Corruption and nine months of battle to eject errant drivers —Opeifa, task force leader
Residents, businesses groan; stakeholders speak on how to restore normalcy
By Olasunkanmi Akoni
It was a gathering of Apapa stakeholders to appraise operations of port activities as well as the performance of the Presidential Task Team, PTT, chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Mr Kayode Opeifa as Vice Chairman.
PTT had been set up about nine months ago by President Muhamnadu Buhari to restore law and order in Apapa and environs.
The measure became necessary following perennial chaotic traffic situation in the axis.
READ ALSO:Benin, Togo, others battle Nigeria over transit cargo
The Extra-Ordinary Meeting on restoration of Law and Order on Port Access Roads in Apapa and environs was to proffer short and long term solutions to the gridlock in the area.
The enforcement team on restoration of order is led by Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP, Hakeem Odumusu, and Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP, Bayo Sulaimon.
The forum, co-organised by the Nigeria Shippers’ Council, NSC, featured accusations and counter-accusations.
The stakeholders attributed the persistent gridlock and congestion in the axis to corruption and illegal activities by some operators.
They took turns to give presentations, accusing one another for the corruption induced gridlock, particularly heaped on truck drivers and terminal port operators.
In the meantime, the stakeholders passed a vote of confidence on the leaders of the enforcement team for their commitment and dedication to duty to restore sanity in the area in spite of the recalcitrant truck operators as well as obvious challenges facing ports operation.
‘National disgrace’
Mr. Frank Aigbogun, Publisher of BusinessDay, took time out to attend the event and opened up on corrupt practices going on at the ports.
Aigbogun described the Apapa situation as a “national disgrace.”
He accused terminal port operators of extorting huge amount of money to get a truck of newsprint cleared from the ports.
But when he was invited to give the media perspective on the issue, he challenged all to rise to find a solution to the “national embarrassment” at the nation’s busiest ports.
Aigbogun narrated how shortly before Christmas, he had signed a cheque of N690, 000 to carry newsprint from the ports to his Apapa office.
He said: “I signed a cheque, last week (shortly before Christmas), to take three containers of our newsprint and each trailer was N690, 000.
“It was like taking my blood and I am asking myself where does the money go? When we started business in Apapa, we were paying at worst N40, 000 to bring in a container; it rose to N100, 000 and now N690, 000.
“Who is sharing the money? I think we can solve the problem in Apapa. We solved it in September 2019, why can’t we solve it now? Why should we allow this mess to continue?”
To him, not only was doing business becoming increasingly difficult, even living is.
He revealed that he had abandoned his house in Apapa.
“I think we must be desperate to remove this shame. I appeal to federal and state governments among other stakeholders to work together to solve this problem. There should be unity of purpose. All corrupt officials must be exposed.
“Let all those who have contributed to turning Apapa on its head be ashamed and let all of us repent and decide to make Apapa work again”.
According to him, the rot at Apapa Wharf, the Tin Can Island Port and the Roll-on-Roll-off (RORO) Port is deep seated.
Mandate
In his submission, Opeifa, brandishing a truckload of videos and photo evidence of Apapa since he assumed the role about nine months ago, precisely May 2019, showed what his team had been going through.
He asserted that PTT was recording huge successes until September 2019. “As of September 2019, we were even contemplating moving out of Apapa to allow other government agencies consolidate on our successes”, he said.
The task force, according to him, is to enforce permanent removal of all trucks left on the highway, develop an effective manual truck call-up system pending the introduction of electronic truck call-up, and develop and implement a workable empty container return and export container truck handling policy, among others.
It was also mandated to remove all extortionist and illegal traffic control groups around port operations.
The task force leader traced the crisis in Apapa since October 2019 to the shutting of Lilypond Transit Truck Park, LTTP, urging a return of Lilypond to its pre-October 2019 status.
On the restoration of law and order, he reported that law and order had been fully restored in Apapa Wharf, Lagos Badagry-Iganmu and the Ijora axis, as well as the Mile 2 to Tin Can Port Gate.
He believed that to defeat corruption that is fighting back at the PTT achievements, the LTTP and call-up system designed by all stakeholders must work.
According to him, terminal operators have refused to cooperate by not providing data of how many trucks are attended to daily at the ports which had made it impossible to manage the flow of trucks in and out.
Opeifa, who said there was no more gridlock in Apapa, accused some residents of converting their properties to private container terminals, saying sanctions awaited those residents.
He also said most of culprits were residents located along the waterways.
‘There is gridlock’
In her contribution, Port Manager, Apapa Port Complex, Mrs. Funmi Olotu, disagreed with Opeifa on gridlock in Apapa.
“There is gridlock in Apapa”, she said.
She blamed the gridlock on sharp practices by truck drivers who practise what she called ‘matching brakes’ which allows trucks to jump queues after paying N20, 000 to security agents.
While acknowledging the personal effort of ACP Sulaimon in keeping recalcitrant truck drivers in check, the ports boss tasked the task team to probe ‘matching brakes’ and deal with perpetrators as deterrence to others.
She also blamed port terminal operators, saying there was no synergy between NPA and the operators.
On illegal jetties, Olotu said most buildings on the waterfront were involved in illegal activities.
According to her, none of the building owners had NPA’s permission to operate as such and, as a result, the buildings had been sealed.
Olotu explained that some of the illegal private jetty operators claimed that they had approval to operate, a development that made NPA take a tour of the facilities.
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), represented by Danladi Muazu, commended the Nigeria Shippers’ Council for the stakeholders’ initiative, saying Customs Comptroller-General was committed to ensuring that bad eggs within Customs were weeded out.
Businesses close
Representative of the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN), Chief Frank Nyiaogu, lamented that many of MAN members were operating below capacity while some had closed business due to the inclement environment at the ports.
On behalf of Shippers Council, Chief Sam Agu hailed the PTT. According to him, the stakeholders’ forum was called to come up with solution to the lingering challenges at Apapa, even as he said that attempts were being made to commit stakeholders to effecting changes that would make the ports devoid of unwholesome practices.
He advocated, among others, the return of full operations at Lilypond and Tin-Can truck terminals.
Mr. Akin Omole, one of the terminal operators, in his presentation disagreed with the claim that his members were responsible for the problems in Apapa, saying “it is a collective responsibility.”
Omole stated, “If Apapa works, we are all winners. But, we are all victims. There is need for better coordination and cooperation among agencies of government.
“We need to work more closely together to address the challenges. There should be no competition or rivalry.”
He also stressed the need to regulate the activities of barges in Apapa ports.
Femi Olawore a major fish importer, said the Apapa traffic congestion had been a major challenge to him and most of colleagues in the fishmongers business.
The operators and stakeholders, therefore, stressed the need for concerted efforts with government agencies to address Apapa gridlock.
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