- Dredgers: hike caused by inflation
Ikorodu-Ketu Truck Owners and Drivers Association, Lagos State have protested the incessant hike in the price of sharp sand by the Dredgers Association in Ikorodu, Lagos State.
The truckers lamented that the dredgers have increased the cost per tipper of sand within the last two months, a development that they said lacked logic.
Chanting solidarity songs and bearing placards with inscriptions such as “No More Price Increment’ and ‘Sharp Sand from N126,000 to N180,000”, the protesters who started a march at their operational base in Ikorodu, lamented that their customers were no longer patronising them following the price increments.
Chairman of the association, Sikiru Aderoju, said the dredgers had increased the price of sharp sand, without considering the financial burden on end users.
But, Chairman, Dredgers Association, Ikorodu, Lagos State, Tunde Adigun, said the increments were influenced by the country’s economic downturn.
Aderoju said: “We are protesting the Dredgers Association’s indiscriminate increment in the amount we purchase sharp sand. Two months ago, they added an increment, and we agreed on a new price list at their office.
“With the new price list, we bought 30 tons of sharp sand at N126,000. Barely two months after complying with the increment, the dredgers association added a N52,000 increment, which increased the price of 30 tons of sharp sand from N126,000 to N178,000. Our customers have refused to patronise us because it is too expensive.”
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A truck owner, Oluwaseun Adelaja, said drivers stopped operations to protest the increment, adding that the dredgers association was planning to push truck drivers out of business.
He said: “As of July 2024, we used to buy 30 tons of sharp sand for around N85,000, but around November 2024, the dredgers increased it to N110,000, and we complied after they gave us reasons, including the economic situation of the country, diesel being on the high side, and the high cost of maintenance and auto parts.
“In January 2025, the dredgers increased the price again to N126,000, and we went on a two-week warning strike to inform our customers, but the feedback we got from them was not appealing to us.
“After the dredgers increased the price to N126,000 in January, last week, they increased it again from N126,000 to N178,500 and said it would take effect from April 14, 2025.
“With this new price, the end users will need to pay more, and we are protesting to relieve people of the hardship. The dredgers are planning to take over the business from us since they have trucks.’’
In his reaction, Adigun said: “The truck drivers are our customers; I also have trucks; I bought my last truck for N39m, and it is N100m today as everything is going up. We started pumping about 100 meters to 200 meters from the shore; now we are about three to four kilometres away. Is that not an increased cost?
“Each time we increase the price, we call them for a meeting, we inform them of what we want to do, and that we can no longer cope. In this matter, we have already written letters to the tippers associations and had a meeting with their executives, and we had agreements.
“But some factions came together and said they don’t trust the judgment of their executives and that they will not agree on the price. These factions are saying they want to meet with us separately, and I said I cannot do that and they should go through their executives.”
Adigun, while lamenting how the economic situation in the country had affected the business operations of dredgers, said no fewer than five sites belonging to dredgers had closed down.
“Our Chinese partners said they cannot work again because it is not profitable. If we all run out of business, is that what will be ok for the tipper guys? We have explained that we are doing this to remain in business.
“There was an increase in price in January, and I appealed to them at the time that they should just take that for a while. But now that sites are closing down, we can no longer allow that. We are dredgers, and we have trucks, and we supply people outside, and they buy it.
“I bought trucks because they stopped carrying sand from my site because when the price increases, they target me as the chairman. They can’t tell me not to buy trucks to support my business, as there are truck drivers who also have dredging companies.”
On the allegation that naval officers attacked truck drivers during the protest, Adigun said the security officers work with dredgers for protection, as truck drivers had been warned against stopping any truck from working.
He said: “The security officers were there to control the situation, and the people that they were fighting were community people who insisted that they should allow tippers to work because that is where they eat from. And when the security officers intervened, they quashed everything.”