Federal Government Loses N22 Billion On Apapa Conjestion

The Professor of Transport, Logistics and Spatial Planning at the Uni­versity of Lagos, Prof. Iy­iola Oni, has said the Federal Government loses about N22 billion on a conservative esti­mate to tank farm obstruc­tions and general congestion at the Apapa ports in Lagos.
He ex­plained that the closure of Creek Road in Apapa due to the activities of petroleum tank farm operators along the axis was a nightmare not only to motorists but the economy as a whole.

The professor who recently delivered a lecture, called for the relocation of tank farms in Apapa. He ob­served that the activities of petroleum tanker drivers have hindered container-laden trucks from accessing the port, thus killing several businesses in the area with many Nigeri­ans thrown out of jobs.

He noted that the traffic situ­ation along the axis has now stretched to the Mile 2 area worsening vehicular movement.

“Today, the Creek Road has been under lock and key for four years. We have done an evaluation and it is costing this country N22 billion annually. In fact, it should be more than that because we only looked at Apapa, we didn’t look at Tin Can. Now the nuisance has stretched to Mile 2, and we ask ourselves, is it only Apapa we have in this country?”

He, however urged the Federal Road Safety Commis­sion (FRSC) and other stake­holders to call for the quick re­location of the tank farms from Apapa Port to other ports like the Koko Port.
He also appealed to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to return the operations franchise on the port which it had withdrawn before now.