The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hajia Hadiza Bala Usman, has revealed that the location of 36 truck parks within Apapa alone is the major reason why there is congestion at the ports. This is even as the NPA MD called on the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to relocate truck parks in Apapa area of the state.
She made the call while speaking at a session of the 14th Annual Business Law conference which held virtually at the weekend.
According to Hadiza Bala Usman, “There is a need to have designated places for the trucks to stay and wait for a call-up. If we don’t have designated places, the trucks will wake up and drive straight into the ports.
“So, the Lagos State government must take ownership in providing designated truck terminals where there will be linkage and call-up with the terminal operators and Nigerian ports. But when we have 36 truck locations all around the Apapa ports environment, how do you think we are going to sanitise that?
“In the truck corridor, we shouldn’t have many truck parks within the port area. We should have larger truck parks that are outside the ports environment. The NPA is not responsible for providing truck terminals.
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“Why should you have many truck parks inside the Apapa area? The Lagos State Government should review the land use charge attributable to trailer parks. There are some locations in Apapa where truck parks shouldn’t be there? Apapa is too congested already. The truck parks should be pushed out of the town.”
Usman added that there is an ongoing discussion with the Lagos state government to provide larger trailer parks.
In recent time, berthing times for vessels anchored at the Port of Apapa in Lagos, Nigeria’s major seaport, peaked at up to 42 days. While congestion in the port area has been a long-term issue, it significantly intensified after the government reached a unilateral decision to indefinitely close its land borders on October 14, 2019, forcing more carriers to enter Nigeria via its main seaport instead.
Recall that in May 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari directed that trucks causing gridlock in Apapa should be removed. Victor Akinjo, chairman of the house of representatives committee on privatisation and commercialisation, had said the gridlock in Apapa costs Nigeria about N600 billion monthly.
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