For economic reasons and as part of measures to check the traffic gridlock in Apapa with spillover effect on the metropolis, the Lagos State government has restricted the movement of trucks on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway.
This move signposts big relief for motorists in the state who have been spending quality man-hours on the expressway commuting to work or their business premises. It will also be a huge relief for Apapa residents many of whom have had to relocate from their residences because of gridlock in the area.
The 35-kilometre expressway, which is undergoing rehabilitation by the Dangote Group, is among other routes which the state government says trucks are to ply between the hours 9pm and 6am daily.
Frederic Oladeinde, the state’s Commissioner for Transportation, explained in a statement signed by Gboyega Akosile, the Chief Press Secretary to the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Thursday that the move was crucial to ease the traffic gridlock, especially along the Apapa axis of the state.
The commissioner explained further that the move became necessary as Apapa has been rendered less profitable for investors due to the gridlock and activities of truck drivers along the axis.
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He, however, appealed to the stakeholders to cooperate with the state government to remedy the situation, urging them to put sentiments aside and think of other motoring public as the policy was not meant to cause rancour, but to open up the state for greater economic realities.
Oladeinde who implored the stakeholders to see the issues raised as work in progress, recalled scores of accidents involving trailers and passenger vehicles that had occurred on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway with many casualties recorded as trucks crush vehicles frequently on the road.
He cited 27-year-old Chidinma Ajoku as one of the many promising Nigerians who met their untimely deaths on the road. He recalled that Chidinma and her colleague, Chima Nnaekpe, 29, who worked at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) died on July 26, 2020, when a truck loaded with a 20ft container fell on a commercial bus they were in.
