To millions of Lagos residents and others who ply their trade on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, it is the highway to hell. For long, the situation on the Mile 2-Apapa stretch of the route has become a national embar­rassment. It is the road that leads to the two most viable ports in the country, yet the road is dotted by gullies and killer holes that could easily swallow small cars. Each day, the gridlock on the Oshodi-Apapa Road stretches for many kilome­tres, spilling into other roads and creat­ing monumental traffic challenges for residents and other motorists and com­muters.
Not a few have wondered if the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, could come to the rescue of Lagosians by fixing this federal road long abandoned by the federal authorities.
Lagos, many have asserted, is one of the fastest growing mega cities in the world, with many challenges, including a population of over 18 million people. Infrastructural development and accessible roads are some of the major needs of the people.
Many believe the situation in Apapa could be addressed by Fashola so that the businesses currently being strangulated in the area could be resuscitated.
After three visits to the troubled road, Fashola had announced that the Oshodi-Apapa traffic snarl that has turned that axis into a nightmare would be over in weeks. And since then, there have been renewed efforts to put an end to the traffic congestion in the flourishing business hub. The state government seems to have discovered the source of the problem.
And relying on the assurance by operators of fuel tankers that henceforth, they would be parking their vehicles in a manner that would ensure a seamless movement of traffic, Fashola said there would be no need for enforcement if the tanker drivers voluntarily complied with the rules.
“It is when people don’t comply voluntarily that you need enforcement. When people comply voluntarily, there will be no need for enforcement,” he said, adding that government only intends to make the tanker operators realize the amount of pain they are causing residents and other businesses in the area by their operations.
“What we intend to achieve here is to make the tanker operators here, members of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and their affiliates, to understand that their business operation is inflicting pain on residents of Apapa. and once they understand that, it is important then to see what kind of empathy that they bring to the business.”
The governor said the operators had agreed that they would make some changes within one week. “It is easier for me when a man says, ‘I am willing to change my ways that is hurting people.’ If we don’t see that change, we know what to do on behalf of taxpayers and on behalf of the people who we represent.”
Expressing the determination of government to ensure that other businesses survive in Apapa, Fashola said owners of the oil companies that have tank farms in Apapa would visit the area in the course of the week as a group “to see for themselves how they make profit and the cost of that profit on ordinary citizens. I think once they see this, I am sure we will begin to see some organisation and some empathy.”
He said easing traffic on the road would only constitute a temporary relief, adding that some of the questions that should be asked included why fuel was being distributed in the country with so much pain.
“Is it a business and an economy that causes pain? Why is this? This is the only place where fuel is being distributed with so much pain? So what are the NNPCs of this world doing? Where is all the money that is coming out of this port going? At some point it was reported that in half a year, this port made N1.4 trillion. Where did the money go? Why didn’t we put it back into this business?
“Why are we transporting fuel by road, why can’t we do it by rail? Now, make no mistake about it; there is a side of their business that we must listen to. We are the ones using the fuel and about 3,000 trucks load here every day and they have to come here. So this is the place we put fuel. Why can’t we pump fuel across the country, from Atlas Cove to Mosinmi and all of that? Why are those facilities not working? What has happened to them?”
But in spite of all the challenges, the governor has vowed to end the perennial vehicular congestion before the end of his tenure in May next year,
He said: “This is clearly a multi-agency problem involving the agencies of the Federal Government, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Federal Ministry of Works and ports managers.
“The bridge coming into Apapa is threatened. It is just incomprehensible to me. I have never seen a nation that behaves like this in its commercial capital.
“We won’t give up. This is our job. It is a problem created by men and must be solved by men. So, we won’t give up, we will continue to flush the traffic. We are working on inner roads in Apapa, about seven to eight inner roads are undergoing construction. But even the contractors working on the roads cannot move equipment to site because of the failure of the Federal Government.
“We won’t abdicate our responsibility. We will continue to work with stakeholders and hope that the Federal Government will listen.”
Fashola also informed that the concessioning of the ports was beyond signing of documents, saying it requires people to make investment on cargo handling equipment as against the current situation in the port whereby only two equipment were attending to about 40 trucks.
In the face of the challenges, confronting Apapa, the state government recently summoned a stakeholders meeting. There, all the major stakeholders, including the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), NNPC, PPMC, (NUPENG), port operators and business managers in Apapa agreed on a number of positions.
Their areas of deliberation included the repair of the failed sections of the Trinity-Tin Can-Apapa Road, removal of hundreds of fuel tankers along the road, and immediate mobilisation of contractors to site to fix the road.
As a way forward, the stakeholders at the meeting chaired by Sylvester Monye, Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on Monitoring, Performance and Evaluation, charged the NNPC, in the interim, to stop the pumping of fuel to tank farms located along Trinity-Tin Can-Creek road axis, pending the repair of the road.
Unfortunately, the stakeholders said the agreement was yet to be complied with.
According to Aloga Ogbogo, the General Manager (Administration), Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), the NNPC was yet to comply with the position reached at the meeting on ameliorating the pain caused by congestion and its negative impact on the economy.
Ogbogo said AP Moller was operating with only two cargo handling equipment meant to handle between 40 and 50 containers. He said system breakdown within the ports from time to time was another major contributor to the congestion on Apapa roads, as hundreds of trucks, in the absence of parking lots, were being forced to stay on the roads.
For Kayode Opeifa, Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, the non-compliance with an earlier agreement three years ago for trucks entering Apapa to utilise one lane of the roads was responsible for the sordid state of roads in the Apapa axis.
The General Manager of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Babatunde Edu, lamented the frequent falls of containers due to the bad state of roads leading into Apapa, saying the trend posed a great challenge to traffic management.
Many Lagos residents believe that the Federal Government and its agencies, including the Federal Ministries of Finance, Transport and Works as well as the Nigerian Navy, the Lagos State Government and the transport unions should team up to permanently tackle the intractable gridlock perpetually plaguing the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.

Lagos seeks permanent answer to traffic hell on Apapa road