Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has for the second time in a week, visited the Apapa area of the state to monitor progress in the state government’s efforts to address the problem of traffic gridlock in the area, calling on the federal government to do everything to restore the dignity of the area.
Fashola, who visited Tin Can Port Road, Creek Road and other areas of Apapa, urged the federal government to live up to its responsibility by restoring the damage infrastructures threatening to ruin the area.
During his visit last Sunday, Fashola had expressed dismay at the traffic gridlock created by the tankers, especially on Creek Road and other roads leading to both Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports. He had met with the leadership of the Tanker Drivers’ Association in the area who in turn promised to leave at least one lane free for other road users in the area to access their homes and businesses.
Fashola, after the second visit to confirm that the drivers had met their promise, frowned at the deterioration in the area saying the state government is paying heavily for the damage caused by the mismanagement of the ports and fuel distribution by the federal government.
“You can see this is where tankers fall every day, claiming lives, damaging peoples’ vehicles. It is a herculean task everyday that we have to remove one container or one fallen tanker from here all because of the federal government’s mismanagement of its ports and fuel distribution responsibility,” Fashola said.
“Our land has been desecrated; you can see the destruction, people living on the road simply because the Federal Government cannot manage the distribution of fuel. People are defecating in open drains; all the drains here have become refuse dumps all because the Federal Government wants to give us fuel.”
Pointing out that the state government does not benefit from all the revenue generated at the ports and from the fuel distribution, Fashola noted that the federal government wants to run the port, yet it does not want to maintain the infrastructures surrounding it.
“Look at the roads here, they have all gone. And we don’t get derivation from oil but we pay so heavily for the distribution of fuel,” he said.
“Residents must know this is a federal problem, it is not the state’s problem; the distribution of fuel is a federal problem. The Federal Government must get up now and change the game and live up to its responsibility. Its mismanagement of fuel and the Port is destroying Apapa and destroying Lagos; this must stop.”
Asked what option the federal government should adopt to solve the problem, Fashola said an alternative should be found for road haulage, first of all.
“Well, I don’t know what options the federal government has but clearly road haulage of fuel by tankers and containers is not going to work,” he said. “The roads cannot stand it no matter how hard you build them. So, instead of its slogans and propaganda about transformation, this place needs to be transformed.”
The governor recalled that when the state government started the work to improve the situation at Apapa, the federal government came and indicated its intention to work with the state government but one year after that expression of intention, the federal government has failed to show up.
Speaking to some leaders of the National Road Transport Owners at the Apapa Ports entrance, Fashola said everyone, including the transporters, the cargo owners and other stakeholders, has a role to play in the effort to restore sanity in the area, adding that the state government is ready to work with other agencies to make things better.
“I promised to be here this week and I am here; and as you have acknowledged, we have at least achieved some progress over one week. Although it is not all yet done, we have established one-lane-compliance from two, three lanes on this Creek Road and access to the Port,” he said.
“What I don’t understand is how this federal government left the Apapa Port and fuel distribution to deteriorate like this because this is the oldest or one of the oldest ports in the country and if this is the largest contributor to the economy of the country, I think there should be a more responsible management approach to this port by the federal government.
“All the roads here are federal roads; I have just passed the Apapa – Oshodi Expressway leading to Tin Can Island and what you see there just makes the heart bleed. By mismanaging the ports, by mismanaging the distribution of fuel, the federal government has just paralysed the Apapa Industrial Estate and the GRA.”
He described as tragic the fact that the distribution of daily goods and fuel which, according to him, “many countries have taken for granted,” has become a big problem for Nigeria adding that “we are at the point where we must choose between our life and fuel.”
The governor promised to continue to work through the agencies of government to improve the situation in the area adding that he would continue to monitor the progress while the State’s Transport Management Agency (LASTMA) and other law enforcement agencies of the state would be deployed to assist in bring sanity to the area.
The President of the Maritime Truck Owners Association, Mr. Remi Ogungbemi, thanked the governor for his continued effort to bring sanity into the traffic situation in the area, saying the major problem was that while many businesses have come into the estate in the last 40 years, there has been no corresponding increase in infrastructure. He added that the places designated for parking vehicles have been taken over by other businesses.
In his contribution, the General Manager (Admin) for the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Mr. Aloga Ogbogo, also thanked the state governor for his continued interest in the estate notwithstanding that the business there are owned by the federal government.
He appealed to Fashola to assist in an ongoing negotiation between the association and landlords of a 61-hectare land area around Mile 2 saying if the association could acquire the land, it would solve the problem of parking space for all the tankers and trailers presently causing traffic gridlock in Apapa.
