THE Federal Government, Petroleum Tanker Divers, PTD, truck owners and other stakeholders reached an agreement yesterday to move all the tankers, trucks and other articulated vehicles out of the Apapa area within 24 hours to pave way for the repairs of the bad spots on the road.
Disclosing this at the end of a meeting with the maritime stakeholders in Lagos, Senior Special Assistant to the President, Monitoring and Implementation, Professor Sylvester Monye said President Goodluck Jonathan had been inundated with calls over the traffic situation in Apapa.
Monye said the situation got so bad that businesses, including port operations, were affected as man-power and revenue were being lost as a result of the traffic gridlock.
Monye also said a new call-up system for tankers and articulated vehicles will be re-introduced with a view to monitoring the movement of such vehicles into the Apapa area.
Besides the agreement by maritime stakeholders to move their vehicles out of Apapa, the government is also considering going into partnership with land owners within Ogun State to build truck parks.
Duration of repairs
It was further agreed that after all the vehicles would have been moved out of Apapa, the contractor will move to site and the road would be repaired within two weeks.
Monye reiterated that the road was not a park but was made for everybody to use.
He said: “The road is not their park. Federal Government would not provide truck park for them.
“Does anybody provide truck park for Ekene Dilichukwu and the Young Shall grow? Everybody provides their parks, so why are we being held to ransom?
“We want to cooperate with them by assisting them. It does not necessarily mean that it is the responsibility of the Federal Government. They are there to make money; they should take care of themselves.
“What we need to do is to get rid of the trucks to enable the contractor get to work.”
PTD assures
on compliance
Speaking in a similar vein, the National Chairman of PTD, Mr. Salimouu Akanni, said his members will comply with the agreement reached at the meeting.
Oladiti explained that his group agreed to move their trucks out of the road so that Nigerians will not blame tanker drivers for any problem that may arise.
He told Vanguard that while meeting was going on, messages were being passed to their members to begin to move their trucks.
Also reacting to the traffic situation, the Publisher of Businessday, Mr. Frank Aigbogun, threatened to mobilise residents in and around Apapa to block every entrance into Apapa.
He argued that the traffic gridlock had led to depreciation of property in Apapa area, adding that people are also moving their businesses out of the place.
Lagos govt reacts
According to Lagos State Commissioner for Transport, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, any truck that goes against the new arrangement will be towed, noting that the number of trucks that come into Lagos every day was more than what the state can cope with.
He, however, called on the management of Nigerian National Petroleum Corpora-tion, NNPC, to consider re-arranging the distribution of petroleum product across depots in the country.
Roll call
Also at the meeting were Senior Special Assistant to President on Maritime Matters, Mr. Leke Oyewole; representatives of Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA; Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Association of Maritime Transport Owners, AMATO; Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO, and NNPC.
Source: Vanguard
