*Sanwo-Olu threatens to report ‘misconducts’ of policemen to IG
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said on Monday that he would report the misconducts of policemen deployed to manage traffic around Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports to the Inspector-General of Police.
SHIPS & PORTS reported exclusively on Monday that Sanwo-Olu would visit the Lagos port access roads yesterday.
Of recent, SHIPS & PORTS has ran several reports indicating that the perennial gridlock at Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports was caused by bad roads and unbridled extortion by security operatives deployed to manage traffic on the port access roads.
Sanwo-Olu, who visited the port access roads in company of some top Lagos State Government officials, said that the state government would take over control of traffic management in Apapa and Tin Can.
He said the state government would set up a team made up of officers from the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and policemen from Area B Command, Apapa, to take over the traffic control.
He said, “This is about the fourth time which my government has been trying to address Apapa gridlock and bring sanity back to the area. On each occasion we had come here, we knew that there were road constructions.
“This time around, there has been a lot of improvement and we have seen that a lot of the roads within Apapa have been completed. But, there has been no respite for commuters in terms of free traffic flow.
“We will have a team of policemen and LASTMA dedicated to Apapa ports for enforcement of task force’s mandates.
“We are trying to bring about comprehensive metrics where all the stakeholders in Apapa understand and appreciate the various role that everybody needs to play. And let everybody identify and solve it.
“There have been accusations around cabal collecting money from operators and accusations around being hijacked by some people and there have also been counter-accusations.
“And we have all heard all the complaints from the various stakeholders, the unions, freight forwarders, drivers, everyone has said their own side of the story and you can see that it is multifaceted.
“I believe this trip would give us another opportunity where all of us, as stakeholders, will be able to identify impediments and resolve the issues once and for all.”
He said it was time the law caught up with those who had created the situation that led to the chaos on the port access roads.
On the use of barges to evacuate goods from the port, Sanwo-Olu said, “We have arrested people we felt were operating illegal barge terminals before, but we were surprised some of these people had licences issued by the Federal Government.
“This is part of the issues we want to resolve. We are working collaboratively with the Federal Government on this. If someone gets an approval for barge operation, let Lagos Government be aware, so that roads are probably planned to those terminals.”
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