Apapa Gridlock: LASTMA Impounds 120 Trucks for Disobeying Presidential Directive
*As NSC appeals to truckers, drivers to show discipline
• We have completed our assignment by 95%, says task team leader
By Francis Ugwoke
The Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) said weekend that it has impounded 120 trucks whose owners failed to obey the presidential task team directive on the decongestion of the Apapa and Tin Can port areas .
The General Manager of LASTMA, Wale Musa told newsmen during a media tour of the roads leading to the port environment that the number of such arrests would have been more but for the leniency exercised by the agency in handling the issue of full enforcement.
Musa however said that so far the union of truckers has been very helpful, adding that they have been getting their members to comply with the directive.
He said “We are on ground, we are ready, you might not see us but we are active because most of the times, we work in the night when nobody knows we are working but we are on ground and ready for the challenge, our boys are on ground and ready to do the job”.
This was as the associations of truckers called for an extension of the two weeks deadline given to the Presidential task team to carry out their assignment as it ended Friday.
The Coordinator of the Council of Maritime Truck Unions and Associations (COMTUA), Mr. Stephen Okafor and the Chairman, Amalgamation of Container Truck Owners, Mr. Thompson Olaleye said more time for the team will enable them conclude their assignment effectively.
Okafor described the level of success achieved within two weeks of the assignment as commendable, adding that it has never been so good.
He said that it was the problem of extortion that the truckers were having that forced their association to petition the federal government for intervention.
Thanking government for involving them in the exercise, he said the union will follow laid down traffic rules to achieve sanity in the system.
“ So, we are glad and we continue to give government the kudos and because of that, we are one hundred percent in support of the exercise and we will continue to support it until it achieve its goal and I want to say here that any person saying that he is representing truckers in any union saying what is contrary to what is happening here, the Police should apprehend that person.
“That is our own advice because since the inception of this committee, no union member, no trucker has complained of any extortion. So, we are now fully relaxing and resting in our businesses. So, I want to thank this team and I want to thank the federal government for this idea and we want to request that the tenure of this task team be extended to be able to completely sanitize the system”.
Similarly, Olaleye commended the federal government for coming for setting up the Presidential Task team, adding that the situation until now had been terrible.
He said, ” We have been suffering for a very long time, our business is dying slowly but we thank God after all the efforts and everything, government has actually come to our rescue today, we give kudos to this team. We cannot compare what you have achieved in less than two weeks to what other people before you have achieved; in fact, there was no achievement in the last few years.
“So, we will plead with the federal government to extend their tenure, it is important because without that, we will go back to where we were. We need to stabilize and sustain what they have achieved. So, government should help us and make sure that they extend their tenure until when things are normal”.
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) had called on the truckers to be disciplined and follow procedures for sanity to return on the roads.
He said, “For the truckers, we need them to be disciplined because without discipline, we cannot achieve anything. Somebody said 60 percent of the problem is lack of traffic management, discipline, we are appealing to the truckers, unions and drivers to follow procedures. The manual call up system will be decided soon whereby trucks are called only when they are needed so that not everybody will rush to Apapa. From there we migrate to electronic call up system . NPA is leading on this and all the parties are involved. The shipping companies, terminal operators will start meeting on Tuesday to articulate this. Some terminals have their own call up system. So this simplification of procedures and processes will help in easing traffic congestion”.
But speaking during the tour, the Vice Chairman of the Task Team , Mr Kayode Opeifa, said the assignment of the team has been completed by 95percent.
Opeifa said the team has been able to restore normalcy on the port environment as compared to the situation before.
According to him vehicular movement had become easier now as trucks no longer park on the bridges.
Opeifa added that all trucks with empty containers into from Ijora Apapa have been directed to use Lillypond terminal .
He said the trucks will then be expected to exit the terminal through a manual call up cards which will take them to the ports.
“The manual call-up system was designed as an immediate solution but the ultimate aim is to achieve an electronic call-up system. The electronic call-up system is being designed by the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) and it will be functional as from August 2019.
“With the ongoing reconstruction of Creek road, it will eventually become six lane with two lanes dedicated to trucks”.
“In a few days time, work on that axis of the road will commence. The contractor has asked that trucks be made to leave the area before they can begin. Effort is on to remove the trucks and ones that is done, work will begin.”
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