Truck Owners, Shipping Operators Hail Sanwo-Olu, FG on the Progress

• Lagos Taskforce Team Moves to Decongest More Routes

It’s fresh breath of relief for residents and motorists plying the Apapa corridor, with the take-off of electronic call-up system in the Lagos seaports, last weekend.

Major access roads into the Apapa corridor are now substantially free of traffic congestion. Throughout business hours on Monday, there was free passage of vehicles in and out of the area.

Truckers are not left out in the euphoria. They gently filed into the seaports without any hindrance. The ever-busy Wharf road, leading to Apapa Port was vacated by deviant trucks that used to clog the gate.

Sanity was observed to be gradually returning to the Apapa corridor; thanks to the innovative approach initiated by the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) and the Lagos State Government.

A trucker, Usman Musa, welcomed the development, saying the electronic solution had brought an end to years of agony he had faced on the route. It’s a new lease of life for truck operations around the seaports, he stated.

“If anyone had told me there would be a time when traffic at Marine Beach would flow freely as being seen today (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.

Following the launch of the e-Call Up platform and traffic enforcement in Apapa by joint Taskforce teams raised by the Lagos Government and NPA, bottlenecks contrived by law enforcement agencies and port officials were dismantled and trucks had cleared off the routes, resulting in free movement of traffic in Apapa.

Applauding the progress recorded, Musa said: “We support the action of the Government in solving this problem and we have started to comply with the order that prohibits parking our trailers on the highways.”

A transporter, Ismail Olaitan, admitted that the innovation introduced had reorganised the chaotic operation of trucks around the seaports, praising Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Managing Director of NPA, Mrs. Hadiza Bala Usman, for displaying strong will in enforcing the change.

He said: “We are happy with this development. When the electronic call-up system was launched at the weekend, most of our colleagues took their trucks off the roads and moved into Lilypond Terminal in compliance. This new system will bring about positive impacts on our business, and this is why we are embracing it with joy. The old system had only brought us pain and sorrow.”

A property owner, Aloysius Oriakwu, was full of praise for the State Government for the enforcement of the traffic along the corridor. He said businesses using his property as office space left at the height of perennial congestion that turned Apapa into a no-go area.

“I can now put my property up for rent again after four years. I support the initiative introduced by the Government and this must be sustained to prevent recurrence of the congestion,” Oriakwu said.

A truck owner, Isiaka Mahmud, also expressed excitement with the launch of the e-Call Up Initiative, saying the innovation would address corruption in loading schedule at the ports.

To consolidate on the progress recorded in Apapa following the launch of the e-Call Up system, the State Government’s Taskforce team, led by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Hon. Toyin Fayinka, relocated to the area on Monday to enforce the traffic regulations.

Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, dismantled all checkpoints mounted by the police along Apapa corridor from Surulere into the seaports.

According to the police boss, the checkpoints were part of the factors creating traffic along the the Apapa corridor. Odumosu warned that dire consequence awaits any officer who returns on the Apapa routes to create unapproved beat.

Odumosu, however, allowed a checkpoint in front of Sifax Depot for enforcement purpose only by men of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA).

While the development had been roundly hailed by residents and business operators, some man-made obstructions were yet to be addressed in the initiative.

Access into some of the approved parking lots created for trucks were still being obstructed by illegal structures and trading activities, making it difficult for trucks to move into the parks.

Although, the State Government’s Taskforce removed most of the illegal structures before the take-off of the e-Call Up system, but some of the occupants were yet to leave.

The Taskforce ordered the complete removal of illegal structures blocking the pathway in the trailer parks.

Fayinka said: “Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is determined to get rid of the induced traffic congestion in Apapa. We started the enforcement last weekend and everyone can see that sanity is returning to Apapa. We will at stop nothing to ensure there is free flow of traffic on this corridor. Therefore, enforcement will be continuous.

“The Lilypond Truck Terminal being operated by TTP is gradually getting ready. There are few impediments that are preventing full utilisation of the facility. As part of the enforcement team, the police led by the Commissioner had read the riot acts to those involved. We have given the owners of the illegal structures a notice to vacate the area by next Saturday. Should they refuse, the Taskforce will do the needle.”

naptu2:

That task force has been disbanded and the job handed over to the Lagos State Government.

The Navy, Police and other agencies have been ordered off the road and LASTMA has been made the lead agency for the exercise.

That's why there has been improvement, because the agencies that are now enforcing the new plan are local and it is easier to report, monitor and sanction them.

emmanuel596:
In a matter of weeks we will return to the same old cycle of shits

We will at stop nothing to ensure there is free flow of traffic on this corridor.
Therefore, enforcement will be continuous.

Lanrelagboi:

https://unilagefiwe.com/residents-motorists-excited-as-apapa-gridlock-eases-off/

post=99533086:
[s]Who are the sole beneficiaries of the current revenue drive being enforced by the Presidential Task Force on Ports Decongestion and Easing Apapa Gridlock?
The question has become pertinent because whoever is vested with the responsibility of supervising the task force, if he is not the sole beneficiary, ought to know by now that the task force has since outlived its usefulness and it is now operating beyond its brief extorting various sums ranging from N50,000 to N200,000 to grant access to port users. To maximum its profiteering, it has also resorted to illegally mounting all manner of obstacles and roadblocks which constitute the revenue collection points all over Apapa to make life utterly unbearable for port users and residents of Apapa.

Across all the security agencies, posting to the task force is a goldmine, place to be and there is a scramble for postings with people bribing those in charge of postings with as much as N150,000. A story is being told of how a police officer with the rank of sergeant serving in Kano suddenly made it big in Lagos.

Sergeant Aliyu Bala (not real name) has been in the force for over 20 years. With his nine children and two wives, life was treacherous. He could hardly feed his family and was perpetually borrowing before month ended to make ends meet. But then, he saw a junior colleague of his who was recently posted to Lagos and just within three months, he came back to Kano with a car and the family was doing well.

Determined to get to the root of this sudden opulence, Bala pressed his colleague for information but his junior colleague only told him Lagos was a jungle and survival was a way of life. Bala got his break when his sister, who resided in Lagos invited him to come and spend some few weeks of his leave with them in Lagos. It was an eye opener for him.

Once he returned to Kano, with the help of his sister, the money was raised, paid and he was transferred to Lagos and to the task force. Today, Bala’s story has changed completely for good. In just about six months since he arrived here, regardless of the initial obstacles of accomodation and resettlement, he has not only rented and furnished his house in Lagos, he has also bought two cars, one for himself and another for his wife. He is also planning to build a befitting house too.

This is just an aspect of the corruption and racketeering going on at the task force. The main revenue drive which is the real reason Apapa gridlock would never ease and rather than finding a solution, the situation is deteriorating, worsening the traffic snarls, making nonsense of the much vaunted ease-to-doing business and holding port users in a vice grip.

Firstly, all available spaces from the National Stadium all through to the ports including areas like Orile Iganmu, Bode Thomas, and Ijora Olopa axis all through to the ports are taken over by vehicles and each vehicle pays N5000 per night for the parking space. For vehicles going to drop off empty containers, the payments range from N50,000 to N100,000 depending on whether it 40 feet or more. Then it costs N200,000 for a transporter to access the port for his cargoes.

“From First Gate to Second Gate, we have about four roadblocks mounted by the security agents and the trucks must part with money before they can move. As we speak, we pay between N1.1 million and N1.2 million per truck as against N100,000 to move our containers out of the port. The cheapest truck you can get to hire is N1 million. We have never experienced it this way before. [/s]

post=99533086:
Who are the sole beneficiaries of the current revenue drive being enforced by the Presidential Task Force on Ports Decongestion and Easing Apapa Gridlock?

The question has become pertinent because whoever is vested with the responsibility of supervising the task force, if he is not the sole beneficiary, ought to know by now that the task force has since outlived its usefulness and it is now operating beyond its brief extorting various sums ranging from N50,000 to N200,000 to grant access to port users. To maximum its profiteering, it has also resorted to illegally mounting all manner of obstacles and roadblocks which constitute the revenue collection points all over Apapa to make life utterly unbearable for port users and residents of Apapa.

Across all the security agencies, posting to the task force is a goldmine, place to be and there is a scramble for postings with people bribing those in charge of postings with as much as N150,000. A story is being told of how a police officer with the rank of sergeant serving in Kano suddenly made it big in Lagos.

Sergeant Aliyu Bala (not real name) has been in the force for over 20 years. With his nine children and two wives, life was treacherous. He could hardly feed his family and was perpetually borrowing before month ended to make ends meet. But then, he saw a junior colleague of his who was recently posted to Lagos and just within three months, he came back to Kano with a car and the family was doing well.

Determined to get to the root of this sudden opulence, Bala pressed his colleague for information but his junior colleague only told him Lagos was a jungle and survival was a way of life. Bala got his break when his sister, who resided in Lagos invited him to come and spend some few weeks of his leave with them in Lagos. It was an eye opener for him.

Once he returned to Kano, with the help of his sister, the money was raised, paid and he was transferred to Lagos and to the task force. Today, Bala’s story has changed completely for good. In just about six months since he arrived here, regardless of the initial obstacles of accomodation and resettlement, he has not only rented and furnished his house in Lagos, he has also bought two cars, one for himself and another for his wife. He is also planning to build a befitting house too.

This is just an aspect of the corruption and racketeering going on at the task force. The main revenue drive which is the real reason Apapa gridlock would never ease and rather than finding a solution, the situation is deteriorating, worsening the traffic snarls, making nonsense of the much vaunted ease-to-doing business and holding port users in a vice grip.

Firstly, all available spaces from the National Stadium all through to the ports including areas like Orile Iganmu, Bode Thomas, and Ijora Olopa axis all through to the ports are taken over by vehicles and each vehicle pays N5000 per night for the parking space. For vehicles going to drop off empty containers, the payments range from N50,000 to N100,000 depending on whether it 40 feet or more. Then it costs N200,000 for a transporter to access the port for his cargoes.

“From First Gate to Second Gate, we have about four roadblocks mounted by the security agents and the trucks must part with money before they can move. As we speak, we pay between N1.1 million and N1.2 million per truck as against N100,000 to move our containers out of the port. The cheapest truck you can get to hire is N1 million. We have never experienced it this way before.
Victory at last!
Hallelujah


Before and After below....

post=99533086:
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