Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Monday made an unplanned fact-finding visit to Apapa to ascertain the causes of incessant gridlock on roads leading to the seaports with the aim of taking over the management of traffic in the area from the Presidential Task Force Team.
Governor Sanwo-Olu and members of the state cabinet were visiting Apapa for the fourth time over traffic congestion, which has impacted negatively on businesses and lives in its environment.
The Governor wondered why container-laden trucks not yet called upon for loading in the ports were indiscriminately parked on newly rehabilitated Tincan Road, instead of moving into the approved terminal provided by the government.
Sanwo-Olu disclosed that part of the steps being taken by the state government to restore sanity back to the area was to take over the enforcement of the Presidential Taskforce on Port Decongestion and create a new operational template for the task force, which will be enforced by a combined team of officers of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and the police.
He said: “This is about the fourth time which my Government has been trying to address Apapa gridlock and bring sanity back to the area. On each occasion we had come here, we knew that there were road constructions. This time around, there has been a lot of improvement and we have seen that a lot of the roads within Apapa have been completed. But, there has been no respite for commuters in terms of free traffic flow.
“Our plan is to bring about cohesive system where all stakeholders would understand their roles and resolve challenges being encountered. Since last year, the Presidential Taskforce has been working on this issue. Now, there is a process that is starting in which the State Government is taking over the task force. This is one of the reasons for this trip to Apapa today; to ascertain what needs to be done. We will have a team of policemen and LASTMA dedicated to Apapa Ports for enforcement of task force’s mandates.”
The Governor said the visit to the ports would be followed up with stakeholders’ engagement with NPA, shipping companies’ owners and freight forwarders, stressing that a situation where truck drivers needed to wait for about 10 hours for handing over of operation from one NPA team to another was not acceptable.
Sanwo-Olu said the sharp practices and inadequacies observed in the handling of the container operations at the ports would be escalated to the Minister of Transport, adding that the misconducts of the policemen stationed closed to the ports would be reported to the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
The Governor said it was time the arm of the law caught up with those who had created the situation that led to the chaotic movements of container-laden trucks in and out of the ports.
He said: “Lagos State Government is not the owner of the ports whose operations is causing pain to residents, but we owe a duty to our citizens whose lives and businesses have been badly impacted because of the gridlocks created in this part of the State. I believe this trip would give us another opportunity where all of us, as stakeholders, will be able to identify impediments and resolve the issues once and for all.”
Sanwo-Olu also part of the issues to be resolved with the Federal Government over Apapa congestion was the uniformity in the operational licence being issued to barge owners. This, he said, is to stop creation of illegal terminals for barge operators and make adequate plan for licences operating in traffic-prone areas.
He said: “We have arrested people we felt were operating illegal barge terminals before, but we were surprised some of these people had licences issued by the Federal Government. This is part of the issues we want to resolve. We are working collaboratively with the Federal Government on this. If someone gets an approval for barge operation, let Lagos Government be aware, so that roads are probably planned to those terminals.”
