Apapa in Lagos state is home to Nigeria’s largest private petroleum products facilities; otherwise called tank farms. The tank farms and other similar facilities that are in other parts of the city of Lagos collectively account for about 90 per cent of the nation’s petroleum products needs. Apapa, the host city alone hosts about 22 tank farms, with many still under construction.
The activities of these tank farms have taken their toll on Lagos, and most especially on Apapa, turning it into a busy and bustling and choked- up city with heavy and excruciating vehicular and human traffic.
On a good day, there are scores of articulated trucks which on daily basis freight containers and assorted bulk cargoes to different parts of the country. Contributing their quota to the malaise are the petroleum tankers which also load products to different parts of the country.
Apapa is linked to the rest of the city by two roads; Apapa – Oshodi expressway and Apapa-Ijora road. Of course, it can also be approached by water from Mile Two (on the mainland) and Marina axis (on the island).
The beehive of activities that is synonymous with Apapa and by extension, Lagos, and the contributions of tank farms and trucks probably informs the recent decision to ban further location of tank farms in Lagos state.
The minister of transport, Alhaji Ibrahim Bio who spoke for the first time on the effect of the tank farms disclosed government’s decision not to license new tank farms Lagos, saying that the state was already overcrowded with these farms.
Prior to the latest development, two previous ministers of transport, namely: Chief Cornelius Adebayo and Mrs Diezani Allison Madueke had taken similar decisions against tank farm owners, but none was as pungent the latest.
The difference between the actions of the two former ministers and the incumbent is that, while Adebayo caused investigations into the causes of traffic, his successor focused on harassing owners of tank farms.
Chief Adebayo’s intervention led to the setting up of a committee which eventually identified indiscriminate parking of vehicles, indiscriminate construction of tank farms along the expressway and close to the ports as well as use of rickety trucks which often break down thereby causing obstruction as some of the causes of the debilitating traffic situation in Apapa and environs.
It was the committee’s recommendation that gave rise to the creation
of the inter agency task force code named: Lagos Ports Access Roads Monitoring Unit, which to some extent was bale to tackle the problems of indiscriminate parking of vehicles along the Apapa end of the Apapa-Oshodi expressway and the Apapa end of the Apapa-Ijora highway.
Similarly, Mrs. Allison Madueke took the battle to free the access roads to the door step of owners of tank farms whom she ordered to create holding bays for trucks coming into their facilities to load petroleum products. This also worked as most of the depot owners no longer allow queues by tankers to spill over to the expressway.
The recent decision may have been informed by the recommendations of the Adebayo – induced committee which recommended that the federal government should do something about the indiscriminate construction of tank farms along the ever-busy Apapa – Oshodi expressway.
Another manifestation of the excesses of the tanker drivers is their indiscriminate parking; a habit which has led to face-off on many occasions between them and officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authourity (LASTMA). The clash which also led to the seizure of scores of petroleum tankers had also in the past led to strikes by the drivers under the aegis of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) which usually order its members to withdraw their tankers from the roads. The effect f this is fuel scarcity throughout the federation.
Prior to this time, there had been strategic moves by the Nigerian
Ports Authourity (NPA) to lure tank farm owners to states like Cross Rivers State and Akwa Ibom state. On one occasion, the organisation’s managing director; Malam Abdusallam Mohamed pointedly told one of the governors in the South- South states that Lagos jetties and facilities were being overstretched by the high presence of tank farms.
Certainly, Lagos state and its residents have been at the receiving end in the mad rush to construct tank farms in the state. The effects have been devastating on the state and the citizenry. It is worse that the trucks have taken over the service lanes and are seriously impeding free flow of both vehicular and human traffic.
Needless to warn about the devastating effect of a fire outbreak at the Ibru and Ibafon jetties which house virtually all the tank farms in Lagos, the effect will certainly be reduced if all the tanks are not concentrated in one location
As much as we believe in the basic economic principle of the advantages that is inherent in localisation of industries, it will I the long run make more sense if new tank farms are encouraged to spring up in Rivers, Cross Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Delta states rather than in Lagos. D if they must continue to be constructed in Lagos, axis like Lekki and Badagry should be made attractive.
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