Apapa gridlock poses major test for Buhari’s promises to Lagosians

With the campaign promises made to Lagosians by Muhammadu Buhari, president-elect, before the gubernatorial election, to the effect that his administration would take special interest in Lagos State, the perennial gridlock in Apapa, the home of Nigeria’s seaports, occasioned by sheer lack of political will and corruption on the part of the out-going government, is expected to be a thing of the past.

For six years, the Federal Government turned a blind eye to the plight of Nigerians in Lagos, a situation analysts blame on the excuse that the former capital of the country was not in the same camp with the umbrella party.

Apapa community, an originally planned residential area, hosts two of Nigeria’s major seaports, several tank farms and petroleum jetties.

The tank farms, which dot the landscape within the area, are particularly a significant factor in the traffic gridlock. But relocation of tank farms and construction of Truck Park for trucks plying the ports, have been mired in bad politics. Analysts say the PDP government at the centre has been economical with the truth over its willingness to make a tangible commitment in this regard.

Mike Onolememen, minister of Works, and many other Federal Government officials, have made endless trips to Lagos for on-the-spot inspections, promising urgent intervention, yet less than a month to the expiration of the current tenure, there has been no respite.

For the better part of last week, life was hell for transporters and commuters on Apapa-Oshodi- Expressway and Ijora-Apapa route as tankers and trailers blocked every available space on the roads and bridges leading to Apapa.

Between Tuesday and Friday last week, following the difficulty in accessing Apapa, transporters hiked their fare by 200 to 300 percent. From the normal fare of N100 or N150, it rose to N300, N400, N500 and even more depending on the time of the day. In their desperation to beat traffic, a good number of the commercial drivers engaged in high risk exercise of plying against traffic (one-way). Many commuters spent between five and six hours in traffic to get to their offices in Apapa.

With the victory of Akinwunmi Ambode, APC gubernatorial candidate at the April 11 poll, analysts have expressed optimism that the Buhari’s incoming administration would be favourable to Lagos.

It would be recalled that while on a rally in Lagos a few days to the gubernatorial election, Buhari had pleaded with indigenes and residents of the state to support his government by voting for the party’s candidate. He had told them that Lagos was too important to be lost to the PDP. Buhari said it was time for the state to have a feel of Federal Government presence which it had lacked over the years and therefore, cannot afford to miss the opportunity.

“Lagos is doing well and we are now at the centre. I have a lot of respect for Fashola because he is hardworking and committed to the state. No doubt, Lagos is a mini-Nigeria. I want you to vote for continuity in Lagos,” he said.

Among other promises, Buhari said his administration would refund the N51 billion the Federal Government was owing the state government for rehabilitation of federal roads.

In one of his campaigns in Apapa, for Ambode, Governor Fashola told residents that an APC government would return Apapa to its original pre-eminence as a commercial, industrial and residential hub of the country.

Fashola had said with a well-planned industrial and petro-chemical plant which has already being designed by his administration, all the tank farms now in Apapa would be moved out to the Lekki Free Zone, thereby ensuring safety and traffic sanity.

He blamed the Federal Government for the continued traffic snarl that had been a source of great stress to residents and workers in Apapa, saying that the incoming governor would continue with the work “so that life can return here and Apapa can become the commercial, industrial and residential hub that it used to be”.

He appealed for patience among the people of Apapa, saying all of the problems that they have in hours of traffic, “caused by a government that prefers to import instead of produce fuel, will soon stop when Buhari is elected into office by you,” adding that the transfer of the tank farms would change a situation where thousands of tankers currently cause the traffic holdup in Apapa while trying to load fuel.

BD SUNDAY checks revealed that not willing to continue the daily torture of moving in and out of Apapa, a good number of property owners have sold off  and have since relocated to some other saner areas of Lagos State. Some others are also at the verge of doing so. It was also gathered that the traffic problem has crashed property prices in Apapa as people show unwillingness to buy. Many of those who have offices in Apapa have since devised an arrangement whereby they reduce the days they go to their offices. And today, those without serious businesses to transact in Apapa stay away, unlike in the past when people went there on sight-seeing.

A man, about 55 years old, who introduced himself simply as Musa, told BD SUNDAY, that people were dying by installment on the Apapa gridlock.

Recounting his sad experiences a few days back, Musa said: “I was to conclude a business transaction in Apapa Wednesday by 12noon. I left my residence at Alapere at about 10.30 am, thinking that it was the normal 25 to 30 minutes drive. When I got to Breweries at Iganmu, I couldn’t move further. I parked my vehicle somewhere and decided to ride on ‘Okada’ (commercial motor cycle), at a point even the cyclist could not see chance to move. I ended up getting where I had the appointment some minutes after 2pm and missed the person. The next day, I left my house as early as 8am; I could not get to Apapa until 12noon. It was killing- the trauma, the stress and anxiety- terrible,” he said.

On his expectations from the APC administration (Federal and state), Musa said: “We were told that the Apapa problem has lingered because PDP government at the federal level did not agree to work with the APC-led government in Lagos; I am happy that the APC is now both at the centre and in Lagos, and I hope the problem will be over shortly after May 29.”

Zebulon Agomuo