Mohammed Bello-Koko, managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), has paid an unscheduled visit to the Tin-Can Island Port access road on Monday, March 25 as a measure of sustaining traffic flow on the road.
Speaking on the sideline of the unscheduled visit, Bello-Koko said the move is to consolidate the gains recorded in the clearance of illegal check/extortion points and shanties resulting in traffic gridlock.
“Our zero tolerance for all forms of impediments to the free flow of traffic is no fluke, and we are poised to consolidate the gains we have recorded first in Apapa and now Tin-Can. We are grateful to Adegboyega Oyetola, Minister of Marine & Blue Economy and the Lagos State Governor for the tremendous support we have received in this regard,” he said.
Bello-Koko further said that the port access roads are international corridors, which means traffic gridlock along such sensitive road networks apart from negating port productivity is an international embarrassment that requires the synergy of all stakeholders to tackle sustainably.
“Although the causes of the gridlock are rooted in factors external to NPA, we have a duty as the gateway to the national economy to take the front-line role in tackling this menace,” he said.
On the menace of refuse debris blocking the drainages, Bello-Koko said the NPA has directed the relevant in-house department to commence desilting of the drainages and clearance of the refuse, and NPA will intensify synergy with Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) and the Federal Ministry of Works under whose purview waste and road management resides to arrest the ugly trend.
Mohammed Bello-Koko -led management of NPA had recently received the commendation of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) for clearing the perennial traffic gridlock that hitherto made ingress and egress of Lagos Ports of Apapa and Tin-Can difficult.
