Fresh indications have emerged that the Federal Government of Nigeria may be losing a whooping N22billion annually to the closure of the Creek Road axis of at the tail end of the Apapa Oshodi expressway in Lagos, due to the activities of petroleum tank farms along the axis.
This fact was given last week by a Professor of Transport, Logistics and Spatial Planning at the University of Lagos, Professor Iyiola Oni at a one-day? seminar organized in Lagos.
Fresh indications have emerged that the Federal Government of Nigeria may be losing a whooping N22billion annually to the closure of the Creek Road axis of at the tail end of the Apapa Oshodi expressway in Lagos, due to the activities of petroleum tank farms along the axis.
This fact was given last week by a Professor of Transport, Logistics and Spatial Planning at the University of Lagos, Professor Iyiola Oni at a one-day? seminar organized in Lagos.
The Professor who was delivering a lecture titled: "Port Infrastructure: Modernizing Maritime Transport Infrastructure in a Landlord Port Model", observed that the continued closure of Creek Road in Apapa for the past four years has led to economic losses to the country, and physical trauma to road users.
He observed that the activities of petroleum tanker drivers have hindered container laden trucks from accessing the port, as well as led to the death of other vibrant businesses along the strategic road.
Shipping Position Daily finding shows that some of the tank farms along Creek Road include: Folawiyo Energy, Lister Oil and Gas, Navgas, among others.?
Prof Oni who was represented by Dr. Emmanuel Ege noted that the traffic situation along the axis is now stretching gradually to the Mile 2 area.
He solicited that, tank farms activities should be relocated from Apapa Port to other port areas in the country like the Koko Port. He appealed to the Nigerian Ports Authority to return the operations franchise on the port which it had withdrawn before now.
"Today, the Creek has been under lock and key for four years, we have done an evaluation and it is costing this country N22billion annually, in fact it should be more than that because we only looked at Apapa, we dint look at Tin Can, now the thing is stretching to mile 2, and we ask ourselves, is it only Apapa we have in this country?"
"Why should we have all the tank farms there, Koko port is there but nobody is using it, what NPA did was to remove the license from the first people they gave the franchise to, I don't know if they have given other people now, but I know they withdrew the license".
Prof Iyiola observed that there are other ports in Nigeria that are under-utilized, and these could have formed an alternative to what is going on in Apapa port tank farm congestions.
He added further that, "instead of being productive, we are counter-productive and at the end of the day, we complain about unemployment, meanwhile we crated these problems for ourselves"
"Let's pray that Boko Haram does not remember Apapa?, if they do, it is only a spark and Lagos will be in darkness, I am not predicting any evil, I am just trying to be frantic with our system, we have options that will really favour everybody, but the whole thing is tilted towards a political dimension" he said.
In order to ensure that tank farms are relocated from the port areas in Lagos, he said the solution lies in the hands of the shippers of the cargoes. According to him, it is the shippers that determine which port their cargoes go to?.
He blamed the Department of Petroleum Resources for petroleum tank farm congestion? in Lagos, even as he advised the agency to promote the use of pipes to distribute products from the tank farms to various destinations.
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