Hon Frank Aliakor(ANLCA)
All the money they are collecting from truckers are the reason why there is still traffic gridlock on the roads. The government has to do away with those touts that are collecting money there, that is the only way to address the traffic issue. Those monies they collect for parking and all that are the major cause of the gridlock, trucks are parked there for days without going out. The taskforce should do their work in the area of clearing the road.
Engineer Mansur Ahmed (MAN President)
I think the government should expedite the work going on at that axis, they should also expand the roads and rail linkages into the ports and also improve the facilities at the ports. Secondly, I think government must do something to improve other ports in the country; if you are going to boost trade you cannot rely on Apapa ports alone. I think the government must do something to open other ports with the right investment. You must also improve, of course not just the transport linkages to those ports you must also create facilities like the truck parks where they will be situated and trucks would be called up when they are required, it will remove trucks on the roads particularly containers.
Stanley Ezenga (NAGAFF)
The solution to the traffic gridlock on that axis which I have always been saying is not this ad-hoc committee that the government has set up; it is just fire brigade and then everything will still come back to normal. I think the main cause of this gridlock starts from the ports itself; it is either the terminals do not have the needed equipment to evacuate these things as they arrive or the empty space where they want to keep empty container on their arrival have been taken over by loaded containers. So until both areas are addressed inside the ports, there will always be gridlock.
Chief Remi Ogungbemi (Trucker)
Number one is that the environment can no longer accommodate the volume of the activities in the environment, so the environment needs to be expanded. I am looking forward to seeing when the government will come out to acquire some areas in the port for its use, pay the owners of the properties so that the ports and every other thing can expand. If we continue to believe that, setting up a task force will never work. However let’s see how we can use the modern technology that is electronic system to address some of the issues in the ports. For example, a situation where the trucks are heading towards the ports side at the same time is not the solution; there must be a regulator for the movement of these trucks, there must be s situation where the trucks can only come when it is their time. Setting up a task force I am telling you can never be a solution they will come do what they feel they are doing and leave the situation worse than it was. We should at least put in place a mechanism that can sustain whatever the task force is doing without that it will just be a wasted effort.
Paul Ndibe (CILT)
The property rate in Apapa is down now, so the government can acquire some of these properties from their owners and lay them open for purposes of accommodating this overflow of traffic. So that the place can be free for routine business people not necessarily those going to the wharf and this is the best time to do it now that the property rate is down in Apapa. And those properties can become part of the ports facility and the port can extend up to the place they have acquired the property that may be one angle of addressing the problem. The other area is about the tank farms in Apapa, for the tank owners who do not have a particular capacity they can relocate and then you now dedicate the facilities available for purposes of putting it on and since it is into Nigeria everybody will be bringing it up. NNPC can send deliver and they will deliver to you and from there you can go and take delivery of what you have put into the system assuming you must distribute what you imported. Pipeline can be laid up till Shagamu or Ifo; a distance from Apapa so that it can stop there for good traffic flow.
Abdullahi Inuwa (Trucker)
I believe everybody is entitled to his opinion, if they say the Presidential task team has failed, on what grounds? You will see that even with the constructions work that is ongoing the team have been able to ensure that trucks are parked on one lane, I don’t think there is any other solution to the gridlock, apart from what the task team is doing, they should rather been given kudos and with time, their work will be visible for all to see.
Bamiro Muyiwa ( Clearing Agent)
The best solution to the traffic situation around Apapa is for the government to ensure that our rails are viable, when we have rails that are viable, that can easily carry containers in and out of the port, this will reduce the number of trucks plying the road, and this will even help to elongate the life span of the roads. But, in a situation where we have over 6,000 trucks plying a particular route every day, it may not last its life time, because it is under pressure. So let the government ensure that the rails are viable and can easily be connected to hinterlands.
Barr Alex Afolalu (Stakeholder)
I think it is too early enough for us to write-off what the Presidential task team has done, of course, there may be a bit of traffic situation returning along the mile 2/coconut axis, but work is going on in the axis, which may have caused the traffic situation along the corridor, but let’s be optimistic and hope that the traffic situation become a thing of the past in the next few month.
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