The Special Traffic Management and Enforcement Compliance Team set up by Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to resolve the gridlock in and around Apapa, has vowed to end the indiscriminate parking of trucks on port access roads.
A member of the team and General Manager, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Olajide Oduyoye, said this in Apapa on Wednesday.
Oduyoye said the new traffic team would not hesitate to sanction any case of indiscriminate parking of trucks on port access roads.
He lamented the lack of regulation of trucks and truck ownership, pointing out that most trucks plying the ports are unserviceable.
He noted that minimum standards are required for truck drivers and trucks. Also speaking, Chairman of the traffic management team, Toyin Fayinka, said the team cannot succeed in its assignment without the support of the port community.
He therefore solicited the cooperation of stakeholders to fulfill its mandate.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has assured port users of smooth and hitch-free implementation of its electronic call-up system recently deployed for trucks that operate at the nation’s seaports.
NPA Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman, who spoke against the background of insinuations that the process might be marred by irregularities, said the irresponsible manner in which drivers park trucks and other articulated vehicles on port access roads would soon be a thing of the past.
She gave the assurance after leading a stakeholders’ facility assessment tour of the Truck Transit Park at Lilypond Terminal, located at Ijora, Lagos.
A statement by the Assistant General Manager, Corporate & Strategic Communications of NPA, Ibrahim Nasir, said that the tour of the facility was designed to ascertain the degree of preparedness towards the formal take off of the e-call up system later in the month.
The statement also noted that these moves had become necessary and urgent to address the problems associated with the gridlocks on port access roads.
The statement reads: “The Managing Director of NPA reiterates that the truck electronic call-up system which is being powered by a web application called Eto would put an end to the perennial logjam caused by articulated trucks within the port corridor.
“It is critical we put an end to the intractable Apapa traffic to restore sanity to cargo operations at our ports in Lagos”.
She assured that the web application will enthrone transparency, orderliness to truck movement as scheduling is done automatically – on first come, first serve, basis.
