Apapa gridlock: Firm seeks NASS’s intervention, call for passage of Apapa Regeneration Bill

Owing to the man-hour loss on roads leading to the two major seaports in Lagos (Apapa and Tin-Can Island Ports) including the adverse effects on port operations, Ships & Ports Communication Company, a specialised maritime publication, has sent letters to the nation’s 468 federal lawmakers, seeking for legislative action on the perennial gridlock in Apapa.

Bolaji Akinola, chief executive officer of Ships & Ports Communication Company, said in a statement sent to BusinessDay that the move became necessary in order to save the seaports from further ‘hemorrhage’.

According to him, the firm sent individual letters to all the 360 elected members of the House of Representatives and 108 elected Senators (with the exception of the deceased) ‘in order to bring the plight of Apapa residents and port operators to their knowledge and to enable them galvanise action to end the gridlock’. The letters were also sent to Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Bukola Saraki, Senate President, on the matter. Akinola identified poor and dilapidated road infrastructures, lack of parking lots for trucks and the proliferation of tank farms in Apapa as factors that have combined to create the gridlock, causing trucks to be on the road for upwards of seven days to load and drop cargo.

“The economy of this great country is hemorrhaging not just because of the declining value of the naira and the crash in the international prices of crude oil but also due to the persistent traffic congestion that has practically brought Nigeria’s major port community of Apapa to its knees.”

Continuing: he said, “Not less than 80 percent of Nigeria’s trade by volume (and 70 percent by value) is carried by sea. 75 percent of Nigeria’s seaborne trade is conducted through Apapa and to allow this important community to be crippled by the menacing gridlock will mean creating more harm to the nation’s economy.”

The Ships & Ports CEO advised the lawmakers to consider the repair, reconstruction and expansion of the Ijora/Wharf Road and the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway; creation of satellite park(s) for trucks that can hold a minimum of 10,000 trucks per time; and the discontinuation of petroleum products delivery by road, among other measures as the solution to the problem. “Our letters are urging the lawmakers to use their good offices to bring the Apapa gridlock and proposed solutions to the floor of the Senate and champion the passing of a bill known as the ‘Apapa Regeneration Bill’ to provide special intervention fund that will help in addressing the gridlock for the benefit of Nigerian economy,” Akinola added.

UZOAMAKA ANAGOR