Excitement as Apapa gridlock eases off

Residents and motorists plying the Apapa axis are breathing a sigh of relief following the take-off of electronic call-up system for all trucks into the Lagos seaports. The ever-busy Wharf road, leading to Apapa Port – the largest and busiest port in Nigeria, has been vacated by deviant trucks that used to clog the gate. […]

Residents and motorists plying the Apapa axis are breathing a sigh of relief following the take-off of electronic call-up system for all trucks into the Lagos seaports.

The ever-busy Wharf road, leading to Apapa Port – the largest and busiest port in Nigeria, has been vacated by deviant trucks that used to clog the gate.

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Sanity is seen to be gradually returning to the area, which is substantially free of traffic congestion as vehicles moved freely in and out of the area throughout business hours on Monday.

Nigerian Ports Authority, led by its Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman, recently introduced an app, Eto, an electronic truck call-up system designed for the management of truck movement and access to and from the ports.

Trucks seeking to enter the port were directed to park at the approved truck parks until they are called up into the port via the Eto app.

With this development, movement of trucks in and out of the Lagos seaports is now organised through a transparent electronic call-up system that works on first-come-first-serve basis.

According to the NPA boss, the electronic call-up will remove human intervention from the process.

A trucker, Usman Musa, applauded the introduction of the electronic solution, saying, it has brought an end to years of agony being faced on the route.

“It’s a new lease of life for truck operations around the seaports. If anyone had told me there would be a time when traffic at Marine Beach would flow freely as seen on Monday, I would contest it. The last four years were agonising for most of us working in this area. I used to spend three hours for 15 minutes journey,” Musa said, noting that they have started complying with the order that prohibits parking of trailers on the highways.

Another truck owner, Isiaka Mahmud, also expressed excitement with the launch of the e-callup system, saying the innovation would address corruption in loading schedule at the ports.

Also, a property owner in the area, Mr. Aloysius Oriakwu, narrated how businesses that were using his property as office space, vacated the property at the height of the perennial congestion that turned Apapa into a no-go-area.

With the ease being experienced now, Mr. Oriakwu said he can now put his property up for rent again after four years.

However, the story is quite different on the access road to the nation’s second largest and busiest seaport, the Tin-Can Island Port, as travellers on that axis experience untold hardship occasioned by heavy gridlock.

Investigation by Eko Trust revealed that some of the trucks without e-callup have shifted their base from the Apapa port access road to Mile 2-Tin-Can expressway. The situation is further worsened by the wet cargo truck drivers, particularly petrol tanker drivers.

As a result of the congestion, the road to Kirikiri town from Mile 2 as of Tuesday morning was a no-go-area, just as long queue of petrol tankers took over the major road into the town.

A community leader around Comfort Oboh road, Kirikiri, Chief Arowolo Badmus, appealed to the NPA and the Lagos state government to extend their magic wand to the area so as to rid it of gridlock, as it was done on the Apapa axis.

“Moving in and out of Kirikiri town from Apapa or Old Ojo Road is now a nightmare. The e-call up should also be extended to bonded terminals and tank farm since Kirikiri and satellites town play host to quite a number of tank farms,” he said.

On his part, the President, Association of Nigeria Licensed Clearing Agent (ANLCA), Chief Iju Tony Nwabunike, hailed NPA for the sanity that is gradually returning to Apapa; noting that the e-call up system would drive down haulage cost which has hit the roof top because of gridlock experienced in the past.

The National President of National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Chief Remi Ogungbemi said the e-callup has made it easy to do business in Apapa.

To consolidate on the progress recorded in Apapa following the launch of the e-callup system, the state government’s taskforce team, led by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Hon. Toyin Fayinka on Monday relocated to the area to enforce the traffic regulations while the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, dismantled all checkpoints mounted by the police along Apapa corridor from Surulere into the seaports.

However, a checkpoint in front of Sifax Depot, manned by officers of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) was allowed for enforcement purpose only