Corruption, poor traffic management spur return of gridlock in Apapa

Port users, operators and motorists, who had businesses around the Apapa port city, were yesterday trapped in several hours of traffic following the return of the notorious Apapa gridlock.

In the last one-week, motorists driving into Apapa from Surulere, Orile Iganmu, and Lagos Island have been subjected to untold hardships as the tankers remain on the bridge, destined for various petroleum tank farms in Apapa.

A visit to the petroleum products tank farms located along the Marine Beach axis of the Ijora-Apapa-Wharf road, revealed that Total, Honeywell, JV and Oando tank farms were not loading products, as many of them had finished the business of the day. However, the traffic was heavy, caused by the queues leading to Waziri Jetty, where Aiteo and NIPCO were said to have been loading Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and Base oil.

Informed sources who spoke to BusinessDay blamed the traffic gridlock on corruption and the inefficiency of the military officers detailed to manage the traffic, but ended up in using selected call-up for only tankers that offer tips to them.

“As we speak, I have spent over six hours on the queue today, trying to have access into the Waziri Jetty, where I have an order to lift Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) from Aiteo Petroleum Product Depot at the Naval Dockyard Apapa,” said a Total tanker driver, who identified himself as Musa.

According to him, the gridlock was man-made because the military officers appointed to control the traffic were not efficient. They grant access to mostly tankers owned by independent marketers, who can afford to give them tips, to the detriment of people like us that drive company owned tankers.

A vehicle inspection officer of NIPCO, who identified himself as Joe said that the traffic started building this week, since the current head of military officers in charge of traffic management was put in charge of the road.

“I am only here to fight for the interest of my depot by ensuring that tankers coming to our depot to lift petroleum products are given access into the depot. They usually change these naval officers every three months and the person in charge now is causing confusion with his quest to make money from drivers.

“Some of these tankers on queue have turned on this bridge more than ten times. If the driver refuses to pay money, they would refuse him access into the depot by mandating him to go back to Ijora and join the queue from the beginning,” said Joe, who confirmed the initial complains submitted by some of the drivers.

A close source inside Aiteo, who pleaded anonymity, blamed the bottleneck on the failure of the major oil marketers to ensuring that there is a functional trailer park for their tankers. “We are in a country where both government and operators in the oil and gas industry don’t care about finding a lasting solution to this Apapa problem.”

Joseph Ogbebor, the general secretary of Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), a body to which the tanker drivers belong, says the upsurge of tankers inward Apapa, is caused by the increased loading activities at the tank farms, which the union does not have control over.

“NUPENG does not have control over trucks lying on the roads. When fuel marketers bring in products, the tankers would go there to load,” said Ogbebor, adding that majority of the tankers staying on the bridges, were from outside Lagos to lift products to the north and other states in the south west.

According to Ogbebor, this scenario is bound to continue for as long as the country continues the importation of fuel to be discharged in Apapa.
Olarenwaju Elegushi, the Lagos State acting commissioner for transportation who decried the activities of the tankers, said the state was having a serious challenge in the area of enforcement, as law enforcement agencies, particularly the police, take orders from the Federal Government and not the State Governor.

Apapa is a global problem, but we are working on a plan to tackle the situation,” said the acting commissioner.