Residents of Apapa, Nigeria’s premier port city, have vowed that if in the next three weeks, the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and owners of shipping companies fail to respond to the call for heavy-laden trucks and tankers to vacate access routes into Apapa, the next line of action will be a legal suit.
The residents under the aegis of Apapa Residents Association (ARA) made this vow during a solidarity protest backed by Surulere and Ajegunle communities, adding that they would go beyond the legal action to embark on naming and shaming of authorities and individuals found to be responsible for “crippling businesses other than shipping, collapsing the bridges by instalment and pauperising aging property owners.
“There can only be one outcome and that is the collapse of the bridges. It seems there is a conspiracy between the federal government, NPA and the shipping companies to force Apapa residents out. There is no other logical explanation to why the bridges and roads leading to Apapa have been left in the manner they are despite all the professional advice,” said Sola Ayo-Vaughan, chairman ARA.
“If in 21 days the situation remains the same, we shall sue NPA and all the shipping companies,” Vaughan said.
The residents, fed up by the tightening up of access routes into their community and the devastating effects on their lives, launched a protest last month and promised to return to the streets until a substantial change is affected.
A month after the protest, the residents continue to groan under the pains of being fenced by heavy-laden trucks as government failed to respond.
Part of the grievances expressed by the association include the fact that businesses in hospitality, real estate, education, malls and super-market among others have either been ruined or relocated from Apapa, with close to 50,000 jobs lost in the process.
Entry and exit into the area, residents say, have been a nightmare for too long.
Their worst fear is that the unabated abuse of the bridges signposts imminent collapse, which could completely paralyse the hope of living in Apapa. “If any of these bridges collapses, Apapa will seize to exist to the residents,” Vaughan said.
The protesters marched round Apapa town towards the Police Area Command, Area ‘B,’ Apapa, where they read and submitted their petition to the area commander, Mohammed Ahmadu.
Organizers of the protest said it was aimed to inform the government of the displeasure and pain that the residents have been going through as a result of the gridlock. They informed BusinessDay that they held a press conference last December, where they issued ultimatum urging the government to address the gridlock in Apapa and its environs.
Veronica Chaka-Awatai, one of the residents, lamented how the Apapa gridlock was threatening their lives while government allegedly abandoned them to their fate. “What’s happening here isn’t agreeable; we’re tired and fed-up. We have no life and the government has no interest in our plight,” Chaka-Awatai said.
The letter, titled ‘Apapa, Surulere and Ajegunle Communities protest’ was signed by the chairman, Vaughan, and addressed to the president, Muhammadu Buhari. The residents demanded the immediate removal of trucks and fuel tankers from the bridges as well as all the access roads in Apapa and its environs.
The residents noted that if any of the bridges collapsed, the Federal Government, Minister of Transport, Minister of Works, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) managing director, Lagos State governor and the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would be held responsible for any life lost in the process.
Joseph Maurice Ogu & Temitayo Ayetoto
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