By Ikenna Asomba

Since 2009, business operators, motorists and other road users of the Oshodi-Apapa expressway have continuously been subjected to untold hardship of perennial traffic logjam, caused by the activities of drivers of tankers, trailers and other articulated vehicles, who park indiscriminately along the road. But following a 48-hour ultimatum given by the Lagos State Government last Wednesday, for the truck drivers to vacate the road, officials of the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), whose duty is to handle public waste collection, disposal and clearance of backlog of waste, have moved in to clear the road of the mess caused by the truck drivers.

Waste by the road side

It would be recalled that between 2009 to 2012, road users who ply this busy highway which leads into the Tincan and Apapa Ports, blamed the persistent traffic gridlock on the deplorable state of the road which is usually flooded whenever it rains.

Several calls for respite by residents and the Lagos State Government, however, compelled the Federal Government in August 2012, to award the contract for the reconstruction of Phase 2 of expressway to construction giant, Messrs Julius Berger Nigeria Plc at the cost of about N15 billion.

Having taken Julius Berger over three years to rehabilitate the stretch from Berger Yard to Cele axis, many had thought solace had come their way. But as truck drivers continuously seized the stretch from Rainbow to the Mile Two/Berger/Kirikiri axis of the road over time, motorists and road users were left in limbo.

The tortuous traffic logjam experienced on the highway came to a head over the last 12 weeks, as tankers and articulated vehicles which came in their hundreds from various parts of the country, including Bornu, Sokoto, Katsina, Adamawa and Yobe, seized the road to standstill. Even, several security operatives deployed to the road to control traffic situation were overwhelmed by the recalcitrant drivers.

The drivers and their assistants (motor-boys) have apparently made the roadsides their homes, eating, sleeping and performing their conveniences there. The evidences are there for all to see, as food scraps and wrappings litter the area. Their messy activities force pedestrians to be wary of stepping on urine and faeces that regularly ‘adorn’ every nook and corner of the road.

Against this backdrop, the Lagos State Government as well as the State House of Assembly, issued several directives to relevant authorities to ensure evacuation of all trucks from the road. But they all fell on deaf ears. Worried that the indiscriminate parking of these truck drivers had defied all known solutions, the State Government, Wednesday, issued another 48-hour ultimatum, ordering them to park within 300 meters of fuel depots in the state or relocate to safe parking lots pending the availability of petroleum products.

Upon the expiration of the 48-hour ultimatum, Vanguard gathered that the drivers evacuated their trucks from the ever-busy highway, to Ojere Truck Park, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Evidently, this has brought huge sigh of relief to road users whose places of work and businesses are located in this tanker-besieged area.

Recall that Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa gave the ultimatum while reading the communiqué arrived at after a meeting between the Lagos State government, National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, Petroleum Tankers Drivers, PTD, National Association of Road Transport owners, NARTO and other stakeholders. The stakeholders’ meeting agreed to use persuasive enforcement to free roads and bridges currently occupied by petrol tankers and other trucks in an anticipated relief to the people.

Opeifa said the meeting had agreed that 48 hours should be given to tanker drivers queuing between 200 and 300 meters to the fuel depots to vacate pending availability of the commodity. He said information available from the marketers revealed that there was no fuel in the depots to be lifted. He said the situation had been further compounded as more tankers from all over the states converge on the areas to lift fuel.

The commissioner also said no tanker should be seen from the Eko Bridge to Liverpool, Coconut on Apapa Expressway to Mile 2, adding that before tomorrow (last Thursday), the tanker owners must make one lane available for other motorists pending the expiration of the ultimatum. Opeifa, said the enforcement would be carried out by various unions in the axis, which will include: the state government, the police, Lagos State Transport Management Authority, LASTMA, Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Vehicle Inspection Service, VIS, officials among others.

He said: “Any tanker that did not comply will be impounded, fined and would not be released until such fines had been paid.” The commissioner, however, appealed to NUPENG, PTD and NARTO to ensure that the agreement reached was not breached, saying that by Friday afternoon, government would begin enforcement. He noted that persuasion would be used rather than towing of the tankers.

According to him, marketers and major operators in the area had agreed to come out with a programming and ticketing method that would allow only tankers meant to lift fuel at a particular point in time within the axis. He said with this development, traffic gridlock in Apapa, Ijora and neighbouring areas is expected to abate by Sunday (two days ago), while appealing to residents to exercise patience and warned that government was ready to take the agreement seriously.

Traders, others relish ordeal

Some of the road users who spoke to Vanguard, decried the untold hardship they have been subjected to over the years, even as they were sceptical on whether this was the final end of trucks and articulated vehicles besieging the road again. Vanguard gathered that some business operators along the axis had closed shops because of the perennial traffic gridlock, because customer who patronise them no longer do so for fear of being trapped for several man-hours.

Mr. Okechukwu Manfred, a phone engineer at the Westminister Electronic Market, situated along the Apapa-Oshodi expressway, lamented that the perennial traffic logjam has almost forced him out of business. Manfred said: “The 48-hour evacuation order given to these tanker and trailer drivers by the Lagos State Government is a welcome development. However my major fear is that no one knows where they have relocated to, neither does any one know whether they are coming back in the days to come?

It has really been a tortuous experience for us here in Westminister. Most of our customers who patronise us no longer come here to repair their phones. You can imagine how much we would have lost over these years. It is unquantifiable,” he said. Similarly, Ebere Nnadi, who deals in spare-parts of heavy-duty trucks at Berger Suya Market, Olodi-Apapa, decried that the perennial traffic gridlock along the axis, have scared customers patronising him.

According to Nnadi, “Since this traffic log-jam went out of hand, our customers no longer come to patronise us again. Rather, they prefer to go to Ladipo Market on Toyota Bus-stop, along this same Oshodi-Apapa Expressway. The loss is huge. You won’t believe that I have lost over N100 million since last year to this unfortunate incident. My joy will know no bound if this recent order of evacuation by the State Government will bring about an end to the impunity by these tanker drivers.

Whether this latest development is an end in sight to the years of agony of road users, is left to be seen in the days ahead.