The Apapa
business community including transporters, Federal and Lagos state government
officials have continued to count their losses following the closure of ports
roads leading into Apapa Wharf, the main gateway into the Nigerian economy.
The shock to
the business community especially commuters and transporters came as the
Federal Government failed to do a contingency planning that would have eased
their agony as it did during the Abuja Airport runway rehabilitation works when
all Federal Capital Territory bound traffic were directed to Kaduna airport.
Going by the
estimates of income flowing from the Apapa Port complex and Tin Can Island
ports, Nigeria earns about N30billion daily from its ports operations in the
maritime zone, with over N28billion coming from Apapa Ports alone and another
N1billion from Tin Can Island. A conservative estimate puts this reveue at N780
billion.
This is
outside the incomes generated from over 15 bank branches in the area as well as
other support services in the zone alongside the thousands of employees earning
living in the Apapa axis.
But the
closure of the arterial roads which came after the Minister of Power, Works and
Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, on June 17, 2017, signed a N4.34 billion
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dangote Group and the Flour Mills of
Nigeria for the reconstruction of Apapa Wharf Roads seems to have worsened the
dilemma of commuters, transporters and entreprenuers into the nation’s premier
ports complex a nightmare for commuters and motorists.
At first
when news of the multimillion naira project was broken, maritime stakeholders
had indeed heaved a sigh of relief perhaps oblivious of the pains and anguish
that lay ahead of them as a result of the closure.
Although
available timelines on the project, show the repair might linger for about a
year, its effect on business have been so devastating that most of the
businesses are already relocating out of Apapa, while others are now gasping
for breath expected to last for a minimum one year residence in the axis.
According to the terms of the MoU, the project
would be funded by AG Dangote Construction Company Limited, an
arm of the Dangote Group, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Flour Mills of
Nigeria at the cost of N4.3 billion.
The road
which is expected to ease the gridlock hitherto experienced by road-users has
now become a nightmare for residents, workers, agents and truckers on that road
that people dread to fix events in Apapa axis thus making ease of doing
business in the area almost unachievable.
While signing the agreement, Fashola explained
that the gridlock in Apapa became compounded and had reached an unbearable
level as transporters ignored the old system of moving cargo through rail to
trucks and containers. He said that the choice of the transporters to use road
instead of rail for haulage increased gridlock, caused degeneration as well as
well as hardship to residents of Apapa. The minister commended the “leadership
role’’ of the stakeholders to solve the complex problems in Apapa and its
environs.
According to him, the situation has caused
stress to residents, business owners and other stakeholders in the state. “As a
result of all these unsavoury practices, we have reached a point of near total
gridlock, it is difficult to move cargo in or out, difficult for residents to
get home and this must stop,’’ he said.
Fashola said that it took time to reach an
agreement on the project because the stakeholders were putting up an effective
design that would address the drainage problem because the area was water
logged. “We have finished with the design, we now have a Bill of Quantity and
the cost of the road is N4.34 billion to be funded and paid for by these three
groups, Flour Mills of Nigeria, AG Dangote Construction Company Limited and
Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA),’’ he said.
However, since the reconstruction began on two
weeks ago, commuters, residents, maritime stakeholders, bank workers as well as
ancillary workers are having a harrowing experience following the closure.
The closure
affected the two major arteries that lead into and out of Apapa. That is the
Apapa-Oshodi Expressway and the Ijora Wharf Road.
Following
the closure, most workers now resume work by 10 am or 11 am instead of the
their normal official resumption time of 7 am or 8 am.
The result
is that man-hours are lost and the nation is losing huge sums of revenue.
According to
Aliko Dangote, Nigeria was losing N140 billion on weekly basis on the gridlock.
With the complete closure on the road which has inflicted more pains and
anguish on the truckers and maritime workers, the loss would be more.
Already,
maritime experts have argued that the government should not opted for total
closure. Rather the government would have applied the method used in the
aviation industry when the Abuja Runway was closed.
According
to Apapa
road users, the closure of that
road for one year is a pretty long time for users.
“I think
that is what should have been done because shutting down the road for one year
is a very long time. We have rail connection in Apapa. I would have thought
that Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC),
National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and the Lagos State Waterways
Agency would have been brought to the table to first discuss a palliative
measure; to discuss an alternative mode
of evacuating cargo in and out of Apapa before the closure. That is what I
would have expected government to do. Remember when Abuja Runway was shut down,
it wasn’t just a FAAN affair. All the logistics providers were brought together
to look for how to alleviate the sufferings of the people. That is what should
have been done here. For instance, we should have made arrangement with NRC to
deploy wagons so that petroleum products and containers could be taken away by
rail pending the course of the repair work. And I am sure somehow, NRC would
have looked for a way to be able to take some cargoes out of the Apapa area by
rail. They don’t have to take all of it. But they would have been able to
increase their capacity take cargo out of the area. So, I think it is not too
late for the government to look into that,
strengthening railway to immediately assist by evacuating cargo from the ports
from Apapa by rail so that we have less trucks on the road. Both petroleum
products and containers can be evacuated
by rail. So, we have no excuse not to use that. The same way people were
moving by train from Abuja to Kaduna. The same thing should have been done
here: he said.
Th spokesman
of Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), Mr Bolaji Akinola
also suggested that Nigerian Inland Waterways
Authority (NIWA) should have equally come in to assist in the movement
of people in and out of Apapa
“There is
need to involve NIWA. NIWA is responsible for
helping us to use the waterways properly and the waterways in Lagos are
clear. We should have able to take containers and petroleum products—–those are
the dominant products in Apapa—-by barges
out of Apapa through the waterfront to areas like Ikorodu, Ondo, Olokola
even to the east. Onitsha Port is there for those cargoes that are going that
way. It is not difficult. It is not rocket science. The waterways are there. We
can acquire those barges so that we don’t have this deluge of trucks descending
on Apapa causing the gridlock that we have. With Lagos State ferry service and
of course with NIWA, arrangement could have been made for ferries. They
should create a clear way for ferries to
ply Apapa with frequently so that people
won’t even need to take their cars and then we provide buses at jetties. As you are coming out there is a
bus that takes you up to Airways
Busstop, up to Wharf Busstop. Then you find your way from there. And when you
come back, there is a bus that takes you to the jetty again and then you board
your ferry and go. We are able to do this within the next two, three weeks
which I believe is possible. Don’t forget we have the can-do spirit of the
Nigeria when it comes to emergency situations like this. And I think the
government should treat this as an emergency. We have ‘I can do spirit’. We can
achieve it. Probable the Minister did not think of it this way but I think he
should take this as an opportunity to put those measures together the way it
was done in the aviation sector for the Abuja runway. It should be done here so
we get it right and then we can
concentrate on fixing those roads,” he said.
Special
Assistant to the National President of Association of National Customs
Licensing Agents (ANLCA) on Shipping Companies and Terminal Operators, Mr
Ujubuonu Pius, said:
The loss is
immeasurable given the image of the country and the wear and tear of the
vehicles and the destruction of peoples goods and services. The turnaround time
for trucks has been badly affected. The maritime business is currency. The
quantity that comes determines the quantity
you are able to deliver. If you clear quickly you are able to receive another
and this has been affected. It is the return on turnover that is the eventual
profit. So, the loss is immeasurable. In fact, over N6 is lost weekly.
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