Vehicular movement in and out of Apapa metropolis has become a hard nut to crack in the last one week following the failure of the recently introduced manual call-up system to streamline the number of container-carrying trucks on the roads and bridges leading to Apapa.
The manual call-up system flagged off by the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in collaboration with the multi-agency taskforce led by Rear Admiral Okon Edet Eyo, commander, Nigerian Navy Ship Beecroft, enabled free flow of traffic in and out of Apapa within the first two weeks of its flag-off.
But last week, container-carrying trucks returned on the Ijora-Apapa Bridge and the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, bringing back with them the characteristic persistent gridlock in and out of the port city.
BusinessDay findings show the failure of the call-up system arose from the counter efforts by security operatives to sabotage the gains of using call-up to separate trucks that have business at the ports from those scouting for business. Officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Police Force (NPF), Nigerian Army and other security agencies are allegedly working to thwart the call-up system.
“The chaotic situation on the road to Apapa comes as a result of effort of people who do not want the call-up system to work,” said Remi Ogungbemi, chairman, Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO).
“Precisely, they are people who have been benefitting from the old chaotic system. The bottom-line is that there are saboteurs sabotaging the system from working,” Ogungbemi said in an interview with BusinessDay.
According to him, bribery and extortion of truckers by the security operatives as well as impatience on the part of truck drivers contributed to the return of gridlock on Apapa roads. He advised truckers to insist on not giving money to security officers under any circumstance.
The chaotic traffic situation is creating opportunity for security operatives controlling the traffic to enrich themselves as many of them make money out of trucks queuing on the bridges, Tony Anakebe, managing director, Gold-Link Investment Ltd, told our correspondent in a telephone interview.
“Government has given security operatives an opportunity to enrich their pockets on those checkpoints, which also pile up cost for port users. With this, the problem of Apapa gridlock can never be eliminated,” Anakebe said.
“Government needs to take tank farms away from Apapa. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) needs to revive the refineries to put an end to importation of petroleum products. This will move tankers away from the port and enable NPA officers to manage the traffic,” he said.
The manual call-up is a pilot system that comes with teething problems that will be addressed along the way, Ogungbemi said. “We have taken complaints to the authorities and there are some new measures put in place to check the activities of these saboteurs. It is unfortunate that the solution to Apapa traffic, according to government, is to set up taskforce. Taskforce cannot be the ultimate solution but can be part of the solution, but with the necessary infrastructure put in place, the taskforce can operate effectively,” he added.
Ogungbemi suggested the need for government to expand the necessary infrastructure including roads and truck terminals. He pointed out the need for port operation to be automated through electronic call-up and e-gate, even as he blamed manual operation for the traffic problem.
“We need to use digital solutions to address the problem on Apapa roads. For instance, the roads we have been using 40 years back are still the roads we are using today when the goods coming in and out of the port as import or export have increased. The population and vehicular movement in and out of Apapa have also increased while the infrastructure has either remained stagnant or depreciated. This is where the problem lies,” he said.
AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE
