Nigeria, Lagos Apapa road on going rehabilitation has caused a war of words between maritime operators and other stakeholders as a result of the unbearable traffic log jam and blockade of the routes they have been experiencing for years. The latest being the buck-passing among various interest groups on who is responsible for compounding the harrowing experience by motorists plying the routes.
The Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN), accused the APM Terminals of blockading the roads with empty containers in the quest for cargo delivery at its terminal, while the Association of Nigerian Customs Licensed Agents (ANCLA), accused the CMA-CGM Shipping Company of being responsible for the gridlock.
The Apapa Local Government Council, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), and other stakeholders have agreed that owners of articulated vehicles that violate Lagos Road Traffic Law should be prosecuted in a bid to restore sanity on the route with the belief the truck drivers are responsible due to the indiscriminate parking of their vehicles on the roads.
On the Other Hand, Truck Owners Association of Nigeria (TOAN), condemned the verdict as inhuman, and a plot to impoverish the truck owners. They also pointed an accusing finger at the government that refused to provide parking lots for port users. Recall that last month; attempts by security operatives to bring about some orderliness among the truck drivers saw the torching of two banks and destruction of private vehicles and properties by irate drivers.
MWUN in a letter to the Managing Director of APM Terminals has given a 14-day ultimatum to rid the port access road of trucks bearing empty containers.The letter signed by the Dep. Secretary General (Admin), MWUN, Edwin Sambo, read in part: “We are deeply concerned and seriously disturbed by the blockage of the Apapa Port access road with empty containers in the quest for delivery at your terminal.
“Consequently, your management is hereby given a 14-day notice of ultimatum from the date of this letter to put all necessary arrangements in motion to ensure that the blockage caused by the empty containers are totally cleared at the end of this notice, for business and other port related activities to resume at the ports.”
Reacting to the allegation, the company, in a statement by the General Manager, Communications, APM Terminals, Augustine Fischer, said it is not responsible for controlling traffic in Apapa, and hence cannot be held liable for the gridlock in the area. APM Terminals Apapa is as much of a victim of the traffic gridlock as everyone else. Our employees, service providers, contractors, and customers have to go through the harrowing traffic experience every day. These employees are the ones that operate the equipment that service the trucks and would not by any means delay or stop servicing trucks unnecessarily as it would equate to ‘shooting ourselves in the foot.
The National Publicity Secretary, ANLCA, Mr. Farinto Kayode laid claimed on particularly Shipping Company as the caused of the present gridlock being experienced at the Apapa Seaport axis and its environs. The reason being that the company does not have a terminal of their own to receive empty containers, and as such, it has resulted in high transportation cost, for example, a destination that goes for N30,000 is now N170,000.”
Meanwhile, The Chairman, Association of Maritime Truck Owner (AMATO), Chief Remi Ogungbemi, who is not support of the verdict argued that such resolution should not have come from the local government because the Nigerian Constitution makes it the responsibility of the Local Council to provide Truck Parks, and they are not doing that at the moment.
