• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Apapa gridlock: What next after call-up system collapse?

Apapa gridlock

Only yesterday, Apapa residents, business owners, motorists and sundry stakeholders were asking whether the electronic call-up system introduced four months ago to control trucks movement in Apapa was still working because they did not see any proof.

Neither the Lagos State government nor the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), which introduced the call-up system, provided an answer to that question. But today, the question has answered itself as it has become clear enough, even to a blind man, that the system has collapsed completely.

Traffic situation on Apapa roads and bridges has been really bad in the last couple of weeks and became worse last weekend. Up to Monday morning, motorists were yet to see any respite.

In spite of the call-up system, gridlock has come back to Apapa as of old, making life miserable for residents and business owners in the port city, hurting and squeezing the real sector and the economy as a whole.

Beyond the bitter experiences on the roads, landlords are still crying over loss of rental income and property value depreciation which are the cross they have been forced to carry. Gridlock is the reason for the meteoric rise in haulage cost which importers and exporters are contending with, leading to increases in their production costs.

On account of the gridlock, travel time to Apapa from other parts of Nigeria has graduated from days to weeks on a single trip and this is impacting negatively and significantly on businesses—increasing costs, eroding importers’ margins, squeezing consumers and ultimately slowing economic growth.

Last weekend, especially on Saturday, it seemed as though hell was let loose on the premier port city as all the adjoining roads were totally blocked by trucks, keeping other road users at their spot for four to five hours.

This, coupled with uglier past experiences, are further proof that the call-up system has collapsed, hence the question, what is to be done next after the system which gave out so much hope as solution to the Apapa problem?

This same question was asked when the Kayode Opeifa-led Presidential Task Team (PTT) failed woefully after an encouraging initial success and its presidential backing.

A return to the military was not a good option because, according to Opeifa, “When the military was brought to control Apapa traffic, I warned them against that. I told them that what was needed was traffic management to complement what was being done on port reforms. But they went ahead and brought the military and when they came, they shut down everything rather than use a traffic management plan. They were just enforcing and controlling misbehaviour while the traffic situation was getting worse.”

Now, since the military option did not work, the PTT was not any better and the call-up system in which much confidence was invested has flopped, what should be in the minds of President Muhammadu Buhari, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and the NPA?

Judging from the way Sanwo-Olu and Hadiza Bala-Usman, the then NPA managing director, prepared for the introduction of the call-up system with different levels of meetings and consultations with various stakeholders, including the media, Lagosians are already feeling disappointed with their governor.

The governor assured of adequate implementation of the call-up system, adding that he would “name and shame” anybody, no matter how highly placed, who would sabotage the system. Now, the system is not working and the governor has yet to name and shame anybody.

There seems to be a denial that there is gridlock in Apapa which is affecting not just every other part of the state, but also individuals, households and the state economy. Apapa gridlock epitomizes what civil society activists call “injury to one is injury to all”.

“Time is now for both federal and state governments to take steps towards finding a lasting solution to the Apapa gridlock. Time is now to look beyond committees, task forces and what they now call e-call-up system; these are too cosmetic for the Apapa problem,” Emma Ameke, an agent at the port, told BusinessDay.

According to him, what Apapa needs now is a functional rail system that will decongest the ports by putting the trucks out of the roads. He added that the federal and state governments should muster enough will power to deal with corruption and vested interests in the port city.

This, perhaps, will take care of another layer of the problem Opeifa mentioned in an interview with BusinessDay.

“Apapa is a highly militarized environment where a lot of people come from different military formations to make fast money. There had been too many task forces and they are yet to leave the scene. When they come, they come with aggression and are very vicious,” Opeifa noted.

He pointed out a case of corruption fighting back.

“The people the task team has prevented from the regular ‘chop-chop’ are busy spreading wrong information about the team and trying to frustrate their efforts. Those acts of mischief seem to be succeeding and account for the present situation that is aggressively returning Apapa to the status quo ante,” he said.