Vehicles Spend Months in Queue as Apapa Port Complex Congestion Persists

Gridlock, chaos, and confusion remain the order of the day in Apapa, the area housing Nigeria’s biggest port complex and its environs in Lagos, checks by the Daily Trust revealed.

Truck drivers and their officials voiced out their concerns in separate chats with our correspondents, saying they were frustrated at the worsening traffic situation in the nation’s biggest port terminals despite interventions by the federal government.

But those charged with the responsibility of sanitising the area, including the presidential task force headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, debunked the allegation, saying things are now normal.

When our correspondents visited Apapa last week, chaotic gridlock dogged all access roads to the ports – from Costain-Ijora end, Mile 2 axis, Ajegunle, among others. The seemingly unending long queues of tankers and container trucks were seen, all trying to access the ports either to lift fuel, drop export containers or pick imported goods.

Some container drivers who had been waiting on the queue for days and months decried the situation in the ports, lamenting that corruption and extortion allegedly by government and security officials drafted to control traffic on Apapa had worsened the situation.

For days and weeks, the drivers remained in muddy and dirty parks worsened by recent downpours. They bathe, eat and sleep at night in the area waiting to be asked to the port.

In addition to other avoidable logistical problems relating to imports and exports, Daily Trust had reported in June 2020, that the high cost of moving imports from Nigerian ports to other parts of the country has continued to affect manufacturers and the purchasing power of consumers.

This newspaper had also reported in July 2019, that a survey conducted by the organised private sector revealed that Nigeria loses about N3.06 trillion, on non-oil export, and about N2.5 trillion earnings annually across the different sectors of the economy due to Apapa gridlock.

Most recent statistics showed that it costs around N1.6 million to transport a 40 feet container from Lagos to Kano from the previous N900, 000. The same 40 feet container costs N1.2 million to move to Abuja from the N800, 000 that was previously charged, no thanks to the traffic jam at Apapa ports even as government officials have continued to claim that they have cleared the age-long problem.

This article was published by the Daily Trust. Photo: AllAfrica