Govt vows to tackle Apapa gridlock by all means possible

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) on Tuesday assured that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government will find all possible solutions to end the gridlock at Apapa area of Lagos State.

The vice president made this assurance when he addressed a meeting of Government/Private sector at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on how to speedily and comprehensively resolve the Apapa traffic issue.

Osinbajo had at the meeting also directed that the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) implement clear objectives to tackle the Apapa traffic gridlock.

He said, “We should look at all the components and find a quick solution.”

In his remarks, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, noted that Nigeria’s ports had capacity for 34 million metric tons of cargoes per annum, but which had been exceeded, as it was now processing about 80 million metric tons per annum. He also identified poor traffic management as a major cause of the persistent gridlock along Apapa access roads.

Similarly, the Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman, said the NPA will constitute a strong task force to address the issue.

Both Fashola and Usman assured the vice president that the issues will be tackled in a holistic way, not only to fix the problem, but also to support the Federal Government’s Ease of Doing Business reforms.

Private sector stakeholders, including the president, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; chairman, Honeywell Group, Dr. Oba Otudeko; and the chairman, BUA Group, Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu, were present at the meeting and they all made commitments.

As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, the Dangote Group will carry out palliative works and reconstruction of some major sections of the Apapa road, which is expected to be completed by June/July 2018. In the same vein, Honeywell Group will construct a trailer park, while BUA Group will carry out construction works on the Tin Can road.

Others actions to be taken by the Ministry of Works and the Nigerian Ports Authority include, to reduce congestion and ease traffic; empty containers within the Apapa area to be relocated to holding bays, to stop shipping companies from operating holding bays within the Apapa Port location, as well as not to permit Tanks farms within the Apapa area.

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They are also to process licensing access to trailer parks and port location by the Nigerian Ports Authority to commence; to permit advertisement seeking for expression of interests from private sector to operate trailer parks and holding bays within the Tin Can Island area; and to established a task force to manage the flow of traffic within the Apapa and Tin Can Island environ.

Senior Special Assistant to Osinbajo on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, who disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, added that the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, and representatives of the Inspector-General of Police and the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs, were also present at the meeting.

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