Multi-billion Naira Worth Of Goods Lost To Boko Haram – NURTW

…Says Over 100 Drivers, Motor Boys Slaughtered Along Maiduguri-Gamboru Road Alone

SAN FRANCISCO, June 04, (THEWILL) – The National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) on Thursday lamented the heavy loss incurred by its members due to the over five-year-old Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast.

The association said no fewer than 200 trucks with multi-billion naira worth of goods belonging to its members were destroyed by the insurgents.

More agonising, the association said, was the slaughtering of more than 100 drivers and motor boys by the gunmen along the Maiduguri-Gamboru road alone.

NURTW also lamented that presently, over 10 vehicles loaded with goods, including the drivers and motor boys are missing as they have been hijacked by the terrorists.

Chairman of the Borno Chapter of the NURTW, Heavy Truck section, Alhaji Ahmadu Musa, who made the disclosure at a media briefing in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, said efforts to secure the freedom of the abducted drivers and motor boys have not been successful so far.

His words : “It is barely 15 months today when the activities of the insurgents became worse in the North East particularly Borno State, the road from Maiduguri to Gamboru linking to our neighbouring countries Cameroon and Chad was closed.

“As a result of this unfortunate incident, business activities along this road were forced to die permanently which has today compounded the economic problems of the operators such as the National Union of Road Transport Workers, the transporters and the entire business communities.”

He maintained that the border closure, coupled with the seizure of their multimillion Naira worth of goods have led to total collapse and paralysis of their businesses of transporting, importing and exportung goods to neighbouring countries of Togo, Benin, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Ghana, among others.

While appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to consider their plight and come to their assistance, he urged the Federal Government to assist in facilitating the release of their abducted members as well as their vehicles and goods impounded by the Nigerian Custom Service (NCS) along the Lome/ Cotonou borders.

The NURTW chairman also urged the Federal Government to repair all federal roads in the country, especially the Kaduna-Mokwa-Ilorin-Jebba-Makera-Tegina federal roads, which, according to him, have become death traps.