Apapa Congestion: A national issue calling for urgent attention – Ambode

Abiodun Obadayo |

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode on Wednesday described the Apapa congestion as a national issue requiring urgent attention.

The Governor advised that oil pipelines should be revived to discourage the trend of thousands of trucks coming from other parts of the country to lift petroleum products from Apapa and therefore tasked the Federal Government to do everything within its powers to revive existing Ports in other States of the federation so as to bring about permanent solution to the perennial traffic congestion in Apapa axis of the State.

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode (middle); Deputy Governor, Dr. (Mrs) Oluranti Adebule (left) and State Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC) Lagos, Alhaji Tunde Balogun (right) during the 3rd Quarter 2018 Town Hall meeting (12th in the Series), at the Community Primary School, Iberekodo, Ibeju-Lekki, on Wednesday.

Governor Ambode, who spoke at the Third Quarter Town Hall Meeting, the 12th in the Series, held at the Community Primary School, Iberekodo in Ibeju Lekki Local Government, said the recent chaos witnessed in the area was beyond traffic issues, saying that concerted efforts must be made to revamp moribund ports.

According to him, beyond getting other ports up and running, the issue of tankers queuing up to lift petroleum products from Tank Farms in Apapa was also a major issue causing gridlock and damaging road infrastructure in the area, which according to him was inimical to the economic growth of not just the State, but Nigeria in general.

“It would be very unfair to Lagosians if I don’t talk about issues relating to traffic management and integrated transport management most especially what we have witnessed in the last one week in Apapa, but again I would like to tell Lagosians that every stakeholder that is ‎relevant to resolving the Apapa crisis, we have gone to work and you can see that there is a major improvement.

“But again, this issue has become perennial and in the last six years, it’s always been there, it comes and goes, but the challenge is to be able to find a permanent solution and in that reason Mr. President had directed the Vice President to come and see what the situation is and to actually give us a permanent solution. We are grateful Mr. President; we believe strongly that every layer of government should collaborate to be able to resolve this Apapa crisis.

“But we all must know that Apapa crisis is more than traffic issues. That is where all States depend on for revenue through Customs because the revenue is shared at FAAC. If anything goes wrong in the Port, whatever they get from Federal Allocation Account Committee (FAAC) could reduce,” Ambode said.

The government frowned at the present practice of lifting petroleum products through the use of trucks.

Ambode said, “It is bad that we still use truck to lift petroleum products from Apapa to other parts of the country.

“As it is now, other ports in Nigeria must begin to work immediately to decongest gridlock in Lagos; whatever has led to continual use of trucks to lift fuel, which is, vandalism of pipeline should be addressed immediately.

“We believe that this will allow the roads to become free. We don’t need to continuously use tax payers’ money to build road that were destroyed by tankers.

“We call on the Minister of Petroleum and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to work towards reviving the pipelines,” he said.

The governor did not hide his concern about the approval for the development of tank farms in Ijegun area of Lagos, saying that as much as the State supports redistribution of tank farms, such should be located in areas that are not populated.

“We don’t need tank farms within Lagos metropolis anymore. There are 68 tank farms in Apapa alone. That is a serious danger waiting to happen. Beyond Apapa, they have approved tank farms in Ijegun axis and that is where we have huge population.

“We need to redistribute tank farm establishment to outer borders and other parts. This is what we believe should be done at this moment to free Lagos roads,” he said.

Giving an insight on the next plan of action for the Ibeju Lekki axis, Governor Ambode also said the construction of the Epe Airport and reconstruction of the Coastal Road were very much on course, adding that the dualization of the Eleko Junction to the T-Junction would commence in January 2019, while the 27 network of roads in Ojokoro, Ayinke House, among others would be completed before the next quarter.

The governor, while thanking traditional rulers, community heads and residents of Ibeju Lekki for their unflinching support towards the advancement of the multi-billion dollar projects ongoing in the Lekki Free Trade Zone assured that all issues relating to compensation would be resolved before the end of the week.