Comrade Kunle Bamimodu [Unit Chairman, MWUN]
So many thing have to be put in place to ensure that the issue of traffic gridlock is a thing of the past, because we have short term and long term solution to what we have at hand. In my own opinion it will ease traffic if the government is truly ready to work and when they are ready to work, the sky is their limit. I believe that if it is properly implemented, then traffic within Apapa- Oshodi Expressway will become history.
Chief Achike Molokwu [Stakeholder]
Today is 7th of May and as you can see it took me less than 10 minutes from my house in Festac Town down to the port which was as a result the trucks and tankers that have left the expressway .When you look at the construction from Oshodi to Apapa, you have the expressway with other service lane and what we are trying to say is that the expressway is meant for the free flow of vehicles while the service lane is meant to commercial buses to pick and drop passengers. I only hope that this will continue because we all know that Apapa and Tin Can ports are the gateways to the economy. Customs is talking about N 1.2trillion target and the big question is how they will achieve it when the roads have been polluted with vehicles. So I think the federal government and the state government has really done well on this road.
Olorogun Andrew Ugwi [Member, ANLCA]
I am still looking at it from the Nigerian context as a mirage which may appear again in the future as we move along and we will continue to pray that they will keep it up because today I was able to get into Apapa and if it continues like this I will start bringing my car to Apapa, because for the past two years, I have not been able to bring my car to the port and to me this is the best that could have happened and if they can maintain it, I think the government has achieved a lot for the development of the maritime industry because a lot has been lost as a result of the trucks and trailers on the expressway. The ship owners and terminal operators are the major causes of the traffic that we see on the expressway.
Comrade Sylvester Keshiro [Former Apapa Chairman, RTEAN]
In fact what the government has done right now is that they have tactically crippled activities of the ports. From what we have on ground, this is not the end of traffic on the Apapa- Oshodi expressway because it is not a way to solve the problem of traffic on the roads. Towing of vehicles along the road is fine, but then they should not enter the port premises to damage vehicles. Ministerial committee has said that the service lane is meant for the trailers and others, why tell everyone to move out of the road entirely.
Captain Jon Jon Peters [G.M Operations 5Star]
In my 15 years in Nigeria, this is the first time that I have seen so clear and absolutely free and with that there will be free movement of cargoes in and out of the ports. Before now, the clearing of cargoes from the port was being delayed but with this ,I must commend the people in charge because now we can all see that cargoes have been moving freely out of the port, which in turn will lead to less congestion at the port.
Mr. Ozoemena Izuchukwu [Maritime Journalist]
This time around, if the government can ensure that no vehicle goes back to the expressway, then we will say things can work. But if the government later slacks, for whatever reasons, then trucks will come back to the roads which will be a terrible thing for all of us because in a situation where you have trucks permanently on the road, then it is a problem to everybody. So I am suggesting to government for them to continue with the reconstruction effort from Kirikiri to Creek road for the free flow of traffic.
Pastor Othuke Oboh [Road User]
This is a successful harvest on the part of the government, but my only fear is that I pray for sustainability on the road because if the government believe that the tankers and trucks will not resurface then it’s a lie and for traffic on Apapa Oshodi expressway to be a thing of the past then agencies of the government should be on the road monitoring and checkmating the movement of all those articulated vehicles that ply the port access roads.
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