Apapa sinks deeper as FG totters on promises

It is getting messier by the day with lives and businesses sinking deeper as the Federal Government dilly-dally on its repeated promises to rescue Apapa, Nigeria’s premier port community that yields over a N1 trillion annually to the government’s coffers.
As concerns grow and hopes filter, stakeholders including labour unions say it is high time the Federal Government declared the state of emergency on Apapa, even as they are enraged by huge daily losses in man-hours, goods and national productivity occasioned by the despicable state of access roads to Apapa and its environs.
Consequently, the stakeholders have demanded that the Federal Ministry of Works, Housing and Power come up with a timeline to fix the dilapidated infrastructure within the port city.
Last month, Babatunde Fashola, minister of works, housing and power, at a management retreat with agencies under his ministry, said Apapa would in a matter of weeks get the attention of the Federal Government.
“Very soon, I think in a matter of weeks, we will be able to intervene in Apapa-Wharf roads, in Lagos. The Wharf has many problems, one of which is excess tonnage. There used to be a rail system link there to evacuate the excess tonnage and port,” Fashola said.
The labour leaders say a definitive statement will show the seriousness and readiness of the government to intervene in the degraded Apapa environment and infrastructure.
“We have watched with total disbelief government continuous neglect and abandonment of the access roads to the nation’s seaports, the gateway to the nation’s economy, especially the Oshodi-Apapa dual carriageway that leads to the nation’s two major ports of Apapa and Tin-Can.
“We have written several letters, made several appeals and even threatened industrial actions all in our efforts to ensure that the federal government and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) live up to their responsibilities and do the needful. As previous governments have abandoned the roads, so also has this current government. We demand to see an action on the roads within 21 days,” Adewale Adeyanju, president, Maritime Union Workers of Nigeria (MWUN), says.
“We can no longer accept and live with the abandonment of access roads to the ports which have been in the state of disrepair for years. For a long time now, Oshodi-Apapa dual carriageway and other access roads have become death traps and recording fatal accidents on daily basis.
“In December 2016, the NPA told us that the contract for rehabilitation of the Apapa-Oshodi dual carriageway had been awarded. Up till now, we have not seen any sign of work by any contractor. If after three to six months we do not see concrete evidence on ground, we shall be compelled to take necessary action without further notice,” Adeyanju says.
Aloga Ogbogo, executive secretary, National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), describes the degradation of Apapa as national embarrassment, and calls on the government to take concrete action to arrest the situation. He said people Nigerians having lost confidence in government’s promise, “it is high time government declared state of emergency on roads in Apapa and other parts of the country, or set up ‘national road fund.”
Meanwhile, access to the port community either through the Ijora bridge or Mile 2-Tincan road remain in their worst forms, leaving trailers, petroleum tankers, cars owners, motorcyclists and pedestrians competing for non-available space on the gullies riddled roads at the risk of their lives.
Among those who have recently met their untimely deaths in Apapa was Segun Agbolade, a maritime journalist with Sky Times Newspaper. He was crushed to death by a trailer while boarding a motorcycle to escape the daily horrendous traffic lock jam at the Coconut area of the infamous Mile 2-Tincan expressway.
The two major entry routes to Apapa including the inner roads are dotted with gullies with petroleum tankers and dry cargo trucks parked indiscriminately. The Ijora bridge axis presents a nightmare to motorists and commuters who are compelled against their wish to spend two hours for a distance that should not take five minutes.
The Apapa GRA including streets like Point Road and Liverpool are no better. The area has slipped into a disorganised enclave in need of rescue, even as landlords, who, in the past, took pride in the area, have abandoned their property to seek refuge elsewhere.

 

JOSHUA BASSEY