shippingposition
  • Home
  • News
  • Editorial
    • Vox Pop
  • Maritime safety
  • Oil and Gas
  • Personality
  • Health
No Result
View All Result
shippingposition

Home » FRONT PAGE COMMENT: APAPA TRAFFIC CONTROL HEADACHE:  Federal Government Task Team Hands Over To LASG Team

FRONT PAGE COMMENT: APAPA TRAFFIC CONTROL HEADACHE:  Federal Government Task Team Hands Over To LASG Team

by Joshua
February 8, 2021
in News, Uncategorized

About two weeks ago, the Lagos State Government announced the constitution of what it called Special Traffic Team to resolve the traffic gridlock in and around Apapa.

Members of the team included: Toyin Fayinka (Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation) Olajide Oduyoye (General Manager, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Sola Giwa (Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Central Business Districts); and Ayodeji Laurent (SSA to the Governor on Political Security Intelligence).

In the words of the state government: “The Special Traffic Management and Enforcement Compliance Team is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring a seamless traffic management system specifically designed to restore sanity in and around Apapa.

“They are to create a cohesive system that would aid the resurgence of business activities and ensure that residents live in a conducive environment devoid of traffic-induced stress´´.

The new team is coming about seven weeks after the Federal Government had pronounced the disbandment of its own ‘Task Team’, which is officially chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, but headed on ground by a former Commissioner for Transport in the state; Mr Kayode Opeifa.

Inaugurated on April 25, 2019 by President Muhammadu Buhari, with representations from Inspector-General of Police; Lagos State Government; Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigerian Shippers Council, Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, PEBEC and Federal Road Safety Corps.

Others were:  Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Dry Cargo Truckers; Wet Cargo Truckers; Apapa residents and Local Government; the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, and Petroleum Tanker Drivers Union.

Tried as the obviously high-powered Task Team tried, it only barely scratched the surface of the menace of traffic in Apapa.

Even though Mr Opeifa attributed a great deal of success to his team, those who work, live or journey through Apapa on daily basis think otherwise.

Apapa stakeholders, be they:  truckers, freight forwarders, importers, exporters, owners of businesses, employees of business outfits, workers in government establishments; they all surfer the consequences of heavy vehicular traffic.

But, appraising his team’s performance, Opeifa had said: “The Presidential Task Team has helped to restore law and order on all roads leading to the Lagos Ports and within the Lagos Port Maritime logistic Corridor, removal of all stationary trucks on Lagos roads leading to the Ports”. But that can not be true!

If anything, during the stewardship of the team, allegations of bribery was rife. It cost more to move cargoes out of the ports to consignees, because of the heavy vehicular traffic. The Apapa corridor became more hellish during Opeifa. All manners of trucker’s associations sprang up; not to protect their members, but to partake of the largesse of bribe-for-right- of-way on the two approaches to Lagos ports. The truth is that, the Opeifa team got enmeshed in the high wired interest in Apapa traffic.

Back to the current. The composition of the Lagos State team on Apapa traffic leaves nothing to cheer, its membership is not inspiring as to expect result. 

It’s the same old song, because the Special adviser to Governor Sanwo-Olu on Transportation, General Manager, LASTMA and a few other aides of the Governor are the political drivers of this wheel.

Just like the Federal Government Task Team which had Opeifa as head, the head of the Lagos state team is Mr Toyin Fayinka; the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation!

Just like the Federal Government team, the Governor also said that the state team will work with LASTMA, FRSC, Police and Intelligence Service officers. The Federal Government Task Team also had these. In fact, the current Commissioner of Police in Lagos; Mr Hakeem Odumosu was the head of Police team. Can we now see that nothing has changed, except the nomenclature?

Is this arrangement different or any better than the Federal Government with Opeifa as head?  No.

Opeifa failed because, the roads leading to Apapa were not in the best of shape, he had to work with some entrenched stakeholders whose interests were pecuniary. The Police and LASTMA officers attached to his task team compromised hugely. Above all, he failed because there is no adequate arrangement for holding bays where trucks coming into Lagos ports with empty containers could drop them.

Presently, there is no such arrangement. Unless the Nigerian Ports Authourity make good its promise to begin electronic call-up of trucks by February 27 and the Mile 2 to Tin Can port road is fixed, the Lagos state team on Apapa traffic is not going to succeed.

  

 


Related Posts

Vessels Expected At Lagos Ports As At 9th July, 2025

FG Donates 3,500 Life Jackets to Boost Waterways Safety in Ogun State

July 9, 2025
Vessels Expected At Lagos Ports As At 9th July, 2025

Dangote Commends NPA-Led OSS Committee, Donates Bus to Support Operations

July 9, 2025
Vessels Expected At Lagos Ports As At 9th July, 2025

Customs Intercepts ₦654m Worth of Undeclared Foreign Currency at Kano Airport, Hands Over Suspects to EFCC

July 9, 2025
CRFFN Dismisses Viral Court Judgement Reports, Reaffirms Regulatory Mandate over Freight Forwarders

CRFFN Dismisses Viral Court Judgement Reports, Reaffirms Regulatory Mandate over Freight Forwarders

July 8, 2025

Discussion about this post

Latest News

Vessels Expected At Lagos Ports As At 9th July, 2025

FG Donates 3,500 Life Jackets to Boost Waterways Safety in Ogun State

July 9, 2025

Dangote Commends NPA-Led OSS Committee, Donates Bus to Support Operations

Customs Intercepts ₦654m Worth of Undeclared Foreign Currency at Kano Airport, Hands Over Suspects to EFCC

Vessels Expected At Lagos Ports As At 9th July, 2025

CRFFN Dismisses Viral Court Judgement Reports, Reaffirms Regulatory Mandate over Freight Forwarders

Lagos Govt. Dismantles Illegal Checkpoints Along Badagry Expressway

Nigeria Customs Sensitises International Airline Operators on Currency Declaration

PHOTO NEWS Collaboration For Trade Facilitation

Vessels Expected At Lagos Ports As At 8th July, 2025

Nigerian Exporters Lament as Road Freight to Ghana via Benin, Togo Costs Over ₦10 Million Per Truck  

NIWA Responds to Lagos State’s Call to Halt Sand-Filling Approvals on Waterways 

Shippers’ Council Recovers Over N5.5 Million in Container Deposit Refunds, Demurrage Disputes in Q1

kindly like our Facebook page

Health

Contraceptive Pills Can’t Cause Cervical Cancer – Expert
Health

Contraceptive Pills Can’t Cause Cervical Cancer – Expert

June 30, 2025

Mrs Roseline Akinlabi, Adolescent and Youth Sexual Reproductive Health Desk Officer, Osun Primary Healthcare Board, says contraceptive pills cannot cause...

ONIONS: The Good Old Healing Vegetable

KNOW YOUR BODY PARTS: The Liver

June 16, 2025
ONIONS: The Good Old Healing Vegetable

ONIONS: The Good Old Healing Vegetable

June 16, 2025
Why Prostate Disorder Cases Are Increasing Among Nigerian Men – Experts

Why Prostate Disorder Cases Are Increasing Among Nigerian Men – Experts

June 1, 2025
20m Nigerians Live With Mental Health Issues, Says WHO

20m Nigerians Live With Mental Health Issues, Says WHO

June 1, 2025
Health Facts You Didn’t Know

How Your Habit Affects Fertility

May 19, 2025
Fruits For Raining Season

Fruits For Raining Season

May 19, 2025
See Mental Illness Like Other Treatable Diseases – Says Suicide Survivor

Health Facts You Didn’t Know

May 19, 2025
Alligator Pepper: Benefits, FAQ, Side Effects, & Warning

Alligator Pepper: Benefits, FAQ, Side Effects, & Warning

April 28, 2025
Water And Health: The Relationship That Helps Life

Water And Health: The Relationship That Helps Life

April 28, 2025

© 2021 Shippingposition

Navigate Site

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
  • Terms

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Coast To Coast
  • Oil and Gas
  • Maritime Education
  • The Terminals
  • Maritime safety

© 2021 Shippingposition