The federal government has disbanded the Presidential Task Team on Apapa Gridlock in a renewed effort to check congestion at one of the country’s largest seaport, Tin-Can Island Port Complex, Lagos.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, who made the disclosure at the weekend at a meeting with stakeholders, revealed that a new committee would be raised to manage the traffic situation into Tin-Can Port.
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The disbandment of the Presidential Task Team may be due to alleged reports of extortion and harassment of truck drivers by members of the team.
Daily Trust had reported that haulage cost from Tin-Can Island Port to anywhere in Lagos rose by 50 per cent in just one week as extortion persisted along Mile 2-Tin-Can access road.
“The issue of Presidential Task Force or no Presidential Task Force; I threw up that question on Tuesday to the vice president and he said ‘Madam perm sec, that has been disbanded.
“I have been trying to get a written document because I clearly stated that I don’t have a written document.
“If I have the communication as a ministry, then we should be able to do the needful.
“So, I have requested that we get the communication both to the ministry and to all the institutions – Lagos State, the Police, all the parastatals; NPA, NSC, are all part of the transportation.
“So, once we have that, then we can sit down to chart what needs to be charted,” Dr. Ajani revealed.
She said before the deployment of an electronic call-up system by NPA in January 2021 to manage the movement of trucks on the port access road, urgent actions must be taken to address the gridlock, which has almost brought cargo evacuation at the Tin Can Island Port Complex to a halt.
She said: “We must have some form of orderliness. Trucks must only get on the road when they are called to come in, and if that happens we shouldn’t have trucks on the road.”
