The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Apapa

  • Gridlock takes toll on Apapa Mall

    Gridlock takes toll on Apapa Mall

    Sales have dropped drastically at the Apapa Mall, Lagos. This is a sharp contrast to its record two years ago, when it was opened. Then retailers jostled for spaces. Shop owners and customers blame the problem on the gridlock in the area, TONIA ‘DIYAN reports.

    Apapa mall situated at Park lane in Apapa-Lagos, means different things to different people. For the high and middle class, it presents an ideal shopping rendevouz, while for the lowly placed, it is an opportunity to get into a life of comfort, including an avenue to experience a good ambience money can provide.

    The mall is managed by Top Services Limited, owners of Adeniran Ogunsanya Shopping Mall (AOSM) in Surulere-Lagos and Cocoa Mall in Ibadan, Oyo State.

    The percentage of the mall’s space occupied by top brands, which was forecast to increase yearly has  decreased drastically no thanks to the frustrating traffic gridlock on Apapa Road. The ultra-modern retail centre used to offer its tenants an ideal platform to showcase their products to shoppers, create awareness for their brands, and take advantage of the tenant mix to compete with international brands now settling in Nigeria markets.

    Apapa Mall, which was once a home to departmental stores, is  deserted because of the perennial traffic gridlock on the Apapa Road.

    The steady drumbeat of store closings is like a death knell for the mall, a source lamented.

    The Nation Shopping observed that more than half of the shops in the mall have closed. Even the Cinemas have left. Only few shops are remaining. Residents lay the cause on the bad road, which has been neglected over the past two decades, and now has become nightmarish, for mall owners and commuters. The incessant gridlock has brought economic and other activities in Apapa to a standtstill, besides inflicting untold hardship on residents.

    With the daily intense economic activities going on in Apapa, and tankers, trucks, trailers and lorries arriving the area for evacuation of goods for delivery to other parts of the country, the road is not helping  matters.

    No fewer than 1,000 trucks ply Lagos daily to lift petroleum products to various parts of the country, thereby  leading to chaos.

    A shop owner in the mall, Mrs Omoshalewa Ogunleye, who sells  home appliances, such as bathroom, dining, kitchen, laundry machine, storage and interior decoration, said moving out of the mall is the best thing that happened to her dying business.

    With mall vacancy rate at 35 percent, she said her business had been suffering. Before moving into the mall, Mrs Ogunleye had listened to experts,  who provided answers to her questions. They included: Would the mall offer the best sales volume potential for my kind of products? Can I produce the appeal that will make customers come to my store? Can I deal with the competition of other stores within the mall? How much space do I need to handle the sales volume I expect to have? Where do I need the space (location within the mall)?

    Few years later, it turned out that the experts did not take the effect the road would have on businesses into consideration.

    Yet, home appliances’ shops are not the only losers at the mall. Cinema houses planned to provide entertainment have moved just as  clothing stores have also jumped boat.

    For start-ups eyeing the mall, the issue would not be to raise funds to be in the mall, it will rather be to experience huge foot traffic and make profit. Even top brands with the financial war chest are leaving the mall.

    The Nation Shopping found out that most of the tenants in these stores no longer generate reasonable rate of returns on such investment and are  being forced to quit staying in the cozy building.

    It is, however, not phenomenon as some tenants continue to report good returns on their investment as the lease renewal factor in some malls say it all.

    But Mr Ini Archibong, Public Relations Officer, Chastest Consult Limited, the firm in charge of Shoprite, said: “I am not aware of stores leaving the mall as a result of the gridlock in the area, but again Shoprite has no plans to exit mall; instead there are plans to open more stores in Lagos and the country as a whole. What matters most to Shoprite is to offer a world-class shopping experience to its customers with lower prices you can always trust.”

    According to our source, additional department stores will soon be empty. He, however, said the reason for the trend is the heavy traffic.

    Unlike other places, owners of the mall lament the low demand for retail space as human traffic remains low and sales dropping daily. They say no brands want to move in. They move out daily  instead. According to them, 99 per cent of tenants have terminated their lease agreement in the mall.

    “We’re no longer experiencing demand from grocery stores, cinemas, innovative entertainment venues, the fitness centre and  others.

    “As an owner of retail real estate, we must evolve as it is in our leasing and the evolution of our tenant roster. Mall tenants have an emotional connection with their customers. Thus, they stay in malls where they are profitable, operating from, a source said.

    He however attributed the cause of the problem to the heavy traffic. He argued that brands that have left the malls were those that did not meet customers’ needs on price, variety, type and size of merchandise.

  • Police confirm one dead in Apapa mayhem

    Police confirm one dead in Apapa mayhem

    •Officer, 17 others arrested

    The police yesterday confirmed the death of one person in Apapa during a protest by tanker drivers.

    Unofficial reports however said three persons died in the mayhem.

    The drivers’ protest started when one of them was shot dead in front of Diamond Bank by a mobile police officer.

    The policeman allegedly fled to Sterling Bank on Burma Road to stay with his colleagues there.

    To avert an attack, the policemen attached to the bank started shooting into the air.

    Two drivers were allegedly killed and one was injured in the shooting.

    An eyewitness, Sunday Abiodun, said enraged by the action, the protesting drivers and their motor boys, torched both banks.

    Abiodun said: “This morning, a police officer attached to Diamond Bank, asked one of the truck drivers operating here at Apapa port, to give him N1,000 and the man said he was not the owner of the vehicle parked in front of the bank, that he just came to pick his phone inside the truck. While asking the man to give him the money or move his vehicle, the next thing we had was a gun shot and the man died instantly in front of the bank.”

    Attempts by men of the Lagos State Fire Service, Iponri, to put out the fire, was rebuffed by the drivers.

    It was gathered that the firemen left for fear of being assaulted by the drivers and their trucks vandalised.

    The Nation gathered that it took the combined efforts of Rapid Response Squad (RRS) operatives, Area B police command, Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) BEECEROFT and Nigerian Army Signal Corps to contain the situation.

    The security operatives also stopped the rioters from setting a tank farm ablaze.

    The RRS operatives led by their Commander, Tunji Disu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), also prevented hoodlums from looting the affected tanks.

    A senior officer, who was ground, said: “Those tanker drivers are very irrational. When the policemen attached to one of the banks shot at the tanker driver, they regrouped and stormed the bank in anger.

    “They first demanded that the policeman who shot their colleague be released to them. When their demands proved abortive, they took the law into their hands.

    “They contributed fuel from their tanks and set the bank ablaze. The entire situation caused a stampede as both workers and bankers scrambled to escape from the back of the bank to safety.

    “The drivers were still on the rampage in the first bank when they heard that the policeman had taken refuge in the next bank.

    “Armed with that information, they simply went over to the said bank and carried out same carnage, irrespective of the presence of innocent bystanders.

    “They also attacked innocent policemen going about their own businesses. They stabbed no fewer than three policemen who didn’t know what was happening.

    “Seventeen of them were arrested. The mobile man was also handed over to the DPO Apapa. Calm has returned to the place now.”

    The Police said they had arrested the officer, who fired the fatal shot and 17 others over the disturbance.

    Lagos State Command’s spokesman, Olarinde Famous-Cole, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), said the police went to the scene following a distress call from the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of a new generation bank.

    “The caller said hoodlums were trying to take laws into their hands by setting the bank ablaze following the shooting of a tanker driver by a policeman, attached to the bank after a altercation,” he said.

    Famous-Cole said operatives of the command including the Area Commander Apapa, RRS and other security agents rushed to the scene.

    The Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, was also there.

    Famous-Cole said if not for the police’s quick intervention, the hoodlums would have wreaked more havoc on Apapa.

    He explained that a mob had gathered in front of the bank demanding the release of the policeman to it.

    The bank, he said, refused, leading to the arson and attack on another bank branch on Wharf Road.

    The fire at the banks, the ASP said, was put out by the police and other security agencies. He said the driver whose name he simply gave as Azeez was confirmed dead on arrival on hospital.

    “Contrary to reports making rounds in the news, only one tanker driver was shot. The policeman has been arrested and would be charged to court immediately. The Lagos State Police Command would like to address the members of the public about the rate of impunity and jungle justice in the state. We are no longer going to tolerate the act of lawlessness and impunity by members of the public.”

    Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), chairman Chief Remi Ogungbemi told The Nation that the situation had been brought under control.

    “The situation is calm and the police are on top of the situation. I have told my members to calm down because they cannot use wrong to correct wrong,” he said

    Sterling Bank said the policeman ran into its premises to avoid being mobbed, urging its customers to patronage nearby branches.

    The bank said: “An armed mobile policeman fleeing from an irate mob after shooting a tanker driver disrupted banking operations at the Sterling Bank branch on Creek Road this morning. He ran into the premises of the bank to escape being lynched.

    “Security operatives attached to the bank disarmed and arrested the fleeing mobile policeman but did not hand him over to the irate mob.

    “The mob got upset and attacked the bank with the intention of unleashing mayhem on staff and customers. The branch’s reception area was vandalised and set ablaze.

    “The security operatives attached to the branch prevented the mob from entering the branch while evacuating staff and customers before the arrival of police reinforcement. The branch has been temporarily shut down.

    “We wish to inform all our customers that normal services will continue at nearby branches and through all our electronic channels. Sterling Bank is working with security agencies to resolve the issue.”

    Petroleum Tankers Driver (PTD) said none of its members was shot dead.

    It said reports that some of its members were killed by the police, after loading fuel in Apapa, Lagos, was a figment of the imagination of those who wish out to cause crisis between the two groups.

    PTD’s South-West spokesman Tayo Aboyeji, in a statement, said tanker drivers, the police and other security operatives were like members of the same family.

    Aboyeji said: ‘’The police, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and its various arms are established by law, to discharge their duties, without interference. They mutually benefit each other and have not engaged themselves in fracas. Members of PTD have not involved in any act of criminality or lawlessness’’ he said.

  • Oil marketers urge FG to pay outstanding fuel subsidy claims

    Oil marketers urge FG to pay outstanding fuel subsidy claims

    The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) has appealed to the Federal Government to pay the outstanding fuel subsidy claims to its members to pay back their bank loans.

    The Executive Secretary of the association, Mr. Obafemi Olawore, made the plea in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.

    NAN reports that some oil marketers had on June 18 appealed to the Federal Government to pay their outstanding debts of two  billion dollars (N720 billion) owed on importation of petrol products and the accrued interests on bank loans.

    Olawore said that the immediate payment of the accumulated subsidy claims would salvage the banks from total collapse over the huge debts owed them by marketers.

    According to him, the delay in repayment of the loan debts owed the banks by marketers had led to retrenchment in the banking and the oil and gas sectors.

    “We (marketers) are afraid that if the money is not paid on time, this may attract the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to take over our businesses.

    “The debts had imparted grossly on marketers, while only very few marketers are presently importing insignificant quantity of petroleum products into the country,” he said.

    Olawore said that the plea was to avert the scarcity of petroleum products in the country.

    The executive secretary said that inability of the marketers to import fuel had impacted negatively on loading activities at the Apapa and Dockyard private depots.

    Olawore said that the NNPC had become the sole importer of petroleum products, while marketers were queuing to get the products on credit.

    He said that the Federal Government paid over N300 million daily as fuel subsidy.

    Olawore said that anytime there was problem in the banking sector, it was always traced to the oil sector, because of the unpaid loans collected by marketers borrowed.

    “Once we (marketers) are unable to pay, the banks will have problems,” he said.

    Olawore said that some banks might be having problem with their correspondence banks abroad due to the unpaid loans.

    “This can have negative effects on the financial sector’s stability, which is not good for the economy.

    “A situation where the banks are being owed N800 billion constitute major threat to the continuous existence of the sector,” he said.

  • Ship discharges petroleum products, other commodities in Lagos

    Seventeen ships are discharging petroleum products and other commodities at Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports in Lagos, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), said on Friday.

    NPA explained that the ships were discharging buck wheat, petrol, general cargo, containers, salt, gypsum, bulk fertiliser, diesel, bulk sugar and bulk corn.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 29 other ships laden with petroleum products, food items and other goods are expected to arrive in Lagos ports between May 12 and June 3.

    NPA said that the expected ships would bring base oil, general cargoes, bulk fertiliser, bulk corn, buck wheat, containers, empty container, bulk gypsum, bulk sugar, empty container and petrol.

    NAN reports that 26 ships were expected on May 8; 30 ships on May 9; 31ships on May 10 and 30 ships expected on May 11.

    The document noted that 11 ships had arrived at the ports, waiting to berth with bulk fertiliser, Buck wheat, ethanol and petrol.

  • Nigerian Army, private investors inaugurate semi-automated abattoir

    The Nigerian Army on Sunday inaugurated a semi-automated Abattoir at its Mami Market, Ashanti Barracks, Apapa in Lagos.

    Brig.-Gen. Erema Akerejola, the outgoing Commandant, Supply and Transport Unit, Apapa, who inaugurated the market, said that the project was with the collaboration of a private investor.

    According to Akerejola, the provision of a modern Abattoir at the barracks was his major achievement as the Unit’s Commandant.

    “Nothing can be compared to processing the meat we eat in a clean and hygienic environment.

    “I am humbled and honoured for this project to be undertaken and completed during my tenure in this unit.

    “I know that meat produced in this facility will enrich the citizenry and also compare very well with international best practices.

    “Beef consumers in and outside Lagos are assured of the health and safety of the meat they will be consuming,’’ he said.

    Mr Aminu Gwadabe, the General Manager of Ashanti Barracks Modern Abattoir Operators, said that the investors’ dream was to scale up beef production to the level that would bring in foreign exchange.

    “The vision of the operators is to provide the public with the safest beef possible, processed in the most hygienic environment that will compete favourably with international best practices.

    “We will drive this through technology and public enlightenment on the importance of the consumption of a healthy meat that is free from bacterial contamination.

    “At full operation, the abattoir has the capacity to employ over 3,000 workers,’’ he said.

    Gwadabe said that the management of the abattoir had made arrangement for the processing of the by products like carcasses, offal, horns, animal skins and blood from the abattoir.

    He said that it had made arrangements also with the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) for the evacuation of animal dung and other wastes produced at the abattoir

    One of the investors, Mr Gbadamosi Mohammed, said that meat would be exported from the abattoir to other countries.

    Mohammed said that the abattoir would satisfy local consumption before embarking on beef export.

    He said that the investors had plans to establish a cattle market where cattle from all parts of the country would be kept before being sold for slaughter.

    A chieftain of Lagos State Butchers Association, Mr Audu Lawal, said the modern abattoir would further boost processing of slaughtered meat in Lagos.

    NAN reports that the semi-automated abattoir boasts of modern slaughtering facilities such as hoisting machines, cradle tables, loading bay with stainless tables, lair-age with running water.

    The lair-age has the capacity of holding 300 cows.

    It also has 34 toilets, offal processing units equipped with gas cylinders, burners and stainless steel tables and two boreholes.

    NAN also reports that the abattoir seats on one and half hectares of land near the old abattoir at the barrack.

  • 36 ships laden with petroleum products, food arrive Lagos ports

    Thirty-six ships laden with petroleum products, food items and other goods are expected to arrive in Apapa and Tin-Can Island Ports in Lagos from May 4 to May 29, according to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

    NPA said the ships are bringing into the country items such as buck wheat, bulk gypsum, bilk salt, general cargo, base oil, frozen fish, petrol and bulk corn.

    The ships are also bringing in containers laden with assorted goods.

    According to the NPA, eight ships carrying bulk fertiliser, aviation fuel and petrol had arrived the ports, waiting to berth.

    About 20 other ships are also at the ports discharging empty containers, bulk wheat, frozen fish, bulk diesel, soya beans and aviation fuel.

    Others are bulk corn, yellow maize, bulk gas, bulk fertiliser, bulk sugar, containers and petrol.

     

  • Deplorable state of Apapa port roads

    SIR: “We should not be waiting until accident occurs, bridges collapse and people die to adequately fund our transportation infrastructure”. Elizabeth Esty

    Transportation lies at the heart of nation’s economic prosperity. It’s a component of an organizations ability to remain competitive through the provision of reliable and cost effective service. Reducing transportation costs impacts a company’s ability to generate profit.

    Fast forward, 10 years after and despite the commercialization of the ports in Nigeria, one critical infrastructure that has not experienced any turn-around since concession is the Apapa port roads. The total neglect by the federal government gives a lot of concerns to all stakeholders in the maritime sector. The roads are at the worst and in the most deplorable state; and the road users are the ones bearing its pangs especially workers who have to pay additional transport cost to get to work or engage in early morning endurance trek any time there is standstill which has been occurring for the past one week.

    The federal government, the watchman on the tower on these roads have gone to sleep and still sleeping. No excuse from any quarters will be tenable enough to earn any credit for such blanket abandonment. It’s a paradox that such a revenue generating sector can be so left behind despite the colossal amount of money the country earns from these ports. I have watched the trend of events over the past decade and I can see negligence of the government for not providing good access and exit roads for the Lagos port especially Apapa- Wharf. All has been a lip service year after year. So unpatriotic!

    The roads are so bad that it’s always a natural occurrence for truck-laden containers to fall at any time. Many occasions, the Apapa-Wharf is on stand still for reason of gridlock caused by bad roads. Gullies here and there on the road just like a dredging or a construction site.

    The major stakeholders in the port are Nigeria Customs Service and Nigeria Port Authority and are revenue receivers for the government based on their statutory functions for rent and import duties collections. Is it not possible for these two government agencies to make a case to the government at the centre for these roads? All port users expect the present Minister of Power, Works and Housing who was a former governor of Lagos where the port is domiciled to do something at the earliest time since the issue falls in his primary domain. If possible, these roads can be concessioned to a private firm to construct and manage for a specific period with contractual agreement with the government.

    In the interim, Lagos as a state can reconstruct these roads herself, present the estimates to the federal government and get her money back. Other option is for the government to go into collaboration with the five private firms operating in the Lagos Port to construct and manage these roads through their Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) or government should grant waivers on rent, give tax exemption or rebates as the case may be.

    The present situation in Apapa can be captioned in the words of Robin Williams; Why do they call it rush hour when nothing moves?

    The time to fix these roads is now and let the gremlin be broken!

     

    • Seun Falope,

    Lagos.

  • Seven ships arrive in Lagos ports with petrol, other commodities

    Four ships laden with petrol are waiting to berth in Lagos ports.

    Seventeen other ships are discharging general cargoes, buck wheat, yellow maize, frozen fish, soya beans, diesel, empty containers, base oil and bulk gas.

    The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) disclosed this in its daily, Shipping Position, issued in Lagos on Wednesday.

    It reported that two other ships would berth with aviation fuel and bulk fertiliser.

    Thirty five ships, laden with petroleum products, food items and other goods, are expected to arrive in Apapa and Tin-Can Island Ports in Lagos from May 3 to May 22.

    NPA said that the expected ships were carrying bulk wheat, containers, base oil, bulk corn, bulk sugar, general cargoes, bulk fertiliser, bulk gypsum, frozen fish and petrol.

  • Man in court for beating woman to a pulp

    A 38-year-old man, Alhaji Bukar, who allegedly assaulted a woman, Asiata Yahaya, by beating her to a pulp, on Thursday appeared before an Apapa Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.

    Bukar, a resident of the Apapa area of Lagos, is standing trial on a two-count charge of threatening violence and assault.

    The prosecutor, Sgt. Olusegun Kokoye, told the court that the accused committed the offences on April 18 at Gaskiya Road, Ijora, Badia, Apapa, Lagos.

    Kokoye said that the accused assaulted the complainant by beating her to a pulp and also threatening to kill her.

    “The complainant said the fight started as a result of an argument which ensued between the duo.

    “The accused claimed that Yahaya was very rude to him.

    “Yahaya said all efforts made by passers-by to settle the dispute proved abortive; the accused just kept on beating her,” Kokoye said.

    The prosecutor said that the case was reported to the police and the accused was arrested.

    The offences, he said, contravened Sections 56 and 171 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

    The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Section 171 prescribes a three-year jail term for assault occasioning harm.

    The Magistrate, Mr Y.O Aro- Lambo, granted the accused bail in the sum N100, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

    The case was adjourned until May 9, for mention.

     

  • Naval commander found dead in Lagos home

    Naval commander found dead in Lagos home

    The Fleet Commander of the Western Naval Command, Nigerian Navy, Rear Adm. Teikumo Ikoli, was on Wednesday found dead in his Lagos home.

    Spokesperson for the Western Naval Command, Lt.-Cdr. Chinwe Umar, said in a statement that the cause of Ikoli’s death had not been known, but investigation was going on.

    “In the early hours of Wednesday April 5, 2017, gunshots were heard in the vicinity where Rear Admiral Teikumo Daniel Ikoli resides in Apapa, Lagos.

    “When his room was opened, he was found dead,’’ the naval spokesperson said in the statement.

    He said that the police had been invited for investigation into how the naval chief died, adding that more “updates would be given when the situation is clearer.’’

    Ikoli was Commander, Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) BEECROFT and later appointed into the Presidential Committee on the probe of arms deal before he became Fleet Commander, Western Naval Command.