Months after the directive issued by the government to all tank farm operators to acquire their own parking lots in other to make the Apapa end of the Oshod – Apapa expressway to be free of vehicular traffic, the problem appears to be yet unsolved even as stakeholders in the oil industry have called for implementation of existing law.
The chairman of the committee of depot managers Ibru complex in Lagos state, Mr. David Adesanya, attributed the seemingly intractable traffic situation around the tank farms to disobedience of procedures and rules of loading on the part of majority of the tank farm operators, accusing them of that they are fund of overtrading and biting more than what they can is chew.
He also accused personnel of the Nigerian Navy who were drafted to there to ensure free flow of traffic. He accused them of been corrupt.
A copy of the loading procedure which was sited by Shipping Position Weekly and which was jointly signed by the committee of depot managers stipulates that no truck is allowed to park on the service lane and the complex driveways and that all trucks must obtain truck passes before coming to the complex. But this hardly followed.
Adesanya revealed that majority of the depot managers of the tank farms are involved in what he called overtrading, that is, collecting money for more than what they have in their tankers. “A depot is not supposed to bring more than three trucks at a time, but in a situation whereby a depot manager collects money from 30 trucks, all of them will come and line up and congest the service lane and this will end up causing problems”, pointed out, even as he went further to reveal that some of the managers because of selfish interest take bribe in order to pass vehicles that are not due for loading.
He also accused law enforcement officers as well as the depots’ Vehicle Inspection Officers and the naval personnel who are to control the traffic of contributing to the chaotic situation. “Some of them do compromise by taking bribes from truck drivers, the navy are not doing their work properly despite our complains to there boss at NNS Beecroft, an officer who is supposed to control traffic, but pointing to a particular truck as his own, every body wants to have his own truck, both the navy, the depot managers and the NUPENG officials, these are the issues circumventing the system”.
However, the committee has maintained that enforcing the law is the only solution to making the access roads free of congestion by trucks.
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