FIC (LAGOS STATE) — In a surprise enforcement operation aimed at cutting the cost of doing business at Nigeria’s busiest seaport, the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) on Thursday dismantled a network of illegal checkpoints and extortion hotspots along the Apapa port corridor.
Leading the operation, PEBEC Director-General Princess Zahrah Mustapha Audu said the move was part of government’s push to improve trade facilitation and restore order to port access routes long plagued by unofficial tolls.
“We cannot talk about improving Nigeria’s ease of doing business while allowing these illegal checkpoints to strangle trade at the ports,” Audu said during the raid. “This ends now”, she continued.
The operation targeted strategic choke points from Liverpool Bridge to TICT’s second gate and near the TICT computer facility, where officials said corrupt security personnel and port officials had been extorting hundreds of thousands of naira from truck drivers daily.
According to PEBEC, the sudden intervention caught many operatives off guard, with several fleeing and abandoning their posts as the team moved in. Illegal booths above and below the Liverpool Bridge were pulled down, while a Customs-occupied container suspected of facilitating extortion was shut down on the spot.
Audu said truck drivers would no longer be left to bear the burden alone. “If anyone stops you for illegal payment, blow the whistle immediately,” she told drivers at the scene. “We are empowering you to resist intimidation.”
The crackdown was carried out by a multi-agency task force comprising the Nigeria Police, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Customs Service, NDLEA, FRSC, and LASTMA. Similar extortion rings were cleared at PTML and Ports & Cargo terminals, while illegal toll points at NAGAFF Junction, Etisalat Roundabout, and Fidelity Roundabout were also dismantled.
The DG warned that legitimate security personnel at official posts would not be allowed to delay truckers under any guise. She also turned her attention to traffic indiscipline, noting that indiscriminate parking had worsened gridlock along the port access roads.
“Drivers and fleet owners must clear these access roads immediately,” Audu said. “Failure to comply will attract aggressive enforcement penalties.”
PEBEC said the operation would be sustained, with regular monitoring to prevent the resurgence of illegal checkpoints. The council noted that reducing port bottlenecks and eliminating unofficial payments were critical to lowering logistics costs and improving Nigeria’s competitiveness in regional trade.
The Apapa corridor has been a longstanding bottleneck for cargo evacuation, with traders and logistics operators citing extortion and congestion as key drivers of high import costs.
Dimaka Chioma
Deputy Director
Information/ Public Relations.
