertainty about the future of the sector.
The convener, HAULMACE, Alfred Okugbeni, said the current global economic downturn coupled with conflicts in different parts have resulted in challenges in global supply chains with attendant cost of living crisis and increasing unstable cost of doing business.
All these, he said have led to very significant challenges in the cargo delivery sector.
For the haulage and logistics industry, Okugbeni said there was need for stakeholders to engage more than ever before, to manage the employer/contractor relationship in a difficult operating environment for sustainable and continued partnership.
