Lagos Tackles Truckers, Shanties In Apapa

For several years, Apapa Central Business District, CBD, once the toast and pride of Lagos, southwest Nigeria, was reduced to a hellish haven. Apapa plays host to several business empires, especially as the sea port is located there. The Apapa Wharf is one of the mainstays of the economy of Nigeria. Over the years, the Federal Government and other authorities have neglected the area.

With the nation’s refineries not producing at maximum capacity, the nation resorted to importing fuel in large quantities. As a result, several oil companies sited their industries in the area. All over the country, tankers troupe to Lagos to convey the commodity to their domain.

Coupled with the thousands of trailers wanting to gain entrance into the Tin Can Island to lift cargoes, Apapa became a hellish nightmare. The roads became impassable as tankers and trailers constituted a clog in the network of roads, as tanker and trailer drivers brazenly parked their vehicles on the road, causing untold traffic gridlock.

From Berger Yard to Apapa, on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, thousands of tankers and trailers could be seen lining up along the roads, leaving a single lane for other vehicles to ply. The resultant effect was that commuters spent over five hours on a good day trying to get to work while on a very bad day, they could spend up to 10 hours.

In Apapa, tankers had completely taken over the roads. The Ijora-Marine Bridge, Creek Road, Liverpool and others had become traffic nighmares.

Several business outfits in Apapa had folded up because of the nuisance caused by tanker drivers. Many Lagosians are scared of transacting businesses in Apapa because of the traffic nuisance. In the past, the tanker drivers had resorted to strikes whenever the Lagos State government wanted to dislodge them from the area.

Apart from the menace posed by tankers and trailers in the area, thousands of shanties and illegal structures had over the years been built under the Marine Bridge, Liverpool Bridge and Creek Road. Robbers took solace under the bridges, while foreigners, Hausas, vagrants and other homeless people had turned the place into their homes. Several small scale businesses and mechanics readily took over under the bridges, making Apapa an eyesore.

Fed up with the nuisance, Governor Babatunde Fashola decided to take the bull by the horns and restore Apapa to its lost glory. Fashola visited Apapa two weeks ago to inspect the level of menace posed by tanker drivers and those trading under the bridges. He was unhappy with what he saw and issued a 7-day ultimatum to tankers and trailers to quit the roads while those inhabiting illegal shanties in the area were ordered to quit.

In the wee hours of Monday, 7 May, 2012, hundreds of officials of the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit, led by its Chairman, Supol. Bayo Sulaiman stormed Apapa to clean up the mess.

The Federal Government also joined forces with the state government to clear the nuisance. Military men, the police, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, Kick Against Indiscipline, KAI operatives, among others joined in clearing the nuisance in Apapa.

Over 60 tankers and trailers that refused to vacate the roads were impounded. Before daybreak, the entire stretch from Berger Yard to Apapa Wharf was cleared of tankers. For the first time after several years, the perennial traffic gridlock at Coconut, Tin Can Island, Berger Yard, Liverpool and Marine Bridge, among others, occasioned by the indiscriminate parking of tankers on the highways disappeared.

Lagosians can now heave a sigh of relief as they can now ply the Apapa-Tin Can road without encountering traffic gridlock. Many commuters have commended Fashola for curbing the nuisance on the expressway.

Since the clearing exercise commenced, the taskforce operatives have demolished thousands of shanties and illegal structures under the Ijora-Marine Bridge, Liverpool Bridge, Creek Roads and Naval Dockyard. Thousands of illegal traders, miscreants, suspected criminals and others have been disloged from under the bridges. Arms and ammunition were recovered by the taskforce during the demolition of shanties at Ijora-Marine Bridge, which lends credence to the assumption that hoodlums and possibly armed robbers had been living under the bridge.

Taskforce Chairman, Sulaiman said the exercise was led by the Commissioner for Police, and there was no resistance whatsoever by the truckers as their trucks were towed by the taskforce.

Sulaiman said the aim of the exercise was to restore Apapa to its former glory, adding that there was no way shanties could be left standing in the area as well as indiscriminate parking.

He stated that those inhabiting the shanties and the truckers would never return there as 24 hours surveillance would be mounted just like it was in Oshodi, Mushin and Obalende. The taskforce officials are still on the watch in Apapa, like it is in Oshodi since the area was cleared of shanties and illegal structures over two years ago.

The Lagos State government plans to beautify the loops and under the bridges in Apapa to ward off criminal elements from making the area their homes.

According to the Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, the activities of the people living under the bridge were a security threat, traffic gridlock and also weakening the bridge which might eventually collapse if the state government did not take the urgent action to clear the area.

“Our objective here is to make commerce and movement in Apapa smooth and free. Before now, there was bottleneck and people could not access the road easily. His Excellency, the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola paid a visit to the area and saw people sleeping under the bridge and carrying out all sorts of illegal activities.

“Their activities and those of tanker drivers had affected the delivery of goods at the Port; it is also one of the reasons why people could not access the Port in time. Several companies have shut down because of the degradation and abuse of the area,” he lamented.

The commissioner disclosed that arms, including cutlasses, knives, guns, among others, were recovered by the enforcement team, adding that the enforcement team allowed the people to take their valuables before the demolition under supervision.

He added that serious damage had been done to the Marine Bridge. He called on Federal Government to examine the bridge from Ijora to Apapa. The clearance, according to him, would afford the Federal Government the ample opportunity to ascertain the structural integrity of the bridge and make amendments where necessary.

Bello who also affirmed the Federal Government’s support for the clearing exercise in the area assured that the State Government was ready for complete restoration of sanity in the area. Citing Oshodi as example, he said that the regeneration of the Apapa area would be sustained.

The Commissioner for Transport, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, added that the state government would not tolerate a situation where roads meant for vehicular movement would be blocked with parked trailers while motorists struggle for space to move, adding that any assault on Apapa was an assault on the nation’s economy.

He said government, in its effort to permanently put a stop to the environmental and traffic menace posed by the mismanagement of the nation’s three most important sea ports and the huge number of tank farms around the Apapa sea shore to motorists and residents in and around Apapa, conducted series of on the spot assessment of the axis in order to determine the extent of environmental degradation and proffer permanent solutions.

“The Ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment, Task Force and Special Offences and Apapa Local Government had at several times, inspected the corridor and also met with various transport unions and stakeholders on the corridor.

“Our findings revealed that due to the heavy presence of container-carrying trucks and tankers on the axis, most of the roads, such as Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, Creek Road, Commercial Road and Wharf Road, to mention just a few, are in a dilapidated state and needs the urgent attention of the Federal Government.

“Similarly, the time frame for the loading of petroleum products from the tank farms, unavailability of parking space for the tankers within the tank farms, loading of goods from the three major seaports in the state, off-loading of containers into the Port, abandonment of the reconstruction works on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway and the truck terminal are among the contributing factors to the intractable traffic problems on this important axis,” he stated.

Workers and residents of Apapa are overjoyed by the clearing of truckers from the area as well as the demolition of shanties. They are happy that they can now ply the area without the usual traffic gridlock of the past. To them, it was like a miracle that Apapa is regaining its former shape after several years of bastadisation and neglect.

Mr. Bisi Folorunsho, who works with Oil and Gas in Apapa said he was overwhelmed when he saw that the Oshodi-Apapa road was completely free.

“This is the best thing to happen in our time. The state government has done a very good job. I hope it won’t be that after sometime, they will go to sleep and allow the tankers to come back again. The government has to be consistent. The road was very free when I passed through. The demolition of shanties under the Ijora-Marine Bridge is also commendable,” he said.

Another worker in the area, Mr. Olumide Odekunle said he was elated that after a very long time, the road to Wharf from Oshodi is free, while the Marine Bridge is also free. According to him, “everybody is happy about the development. I took a bus from Oshodi to Apapa and it was not more than 15 minutes as the road was free. I hope government can sustain this.”

— Kazeem Ugbodaga