Apapa’s perennial traffic gridlock

Lagos State Governor Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode recently reacted to the seemingly insoluble traffic gridlock in the ports area of Apapa by reading the riot act.   He said the traffic gridlock experienced daily is attributable to the activities of petrol tankers which queue up on roads and bridges in order to load petroleum products at tank […]

Lagos State Governor Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode recently reacted to the seemingly insoluble traffic gridlock in the ports area of Apapa by reading the riot act.   He said the traffic gridlock experienced daily is attributable to the activities of petrol tankers which queue up on roads and bridges in order to load petroleum products at tank farms. Ambode also said that despite the seriousness of the situation, even more tank farms are being approved for setting up in the area.
    He then issued a 90 day ultimatum to tank farm owners to build loading bays or face being shut down. Three months since his meeting with tank farm owners and petrol tanker drivers, there has been little improvement in the situation.  For years the traffic gridlock in Apapa has been a source of stress and economic hardship to the people living and working in the area as well as to anyone who plies the roads. The roads in Apapa are so heavily potholed that movement is snail low, accidents are frequent and big trucks and tankers often overturn and drop heavy containers on hapless small vehicles.
    Therefore, any action taken to ease this situation is highly welcome. However, a problem that has taken so many years to accumulate to this level cannot be solved easily or overnight and it will require a range of painful as well as costly short, medium and long term measures. Approximately 90% of the petroleum products which are imported into this country are discharged in Apapa. Many of the possible solutions to this problem are beyond the capacity of the Lagos State Government. Some may even be beyond the capacity of the Federal Government but the two of them must work together to address this problem that poses such a big challenge not only to Apapa residents but to the national economy as a whole.
    The costly delays at Apapa affect consumers of goods all over the country.  Ambode and LASG have already adopted measures that try to address the situation in the short term, such as restricting the tankers’ movement to certain times of the night. This however created a problem of its own. Once it is their time to move, the tanker drivers are said to move recklessly, driving other road users off the streets because they say it is their only opportunity while the small cars and buses have the rest of the day to move around.  The deplorable state of Apapa’s road is also a contributory factor. Potholes the size of craters adorn Apapa’s road. They make for snail slow traffic movement as well as frequent breakdowns and accidents. Every now and then a huge truck topples over and drops a container full of goods on a hapless small vehicle, with quick losses of lives.
    The deplorable state of roads also spills over to the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, the main gateway for the goods going inland. A medium term plan to keep these roads in relative good shape must be undertaken by the state and federal governments.    Beyond patching up potholed roads, things will be much better if more infrastructure is provided in Apapa. Building flyovers will be a costly project but it is the way to go in the medium term. Meanwhile, if only this country can wean itself from scandalous dependence on imported fuel products by improving domestic refining capacity, Apapa will be much relieved. The rail lines should also be extended to Apapa so that so many tankers are not needed to move goods from the ports. Right now, Apapa alone accounts for 80% of the cargo that comes into the country. This, when the country has many other ports along the coastline such as Calabar, Port Harcourt, Warri and Koko. Some of them are even nearer to the imported goods’ final destination in the hinterland. Goods discharged at these other ports could also make use of the East to North rail line which goes all the way from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri. The authorities should force importers to make better use of these alternative ports, forcibly if necessary.