Apapa gridlock: Truckers renege on pact, return to the roads

In apparent defiance of the measures agreed upon at a stakeholders meeting to end the gridlock in Apapa, trailers and tankers have returned almost in full force to the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway and also to the Apapa-Ijora bridge, the two major routes to the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports.

The gradual return which started Wednesday, assumed a greater dimension yesterday, with these two routes becoming totally blocked. Stern-faced soldiers, naval ratings and policemen who directed traffic brought some relief as they enforced a steady crawl.

Apapa stakeholders had at a meeting on Thursday last week, agreed on a number of measures aimed to end the traffic gridlock in this area.

These include the removal of trucks from the expressway by the owners, to enable the contractor handling the rehabilitation of the expressway carry out repair work on the bad portions.

It was also agreed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) should stop pumping fuel to the tank farms in the Coconut and Tin Can Island axis, where the repair work was to be carried out.

When BusinessDay visited the Coconut and Tin Can area yesterday, to ascertain the level of compliance to the agreement, it was business as usual, as the routine scramble to gain entry into the Tin Can Port was visible, and the military presence which was noticeable there Wednesday, had disappeared.

A middle-aged man who identified himself simply as “a member of port taskforce”, explained to BusinessDay that truck owners were not happy that nothing had been done, despite the agreement that they should take away their vehicles to enable the contractor do the repair work.

On whether the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NPPC) had stopped pumping fuel to the tank farms in that axis, the taskforce member said he did not know, adding, “all I know is that trucks have been coming and leaving this place and they don’t leave empty; whether they are loading from old stock or not, I don’t know”.

It would be recalled that the repair work on the expressway suffered a major setback yesterday, following a Federal Government’s directive asking Borini Prono, the contractor which was to carry out the repair work, to stop.

BusinessDay had reported that the directive was a fallout of a meeting convened by Mike Onolememen, the minister of Works, in Abuja on Monday, when it was discovered that the contractor lacked the capacity to do the work. Work on that stretch of road has been reassigned to Julius Berger, which is expected to resume next week Monday.

Apapa has recently been under siege by the activities of trailers, tankers and tank farm operators, who have paralysed social and economic activities in the area, and caused property rates to fall.

Just two days ago, another stakeholders meeting was held in Lagos, with a view to finding lasting solution to the nagging problem. Present at the meeting which was chaired by Commodore Ovenseri Emmanuel, commander of the Nigerian Navy (NNS Beecroft), Apapa, were the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, (LASTMA), Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), representatives of the federal ministry of works, the police and the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA).

Babatunde Edu, the general manager of LASTMA, said at the meeting that the agency would be working closely with Julius Berger to ensure free flow of traffic as the construction work begins. LASTMA and the Nigeria Police have been mandated to plan, monitor and enforce a rerouting arrangement that will ensure that only trucks that have businesses to do within Apapa at any particular time, are allowed into the port community.