Apapa Gridlock: Council, NPA, Others Endorse Prosecution of Traffic Violators

Gboyega Akinsanmi
The Apapa Local Government Area, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and other stakeholders Tuesday agreed that owners of articulated vehicles that violated Lagos Road Traffic Law, 2012, should be prosecuted.

The stakeholders, including the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Residents’ Association of Government Reserve Areas, banks and law enforcement agencies, agreed to a 24-hour monitoring and enforcement of one-lane policy as a measure to ease gridlock in Apapa.

These positions were held yesterday at a stakeholders’ meeting which the Chairman of Apapa council, Mr. Owolabi Adele, addressed on the need to end diverse challenges which the stakeholders said had been undermining socio-economic activities in Apapa and its environs.

After exhaustive deliberation at the meeting that lasted almost three hours, the stakeholders agreed that for sanity, law and order to return to Apapa and its environs, owners of articulated vehicles parked indiscriminately in the area should be prosecuted.”

Also, the stakeholders agreed to a 24-hour enforcement and monitoring initiative of one-lane policy, which the Apapa council unfolded to reduce the hardship the residents and owners of businesses daily undergo in Apapa and its environs.

Earlier at the meeting, the council chairman proposed a 24-hour monitoring and enforcement initiative of one-lane policy which he argued would stem the hardship the people “are experiencing in Apapa’s gridlocks on a daily basis.”

Adele, therefore, lamented that the traffic situation had crippled the socio-economic activities in the town, noting that it would deploy enforcement teams “on strategic areas to ease the flow of traffic in and out of Apapa.

“Our presence here marks a turning point in our collective attempt to resolve permanently and move forward in our onerous task. As it has been repeatedly re-echoed, the damage done to our economy and the suffering of our people as a result of the traffic menace cannot be over-emphasised.”

He assured stakeholders that the council would begin repairing all roads, calling for intensive training for all tanker drivers to stem overloading and reckless driving that have resulted in avoidable road accidents.

Also at the meeting, the NPA General Manager, Mr. Biodun Gbadamosi, blamed the worrisome situation in Apapa on non-adherence to its original master plan and years of neglect by successive governments in the country.

He, however, commended the Apapa council for the stakeholders’ meeting to brainstorm on way forward and suggested inter-modal transport system that will reduce pressure on the road as the way out.

Gbadamosi noted that several meetings had been held on how to provide a long term solution to the traffic in Apapa for the return of socio-economic activities to the area as since Managing Director of NPA, Ms. Hadiza Bala-Usman, assumed office, nothing much had been achieved.

On behalf of Apapa GRA Residents Association, Brigadier-General Ayo Vaughan suggested the erection of barriers on Liverpool Road to regulate the use of the road by the articulated vehicles while also calling for action to end the menace of commercial motorcyclists and bus drivers in the area.

Vaughan regretted that lack of measures “to check the manner commercial motorcycle operators and bus drivers operate in Apapa and environs had made security in the area porous and inimical to residents and businesses there.”