Persistent Apapa gridlock saddens me ― Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has regretted the continued challenge posed by Apapa gridlock to businesses in the country.

But he has assured that the federal government is working with the Lagos government to bring the menace to an end.

Speaking at an audience with members of the Lagos Chambers of Commerce who visited him at the presidential villa, Abuja on Wednesday, he said: “I must admit the Apapa gridlock still remains a challenge. It saddens me that businesses have had to suffer as a result of this.  We are doing our very best working with the Lagos State Government to bring an end to this issue.”

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The President, who thanked the chambers for its prayers for him, also assured of his administration’s continued commitment to supporting the private sector to flourish and create jobs across the country.

He stated that in the last four years, the administration had invested heavily in infrastructure development, saying: “We supported our development banks to provide loans to traders and small enterprises. We signed executive orders to support local content consumption. We also focused on enhancing the ease of doing business to facilitate investment.

“Thankfully, there was alignment with the monetary authorities and this significantly contributed to the successes we are seeing today.

“The consultative approach Nigeria took on the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement is just another example of our desire for sustainable and inclusive growth. The team visited all the geopolitical zones. We met farmers, commodity traders, manufacturers, bankers and stockbrokers. And we listened and made note of their views.

“Our studies revealed that although the services sector was doing ok, other key job-creating sectors such as manufacturing and processing were still lagging behind.

“This is evident by the fact that intra-African trade only accounts for 14% of Africa’s total trade. As a continent, our consumption is mostly of goods imported from outside the continent.

“We viewed this as both an opportunity and a threat. It is an opportunity as Nigerian manufacturers can aggressively expand to meet the huge demand across the continent. It is a threat as one can abuse the rules of origin to flood the market with imports from outside the continent thereby destroying jobs here at home.

“Nigeria’s engagement in the next phase of the negotiations is to ensure proper safeguards are put in place to support African manufacturers. We shall continue to count on your support to ensure this goal is achieved.”

President Buhari assured his visitors if a reviewer of the matters they raised

In his remark earlier, the President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce, Babatunde Ruwase, appealed to the President to sustain action to resolve the Apapa gridlock.

“We commend your intervention to resolve the traffic gridlock around the Lagos ports in Apapa. We have experienced partial decongestion of the roads, but the problem is still not over. We urge you to please sustain your interest in this matter to ensure that it is fully resolved,” he said.