Chinonye Anyatonwu.
The Maritime Journalists Association of Nigeria (MAJAN) , a publication of The Powerful Pen Newspaper, has held its maiden Maritime Summit together with stakeholders in the industry and its environs to seek lasting solution to problematic Apapa gridlock.
The forum had as its theme: “Apapa Perennial Traffic Gridlock: Has it Defied All Solutions?” was held recently at the Rockview Hotel, Apapa, Lagos.
The summit was objectively intended to find a workable and lasting solution to this perennial Industry challenges.
In a paper presented by the president of MAJAN, Comrade Ray Ugochukwu, recall that members of MAJAN, publishers of The Powerful Pen Newspaper, had on December 8th, 2016, embarked on a protest march against the Apapa traffic gridlock, then at it infancy, The march took the members from Mile 2 to PTML customs, Tin Can Island Port, Lagos Port Complex, NSC, NPA headquarter and to Lagos state government house, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.
The MAJAN boss stated that “as a journalist, who have observed events in the industry for sometime, the Apapa traffic crisis was expected to happen. This is because the proponents of the nation’s port reforms threw caution to the wind in the processes leading to the port concession of 2006”.
Comrade Ugochukwu said that though the idea of port concession, on the surface, looked well-intentioned but the drivers had a hidden agenda, opined that its that hidden agenda that has led to the devastating traffic in Apapa till today.
Stakeholders worried that 15 years after the flag-off of the country’s port concession, Nigerian ports are not business friendly, lack trading predictability, remain non-competitive, non-transparent neither efficient; also worried that after several seminars, workshops and conferences held on the same subject matter, with recommendations thereof, oftentimes culminating in one Government intervention or another, yet the situation persists.
A guest speaker at the summit, Chief Boniface Okoye, Chairman/CEO of Bonntex Nigeria Limited, summed up the claims of the companies having holding facilities as ‘fraudulent’
In his words, “Shipping companies, where are your holding bays? They are in the computer. All their holding bays are only seen in the computers and not on ground”.
The Registrar of the NAGAFF Academy, Mr. Francis Omotosho in his presentation recall that the gridlock started as small hold-ups when trailers started loading wet cargoes from the few tank farms that we had around the Port areas then, and that it snowballed into the gridlock that we have today as more tank farms appeared and then the federal government concessioned the ports to private hands without the usual Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) carried out on the area and without the provisions for truck garages for the displaced trucks.
He concluded by saying that “The traffic gridlock has proved Herculean since the new millennium. Its incidence and impact worsened with the success of the concessions which prioritized private sector-led Port operations”.
With the outlook of the Nigerian economy being bright, coupled with possible exponential growth in agriculture and agribusiness, more exports from the Lagos ports system are expected. Although the government seemed handicapped for ready solutions, the latter-day efforts by the Nigerian Navy to clear the gridlock began to yield some results from mid-2018 following the barring of inner city roads to truck traffic.
However, the long term
sustainability of such ad hoc measures is unpredictable. Hence an urban renewal and reconstruction programme to modernize city transport infrastructures and complete review of our ports master plans would seem a better remedial policy”.
The Summit was attended by dignitaries, officials and delegates which includes: the Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Nigerian Railway Corporation, Nigeria Customs Service, Wharf Landing Collecting Fees Authority, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, National Council of Managing Directors Licensed Customs Agents, Sikkens Paints, SinoTrucks,businessmen, industrialists and individuals.
Also speaking, the publisher of MMS PLUS, Mr. Anaroke Kingsley earlier in his presentation described gridlock as a situation of severe traffic congestion , which is also often defined as period when traffic volume exceeds road capacity.
The road contraction associated with infrastructural and planning deficits is fast becoming a normal lifestyle in Apapa and its environs, with heavy economic burden and increasing life and health risk on daily basis.
According to Mr.Anaroke, “Its most appropriate to conclude that there is only one way to die in and around Apapa which is through Apapa traffic-induced death”.
“We elect to die everyday, slowly as we wade through the traffic”, he said.
He however prays that by the end of this meeting, let a NO answer be matched truly with workable action that can complement the election call-up system initiative.
The stakeholders condemned in strong terms the wilful absence of some key agencies whose actions and inactions have caused the traffic crisis to fester. These, they mentioned as shipping companies, terminal operators and transport groups.
They urged Federal Government to re-evaluate and re-jig the port reform taking into account the role of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council as the Economic Regulator.
They also urge NPA to revoke licenses given to oil depot owners at Ibafo area in Apapa and possibly relocate the oil depots away from port environs
Time has come for the government to reclaiming lands around the ports for expansion of port infrastructure including roads and dedicate road lanes for trucks and tanker.
It was recommended that there is need to draw a line between truck owners garage, transit park and call off park. The triangular truck parking system should be revisited and implemented.
They suggested that all hands must be on deck to correct the prevailing perception suggesting that the Apapa traffic gridrock seems to have defeated and making a mockery of the whole essence and object core of the port concession.
