As the gridlock on Lagos roads especially the port access roads continues to bite harder, the Managing Director of Ene Ventures Nigeria Limited, Mr. Akparawa Ene Usanga has called on the Federal Government to as a matter of policy ensure that ships calling Nigerian ports return to their destinations with empty containers that equaled the number cargo that they brought into the country.
Akparawa who gave this suggestion in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos recently posited that any ship that was not willing to go with empty container equivalent of the number of cargoes that it brought into the country should not be allowed to call any of the Nigerian ports.
He blamed the shipping companies for the gridlock being witnessed on Lagos roads today even as he recalled that in the 80s and 90s, ships that called the nation’s ports with certain number of containers were made to leave Nigerian ports with the same amount in empty containers thus solving the problem of gridlock as being witnessed today.
“But this time around, if they bring containers, before we take them out, normally before that time, it was the same thing, they will ask you to go, if it is 1×40, you will deposit N200,000, but if it outside Lagos, you will deposit N400,000 and because of the holdup that is blocking everywhere in Lagos, your vehicle will not get chance to go and drop the empty container and before you return, that your deposit is finished.
“So, all this shipping companies, they connived with people on ground here to carry on this economic sabotage and they cause more hardship for importers. If they go, they will not be able to sell, some sell at a loss because it is too much and if you want to take container now to a place like Alaba International Market, it is N800,000 now per container as against N100,000 or N80,000 it costs before, Ikeja is N450,000 as against N80,000 before now. So, it depends on the area you are taking your container to.
“All this kind of thing happens because we don’t have a good government because if they want to checkmate this thing, it is very easy for one to stop this daylight robbery. If government stand its ground and write letters to all shipping companies outside Nigeria, if you bring you containers to Nigeria, if you are not ready to go back with the equivalent in empty containers that you bring as import, don’t come. If you come with 3,000 loaded containers, you must go with another 3,000 containers, in fact, within a short time, all this gridlock will disappear”, he said.
He disclosed that a visit to the Apapa Wharf would reveal that everywhere was now littered with empty containers because as those ships come, they would not take even one empty container as they were going and on the event that they take, they would take only few containers as against the number of containers that they came with even as he said that no ship comes to Nigeria with less than 2,000 containers.
He added that the problem was that nobody had taken the matter up to the presidency or to those that were concerned for them to see what the operators were suffering adding that if that had been done; the problem was a very minor thing that could have been sorted out within a few months.
On the impact of the visit of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Mr. Akparawa said,” There is nothing, the Vice President came here, the thing was just eased for about two weeks after he went back and the whole thing returned to normal. The holdup sometimes extends from Tincan to Oshodi, then from Wharf to Fadeyi, so, it is economic sabotage. We are suffering a lot in this place. You will not come out with your car, because most of us don’t come out with their cars again, we climb Okada and this had taken a lot of lives”.
He continued,” There is no immediate solution except they return all these containers back to where they come from because these empties belong to the shipping companies. We cannot do anything in Nigeria with all these empties. They are just lying here wasting our economy, taking the space that is supposed to accommodate more imports. If you come to the Wharf, you will see empty containers stacked to the height of a five storeys building and some of these containers have stayed at the port for seven to eight years doing nothing inside the ports rather than occupying space.
“The road contributed but at least, it is not the road that matters because trailers still find their way to the ports, they say there is no way for them to receive empty containers that is why empty containers are lying down on the streets and some of them on top trailers because they don’t have space to receive the empties. The only solution is for the government to stand its ground and insist that any ship that comes must go with the equivalent of the containers that they bring to Nigeria or half of it. In fact, within a month, all this empty containers will disappear”.
Send your news, press releases/articles to augustinenwadinamuo@yahoo.com. Also, follow us on Twitter @ptreporters and on Facebook on facebook.com/primetimereporters or call the editor on 07030661526, 08053908817.
