29th June, 2019
A member of the House of Representatives for Apapa Federal Constituency, Hon. Mufutau Egberongbe, has commended the task force for the cleaning of Apapa area of Lagos for its resilience and determination to end the perennial gridlocks experienced by the residents.
Egberongbe made the commendation in a statement on Friday in Lagos, saying more needed to be done to sanitise the area.
The lawmaker noted that the “notorious traffic situation” in Apapa was orchestrated by the activities of the port located in the area.
According to him, “the port was originally designed to do 33 million metric tonnes but it currently does 80 million showing that the infrastructure is now over-stretched and resulting in the terrible traffic congestion experienced on roads around the area daily.”
He also commended the vice chairman of the presidential task force, Kayode Opeifa, and the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for their constant visits to Apapa with a view to ensuring the lamentable situation was resolved.
“I want to ask that they should accelerate the issue of the port ongoing in Badagry and that of the Lekki Free Trade zone for the decongestion of the Apapa while, in the long run, the railway and the water transportation facilities in the state should be rejuvenated.
“The railway had been a medium of carrying large amount of goods from Apapa to other areas of the state and the country before the facility became moribund. The rail lines are still there; they should be revamped,” he said while urging the federal government to also take advantage of the navigable waterways in the state.
Apart from these, the lawmaker said it was important for the authorities to consider cargo tracking at the port as one of the means of reducing gridlock in the area.
Egberongbe also urged the federal government to make funds available to the Lagos state and the Apapa local governments as a form of revenue to make it easy for them to sustain and protect roads and other infrastructures in the area affected by the activities at the port.
While lamenting that the challenge has resulted in low value of properties in Apapa, he called on the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), NIMASA and private organisations operating in the area to activate corporate social responsibility, especially in relation to roads and drainage facilities.