Gridlock: Activities grind to a halt in Lagos, NUPENG apologises

A gridlock arising from petrol tankers which blocked the highways leading to Apapa depot on Thursday compelled commuters to trek to work or their various businesses.
The traffic jam, described as the worst ever in Lagos metropolis, caused untold stress to the commuters and forced many to abandon their destinations and return home.
The development led to the arteries through which motorists could have manoeuvered the traffic being blocked, leaving passengers and drivers lamenting.
Motorists and commuters always travelled with ease as there were usually less traffic on Thursday mornings because of the “Every Thursday’’ sanitation programme in the state.
Some motorists also abandoned their vehicles on the roadside and took other means to their destination in the hope to come back and pick them up when traffic would have eased.
Reacting, Mrs Blessing Eze, a trader at Lagos Island, said that the road congestion had disrupted her commercial activities in the day.
Eze said: “It is not good at all, thousands of Lagosians have resorted to trekking because the roads are blocked. Our driver took all alternative routes but met all met blocked.
“I disembarked from the vehicle which I boarded at Surulere and took to trekking to Lagos Island, which you know is a good distance’’.
Eze said that she had spent about one and half hours trekking from Surelere to Costain, stressing that she would not know when she would get to her business.
Also, Miss Victoria Mbamara, a graduate, described the gridlock as bad and boring.
“I started trekking from Surulere to Lagos, this is very bad, I do not know what could have caused this pain on all of us.
“Our leaders should be proactive in arresting a situation like this that is capable to subjecting citizens to hardship. It’s bad,’’ Mbamara said.
Mr Wale Ola, a businessman at Apapa, said: “This horrible traffic started yesterday, it is disheartening and highly discouraging’’.
Ola said that he would have trekked to Apapa to earn what he needed to make a living.
Mrs Stella Obiora, a Civil Servant, described the traffic as terrible and painful.
“It is terrible, if this is the kind of change we need, `wahala de niye’, (trouble has come). It is quite bad and can earn one a query in office,’’ Obiora said.
In his own view, Mr Christopher Ogucha, a businessman in Apapa said: “This kind of traffic makes Lagos a boring place to live in.
“I don’t know the cause, but the government should have proffered solutions, it is affecting us and our businesses,’’ Ogucha said.
Mr Gabriel Okocha, another businessman, said that the gridlock was capable of killing one’s business, we pray God to help our leaders do the right.
Meanwhile, many motorists have complained bitterly about the inability of the government to proffer a lasting solution to the gridlocks on Lagos roads.
In his reaction, a motorist who simply introduced himself as Peter, said: “It’s a lot of stress to good people of Lagos who left their homes to search for what to eat.
“We have been trapped in this traffic and merry-go-round a lot without getting to our destination, it is quite painful that our leaders are not proactive.
“I would have trekked too but where I am going is far, I am not enjoying this anyway,’’ said the civil servant.
Another driver, Mr Sakiru Gbada said that “it is serious, I have spent about three hours on my way to Lagos Island.
“The old woman I am taking to Lagos for medical examination is tired of the traffic situation.’’
Mr Moses Bamgbose, a business owner, who was seen soaked by sweat, said that he resolved to return home because of the gridlock.
“I am not pleased with this situation, it is stressful, tiring and hectic, I am on my way home as I could not find a way for about three hours now to Apapa,’’ Bamgbose said.
The gridlock is noticed in all major roads in the metropolis.
However, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), have said that they were on top of the situation.
Mr Hyginus Omeje, FRSC Lagos Sector Commander, said there had been partnership among the Nigeria Police Force, LASTMA and the corps “to detangle the gridlock”.
“We have been working endlessly since we noticed the gridlock; we have tried to restrict all the tankers that trooped into Lagos to load fuel from all other states to one lane.
“It has really been difficult because they are the ones causing the congestion and it is difficult to tow them, especially when they are loaded to avoid fire outbreak.
“This is always the aftermath of the fuel scarcity as many tankers come to lift petroleum products from tank farms that do not have loading bay,’’ he said.
He said that with the concentration of tank farms in the Apapa area, there should be checks on tank farms without loading bays before the issuance of certificates.
The FRSC boss urged the Federal Government to endeavour to open other tank farms in Ijebu-Ode and Benin as part of the solutions to the perennial gridlock in the state.
Meanwhile, LASTMA General Manager, Mr Babatunde Edu, revealed said that the authority worked all through the night to arrest the situation by restricting the tankers to a single lane.
“I have not had sleep since yesterday, I have been here working with my men to ensure that the problem is resolved and people can enter Lagos.
“Tankers and other articulated vehicles entering or leaving Apapa should not lock down Lagos, they should obey traffic managers’ directive by restricting their operations to one single lane.
“We are working assiduously to ensure Ikorodu road is gridlock-free, and that no tanker is allowed on Eko Bridge except on Oshodi/Mile 2 road,’’ he said.
Edu blamed the gridlock on the bad roads along the axis, saying that though the Federal Ministry of Works worked on a portion of the road, the unfinished part was a problem.
According to him, for such experience not to recur, the issues of infrastructure decay and lingering fuel scarcity have to be addressed.
The LASTMA boss urged motorists who had no serious business to do in Apapa to avoid the road.
Meanwhile, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) on Thursday appealed to Lagosians to bear with it over gridlocks caused by petrol tanker drivers in Apapa axis, Lagos.
Mr Tokunbo Korodo, the South-West Chairman of the union, said in Lagos that the untold hardship was not a fault of the union members.
“Most of the tankers responsible for the traffic jam came from the northern part of the country to load petroleum products in Lagos.
“It is unfortunate that the tankers came as planned but they brought traffic gridlock to the Apapa axis.
“They were programmed to get the products here (Lagos), but when they got here most of the depots owned by Independent marketers refused to load the tankers.
“The Independent marketers are aggrieved they were not carried along with the major oil marketers on the recent subsidy payment by the Federal Government.
“Now that the tanker drivers are here, it is difficult to return to the North without the product because it will not make an economic sense.
“For them to go back to their stations (empty) is economic loss; so they will continue to wait till they get the products.
“This is coupled with an early morning accident along Ikorodu Road.
“The union is working with the officials of Lagos State traffic unit to manage the situation,” he said.
He said the gridlock would ease immediately majority of the tankers load and leave Lagos.
Korodo reiterated that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) should decentralise the loading of petroleum products to reduce traffic gridlocks on Lagos roads.
He said that only three depots out of over 50 available currently had petroleum products, adding that this was mainly responsible for the traffic jam.
Korodo said that the three depots were Capital Oil and Gas Tank Farm, Ibeto Oil and Gas Tank farm and Integrated Oil and Gas Tank Farm, all in the Apapa area.