Port users, commuters groan as Apapa gridlock worsens

Port users, commuters and other motorists are currently groaning over the worsening gridlock on the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway and along the Marine Bridge, Ijora, as trailers and tanker drivers have taken over these routes despite the implementation of the electronic call up system by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Lagos State Government.

Under the system, all trucks are expected to vacate the roads and wait at designated parks until they are called into the ports when needed. However, two months into the implementation of the new system, there seems to be no end in sight to the intractable gridlock.

All the major roads into Apapa were completely taken over by trucks and petroleum tankers. The traffic stretched to other major highways including Eko Bridge and Ikorodu Road.

According to the National Publicity Secretary, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Stanley Ezenga, there has not been any respite on the road despite the e-call up system, which he said has become a money making venture for some people benefiting from the situation.

He said, “Why won’t there be gridlock when the NPA electronic call up is just a nomenclature. The e call-up system is a money-making venture for NPA and some people are benefiting from it. For each call up, trucks pay N10,000 but this is just the official money. They still part with other money being given to security operatives before they get to the port.

The National Coordinator, Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders, Importers and Exporters Coalition (SNIFFIEC) Osita Chukwu, who lamented the pain and frustration clearing agents go through to access the port, described the traffic situation as terrible, with armed robbers seizing the opportunity to rob motorists and commuters of their valuables day and night.

Chairman, Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), Chief Remi Ogungbemi, said the e-call up system is fraught with several irregularities including corruption in the system; hence it has failed to address the gridlock.

He noted that trucks without eto tickets gain access into the port easier than those with genuine tickets, especially at night.

Meanwhile, Lagos State Government has expressed dissatisfaction over the current traffic congestion in Apapa and environs despite the introduction of the electronic call up system, saying more work needs to be done for sanity to be restored in the area.

Commissioner for Transportation, Frederic Oladeinde, said the only permanent solution to congestion in Apapa is to have other functional alternative ports in other parts of the state, which the state government is already constructing in Lekki and Badagry.