TTP spends N4bn on Eto gridlock management system at Apapa, Tin Can ports

…Company plans to integrate system into the National Single Window platform

Truck Transit Parks Ltd (TTP), which developed and operates the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA)’s electronic truck call-up system ‘Eto’ (Yoruba for arrangement or order), designed to clear up perennial congestion around Apapa and Tin Can Island ports, says it has invested up to N4.2 billion into the system since launch in 2021.

Jama Onwubuariri, co-founder of TTP, who serves as its managing director, disclosed this on Thursday during a convening of stakeholders in Lagos, noting that an initial N2.4 billion was deployed within the first 20 months before and shortly after the system went live. But the investments so far would not be final.

Since launch, TTP said the Eto system has cut the cost of moving cargo by 65 percent and cut truck turnaround times to three days, saving weeks of usual delay and the country billions of dollars in annual revenue.

The company also reported that across 57 months of operations, the platform has processed over three million port and non-port truck journeys. This year, its operations have facilitated the entry of over 900,000 trucks into ports.

Read also: TTP calls for digital transformation of ECOWAS trade corridor

But it says its operations have come with its challenges due to several violations. “Drivers use either another person’s number plate, duplicate their own number plate, or even produce a number plate that does not exist and use it for the purpose of registering their vehicles or their trucks on ATOC,” Onwubuariri revealed.

He added that trucks sometimes swap plate numbers to bypass identity checks while truckers that lost original cargo to colleagues stall on port access routes, hunting for a replacement consignment, blocking the road already clogged with broken down vehicles. He said the 48-hour validity ticketing meant to reduce such occurrences gets circumvented through extortion and bribes when “money exchanges hands.”

The challenges intensify during the festive season when cargo volumes surge and the fix will not come easy nor cheap.

Onwubuariri said TTP has been awaiting regulatory approval since 2023 for a N200 million “tamper-proof” ‘E-tag’ that will “ensure that each truck has a digital identity that does not change.”

“The E-tag system will start from the park where the truck is coming from. Because if you have not entered a park that is meant for you to enter, the E-tag will prevent you from going to the next brigades and from coming to the next port.”

He said it utilises geotagging or geolocation to ensure that trucks have actually physically visited the park it was registered to. “You have to go into the park so that those who are ahead of you on the digital queue will also be ahead of you on the physical queue to get into the port. And when they are in, the road is free.” He assured that the tag will be issued at no fee.

Explaining the process to journalists, the director said that “the truck has a tag which reads off cameras and e-tag readers that are at the port gate. The driver comes, waits, the barrier opens because his tag is read against the tag reader, and he goes in.” He said the truck’s identity is maintained throughout its lifetime in the maritime business, “and you can use that Electronic Tagging System to enter multiple facilities.”

Read also: TTP plans to replicate Eto Call-up System across West Africa

The centerpiece of TTP’s reforms to fix the cracks is the E-call up Interchange Transaction Number (EITN), a digital lock that ties each cargo to one specific truck and creates a unique transaction ID that ensures terminals can only service the truck that originally booked that cargo.

Onwubuariri says it will stop cargo theft-by-substitution as a terminal cannot load cargo on any truck except the one invited. Even if a shipper tries to reroute a cargo last minute, the system won’t allow it.

“It means that even if the shipper brings a contrary instruction to the terminal operator, he knows that he needs to match the truck that originally booked that cargo with the pickup of the cargo. And then enforcement will ensure that that is done each time,” he said.

During a roundtable meeting with the Shipping Correspondents Association of Nigeria in Lagos, Onwubuariri also mentioned an e-column Interchange Transaction Log and the YAD traffic management solution planned for 2026.

Though he did not disclose how much the EITN project will cost, the director told BusinessDay that the company is ready to spend “as much as needed” to build the systems.

“Technology moves. As technology improves, we also have to improve.” He considers the initial N4.2 billion investment, planned as a five-year first phase, as profitable for the company’s shareholders but was not intended to be the end point.

“We were investing in the long term. We were not investing for five years because we know that what we were building is meant to last for a long time. So the first five years were meant to be a pilot phase. The core idea is that immediately this is successful in Lagos, we replicate it in other ports across the country,” he said.

Read also: TTP calls for digital transformation of ECOWAS trade corridor

“We are currently expanding to other states in Nigeria such as Cross-River, Abia, Kaduna, Bauchi and Yobe states. These are states we are currently in talks with. We will deploy ETO both as a traffic management and also as an infrastructure management solution to them. So, by next year more development will unfold,” he added.

In the first quarter of the year, the federal government plans to launch the National Single Window that will integrate all import and export processes. TTP says it also liaising with relevant agencies to integrate electronic trucking system into the platform.

As TTP’s license nears expiration, Onwubuariri said he has presented a request for a renewal and is optimistic, considering the impact that ETO has made over the years.

“Everything that needs to be done on our part for the license renewal has been done, because we have the performance indicators…The feedback we get is that it’s under review, so it’s not in our hands…The next step is with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).”

Bethel Olujobi reports on trade and maritime business for BusinessDay with prior experience reporting on migration, labour, and tech. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Mass Communication from the University of Jos, and is certified by the FT, Reuters and Google. Drawing from his experience working with other respected news providers, he presents a nuanced and informed perspective on the complexities of critical matters. He is based in Lagos, Nigeria and occasionally commutes to Abuja.

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