Lagosians thought the end had come to the traffic gridlock on its major roads with the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari two week ago on a campaign tour.
But like a flash in the pan, the traffic nightmare has since returned.
Their joy and relief was short-lived as these tankers have returned to the roads, causing stressful traffic and frustrating ride on road users.
The frustration is not limited to commuters alone, but other businesses, such as real estate in Apapa and environs have fallen victims as people are moving out of the area in droves. They cited poor business as a result of lack of patronage, unhealthy living conditions and increased rate of accidents.
Motor bikes, which serve as veritable alternatives are causing incalculable damage and losses to their riders and passengers. The roads have been so terrible that no matter how careful a motorist or a biker is, he is not guaranteed a smooth and safe drive or ride, as he will try to avoid potholes and ditches to the detriment of other road users.
The Organised Private Sector (OPS), which also expressed grave concern at the return of the tankers to the roads, especially areas leading to Apapa Wharf and ports, raised concerns on the current dilapidated state of roads leading to traffic gridlock. They said the challenge on road is having debilitating impacts on trade facilitation, cost of cargo transportation and overhead cost of businesses.
They frowned at the fact that traffic jam on the road currently hampers access to the sea ports, paralyses economic activities, engenders loss of man hour, causes enormous wastage of fuel, brings about huge increase in cargo dwell time, causes preventable accidents and heightens security risk.
They spoke in a statement by Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) Director-General, Mr. Segun Ajayi-Kadir on behalf of Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines & Agriculture (NACCIMA), National Association of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (NASME) and National Association of Small Scale Industries (NASSI).
It read in part: “Most worrisome is that fact that this challenge is also leading to heavy revenue loss to government, overly too long turnaround time for delivery of cargoes, huge transportation cost, avoidable raw materials stock-out and the inability of companies to meet set production targets.”
The statement lamented that trucks hired to carry cargoes cannot have easy access to the ports to lift or deliver cargoes and those lifting cargoes cannot come out of the port because of the long hours in the traffic. “It now takes between five to eight weeks for our members to take delivery of their cargoes of vital raw materials,” it said.
These port users now pay between N350, 000 and N400, 000 as cargo transport cost as against the standard rate of N100, 000 per cargo.
Ajayi-Kadir, in the statement, argued that the current condition of the road with tankers littering the breath and length of the metropolis is not good for business, but hinders profitability and will eventually erode the reasonable progress government has made in improving the operating environment.
To the OPS, it is appauling that the ports being the gateway to international trade and flow of cargoes cannot have world class infrastructure, access roads and facilities comparable to those in China, Dubai, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore to mention a few.
He called on the government to speed up actions that will proffer permanent solutions to the challenge, set up a taskforce made up of representatives of all stakeholders to strategise on ways of resolving the challenge.
Ajayi-Kadir also suggested the need to immediately free the roads and ease the current pressure on all the stakeholders operating on the maritime value chain.
A tanker driver, Mutiu Ismail recalled what happened on the day President Buhari came to Lagos. He said they were sent to their parks, which they knew would not last as their daily existence depends on their visibility on the roads. He said they have little or no choice than to pack the way they do to seek visibility and prospect for customers, who either want to lift containers from the ports or export their goods.
Asked if his association knows the dangers they pose to motorists he responded that this is a case of survival and that the government and other relevant stakeholders know the solution to the problem but has refused to take the bull by the horn.
He said though a section of the public may have seen them as nuisance, he alleged that they are being made to part with sizeable amount of money on a daily basis by various security agencies, who claim ignorant of what the other arm is doing.
Another tanker driver, who does not want his name in print, said the public should rather blame the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) for the chaos, claiming that they only work for two hours everyday and wondered how it should allowed by government.
He said: “When this public institution work for two hours and shut their gates, these containers cannot get inside the port, and in the process they block tanker drivers, who are on their way to various tank farms in Apapa port and environs. When these containers block tanker drivers, will our members climb over them to go into the tank farms?” He added that setting up task force is not the solution to the problem, but just a palliative measure.
Mrs. Yemi George, who works on Victoria Island and lives in Surulere, lamented the stress goes through everyday to navigate the tankers on the road and bridges. She said she is not the only in this precarious situation and pleaded with government and all stakeholders to consider the plight of commuters who are constrained to go through this on a daily basis.
