…Says his government contributed to the problem
The Chairman, Association of Maritime Transport Owners (AMATO), Chief Remi Ogungbemi has accused a former Commission of Transport, Lagos State, Mr. Kayode Opeifa of contributing to the gridlock problem being witnessed at Apapa today.
Ogungbemi who made this know while addressing a stakeholders’ meeting on reconstruction of Apapa Wharf Road last week in Lagos, said that the former Commissioner was to take part of the blame as most of the places they were using then as truck parks during his tenure as Commissioner were taken away from them and trucks dislodged without providing any alterative thereby forcing the trucks to park on the roads.
“Yes, we have some of the blame and I also want to say that during your tenure as a Commissioner, the problem we are having now, you are a contributing factor because most of the places we were using then, it was during your tenure that these trucks were dislodged and formerly, there were places that we were using that you dislodged without providing an alternative and the trucks have to come from nowhere. The people that constructed those parks knew that it is not Okada that is coming to lift the goods that are coming to the ports.
“There are places, about one and half decades ago, you cannot come to Apapa and find a single truck outside but for one reason or the other, due to the notion of the people in authority, they said ah! Truck owners owned their trucks, they should go and look for a place and park their trucks forgetting that these trucks owners and tankers come from the north, the east, the west and the south down to Lagos because it is where sugar is dropped that you will see ants coming from everywhere to come and lick the sugar. It is not possible for those truck and tanker drivers to come with their parks”, he said.
The AMATO boss recalled that they suggested a place that could serve as a truck park which could accommodate all the trucks that were operating both at Apapa and Tincan to the Lagos State government as well as the Federal government but regretted that up till now, nothing was done.
According to him,” We are witnesses to what you did at Ijora, where we paid a huge sum of money running into millions to the coffers of the state government but in 2014, the Lagos state government said that they will no longer give it to us rather that the place will now serve as a low cost housing estate. What else can we do? So, please, I am appealing, we are willing to support, to cooperate but these trucks have to come from somewhere. The trucks you were seeing on holidays as you mentioned, it was in the news, AP Moller has problem, Maersk Line has problem, they said they hacked into their system of which the trucks cannot access their terminal and these containers cannot be taken to our houses, it has to come to the ports. This is where the problem lies”.
He continued,” So, having said this, I know what we are doing here today is still repetition, we have had series of committees under the auspices of the General Manager Western Ports of NPA but after discussions, everything will be just abandoned. How I wish that this committee will not be abandoned half way. Having said this, I want to pray and please, let us get it right now. There must be a place that will serve as a holding bay for the trucks that are coming to operate at the ports. This is how we can get it right. No amount of rules and regulations can bring about sanity and orderliness. If you like go and bring battalion of soldiers, it is not the solution, necessary infrastructure ha to be in place”.
He disclosed that they had identified a place which if accessed could within 48 hours remove trucks on the roads as he said the place could accommodate 1, 500 trucks but quickly added that the association lacked the political power and the financial power to secure the place.
“With your support, Lagos State government, federal government, gives necessary support, we will divert all these trucks to the place and within 48 hours all the roads will be free. This is what I know is the solution, coming to bring Police, LASTMA, Road Safety, towing of trucks is never the solution please. The place is at Orile, the owner of the facility is ready, I can bring him here even today. If you so wish and if this committee so wish, we shall go after this meeting to visit the place and see it, it is already concreted”, he submitted.
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