Keeping faith with his promise to be back in a week’s time to monitor progress in the efforts to address the problem of traffic gridlock in Apapa, the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, again visited the Tin Can Port Road and Creek Road among others on Sunday, calling on the Federal Government to live up to its responsibility by restoring the infrastructural damage which is threatening to destroy the area.
During his visit last week Sunday, Fashola, who expressed dismay at the traffic gridlock created by the tankers, especially on Creek Road and other roads leading to both Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports, met with the leadership of the tanker drivers’ association and extracted a promise from them to create at least one lane to enable other road users in the area to access their homes and businesses.
Fielding questions from journalists after the inspection of the Tin Can Port Road and Creek Road, Fashola frowned at the deterioration in the area.
He said the state government is paying heavily for the damage caused by the mismanagement of the ports and fuel distribution by the Federal Government.
He told newsmen: “You can see, this is where tankers fall every day, claiming lives, damaging peoples’ vehicles. It is a herculean task everyday that we have to remove one container or one fallen tanker from here all because of the mismanagement by the Federal Government of its ports responsibility and of its fuel distribution responsibility.
”Our land has been desecrated. You can see the destruction, people living on the road simply because the Federal Government cannot manage the distribution of fuel. People are defecating in open drains. All the drains here have become refuse dumps all because the Federal Government wants to give us fuel.”
Pointing out that the state government does not benefit from all the revenue generated at the ports and from the fuel distribution, Fashola noted: “The Federal Government wants to run a port. Look at the roads here. They have all gone. And we don’t get derivation from oil but we pay so heavily for the distribution of fuel.
“Residents must know this is a federal problem. It is not the state’s problem. The distribution of fuel is a federal problem. The Federal Government must get up now and change the game and live up to its responsibility. Its mismanagement of fuel and the port is destroying Apapa and destroying Lagos. This must stop.”
Asked what option the Federal Government should adopt to solve the problem, Fashola said: “Well I don’t know what options the Federal Government has but clearly road haulage of fuel by tankers and containers is not going to work. The roads cannot stand it no matter how hard you build them. So, instead of its slogans and propaganda about transformation, this place needs to be transformed.”
Earlier, the President of the Maritime Truck Owners Association, Remi Ogungbemi, had thanked the governor for his continued effort to bring sanity into the traffic situation in the area.
Ogungbemi said the major problem was that while many businesses have come into the state in the last 40 years, there has been no corresponding increase in infrastructure, adding that the places designated for parking vehicles have been taken over by other businesses.
In his contribution, the General Manager (Admin) for the Nigerian Association of Road Trasport Owners, Aloga Ogbogo, also thanked Fashola for his continued intervention in spite of the fact that the Federal Government owns the business there.
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