jona2:
Apapa bad roads, tanker drivers bring pains
By Roseline Okere

SHE thought it was a good day, as Mrs. Kate Adeniyi, a resident of Beach Land Estate, [b]Apapa Lagos, drove home that evening.

She had made good sales in her two textiles shops located at Oshodi Market and for that, she felt good.

She did not worry unduly when she got stuck in the perennial traffic jam along Sunrise Bus Stop towards her estate until a young man approached her side of the car and gruffly asked her to hand over her hand-bag.

"Of course, I refused and tried to wind up the glass when two other men joined him.

"They smashed the side glass with a hammer and forced the door open.

"Two of them started to beat me, while the others ransacked my car.

" They took away my phones, all the money in my bag as well as the one in the pigeon hole. They took my rings and necklace and every other item of value they could lay their hands on.

"One of them wanted to strangle me and I thank God they did not kill me", the mother of four told The Guardian.

What Adeniyi experienced that evening, however, had been a regular occurrence between Berger, Sunrise Bus Stops and Beach Land Estate.

Ever so often, robbers and miscreants had attacked pedestrians as they walked home or motorists caught in the logjam caused by tanker drivers on the road to Beach Land Estate.

While it may be agreed that no part of the Lagos metropolis is entirely free from traffic jam, some areas such as the road to Beach Land Estate, have however, become more notorious, with businesses and economic activities, gradually coming to a halt.

In this case, the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of petroleum tanker drivers who park indiscriminately around their loading depot.

Unfortunately, Beach Land Estate and its environs are host to four major oil companies in Apapa where the poor condition of roads and indiscriminate parking of tankers have combined to bring untold hardship to residents and motorists.

Another resident, Mr. Onyebuchi Metu, who works in a bank in Victoria Island told The Guardian he has received queries from his employers for coming late to the office.

He said: "I am supposed to resume in my office between 7.00a.m. and 7.30a.m,  But I sometimes get to the office at 8.00.a.m. due to the slow traffic caused by petrol tankers loading from the oil companies around the area

"They double-park and the road becomes too narrow for other vehicles to pass through.

"We have had many cases of robbery on this road. All appeals to NUPENG and the oil companies in the area to allow free flow of traffic have fallen on deaf ears," he added.

A motorcycle operator, Mr. Kunle Komolafe, who said his regular route was between Sunrise Bus Stop and Beach Land Estate, said that the problem caused by the tanker drivers has brought untold hardship to businesses and residents in that area.

He said as a commercial motorcyclist, he has witnessed, " a series of robbery attacks on motorists who desired to get out of Beach Land Estate or drive in but found themselves trapped in the traffic jam caused by the tankers."

"Though I have not been robbed, I have felt the pains too such as when I fell down trying to ride past a very bad portion of the road since the tankers had covered everywhere else. I broke a leg and was unable to do my job for over six months. I am still recovering from the accident," he said.

A resident of the area, Mr. Ken Okafor, though he lamented the logjam, was also worried that any fire outbreak may destroy the whole estate and the companies around the area due to congestion of the road by tanker drivers.

He, therefore, appealed to the Lagos State government to sanction the oil companies whose tankers are parked indiscriminately on the road and thereby, obstruct free flow of traffic in the area.

Also, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Apapa branch, has canvassed the need for the Federal Government to relocate tank farms within Apapa ports to ease traffic congestion in the area.

The Chairman, MAN, Mr. John Aluya said an average of five working hours were lost daily to the traffic congestion, which he blamed on the loading of petroleum products in the area.

According to him, the deplorable traffic situation has affected business outfits because would-be clients now shy away from the area.

He said no matter the point of entry attempted by motorists, the area was always congested because of the lawlessness displayed by tanker drivers.

He also suggested that the tanker drivers should be compelled to park outside Apapa and that an arrangement be agreed upon whereby the tankers come into the area only when necessary.

`` The lawlessness of the drivers, especially the illegal parking of tankers should no longer be condoled by the government,'' he said.

He urged the government to look for alternatives to the present mode of transporting fuel to other parts of the country by road.

Speaking also on the issue, the Vice Chairman, Apapa Local Council, Mrs. Bolaji Dada, said that the traffic congestion was having a very bad impact on the economy of the council and hoped that the government would find a solution to the problem quickly.[/b]Also, the Managing Director, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc., which has its office in Apapa, Babatunde Odunayo, lamented that Apapa, which is an important business hub of the Nigerian economy, had suddenly become a no-go area.

"The tank farms are springing up in the area every day. To me, it is a ticking time bomb. If by any unlucky chance there is any fire incident in the tank farms, the whole area is gone," Odunayo said.

He said that the placing on hold of further construction of tank farms by the government in the area was not the way forward but that the operators should device a more convenient means of loading petroleum products from the ports.

He urged a closer collaboration between the Federal and Lagos State governments to resolve the matter.

In a related development, motorists plying Lagos- Abeokuta and Agege Expressway have called on the government to find solution to the traffic jam at Iyana-Ipaja, Ikeja and Abule-Egba bus stops, especially in the evening.

They blame the traffic on the activities of commercial bus drivers who stop and park indiscriminately along the road.

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