NARTO Raise Alarm, Says Apapa Traffic Killing Export Trade

By ZION Olalekan |

National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) has expressed concern over the continuing Apapa gridlock, in Lagos, lamenting that the gridlock is now killing export trade ventures.

The Vice Chairman, Lagos State Chapter of NARTO Dry Cargo section, Mr Abdullahi Mohammed-Nura stated this in Lagos while speaking with journalists, adding that the situation was indeed, seriously sabotaging the call for Nigerians to embark on export trade.

Mohammed-Nura insisted that export bound produce get damaged on transit to Apapa, grieving that exporters were loosing fortunes to the inaccessible ports roads.

He recalled that 2017 witnessed a boom in produce export with many of the exporters smiling to the banks.

He said that the success recorded then inspired many people to borrow money to shore-up their business in order to make bigger impact on the global export trade in 2018.

“Most of them have totally lost their fortunes in transit.

“As a transporter, I interface with many of them and they keep lamenting on the ports roads.

“If the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) can make use of the Lilypond Ijora, Brawal and Kirikiri Terminals that are empty for trucks to pack, it will help clear the mess on Apapa road,” Mohammed-Nura said.

He said that those terminals owned by the government could contain over 3,000 trucks instead of them being packed on the roads as has been the case for sometime.

Also commenting, Mr Abbey Lawal, a cashew nut exporter, said that the road had become a menace for them.

Lawal said that most of his colleagues who could not contend with the harsh environment had opted out.