Kayode Opeifa, vice chairman of
the presidential task force on restoration of law and order in Apapa, Lagos,
has challenged any truck driver who has spent days on the road due to traffic
to speak out.
The Apapa gridlock has crippled
commercial activities in the area regarded as the gateway to the nation’s
economy because of the ports there.
During the weekend, Aliko
Dangote, Africa’s richest man, said between 2017 and 2019, his companies
suffered a loss estimated at N25 billion as a result of congestion and gridlock
in Apapa.
Speaking when he visited NAN
office in Lagos on Tuesday, Opeifa said the force which the federal government
set up to clear gridlock, had done a lot in improving the traffic situation at
Apapa.
“Our job is to remove stationary
trucks and we have removed them. I challenge any trucker, who claims he spends
days on the road to come out and speak up,” he said.
“Our job is to get trailers off
the roads and make the roads open. Occasionally, there are incidences which the
Lagos State Government bears.”
He said several people, including
himself, had at one time or the other, sustained injuries in the course of trying
to bring sanity to Apapa.
“It is not good to announce it
but we have recorded fatalities. I am afraid saying it because it will always
be on the headlines. I am also a victim of an accident in the course of
discharging my duties and I was lucky to escape with a damaged vehicle,” he
said.
“The first day we started the
restoration of law and order, we lost a LASTMA officer by accident. A truck was
reversing and the LASTMA lady was behind.
“Recently, we lost another LASTMA
officer who was stoned to death. We also lost a police officer, who was
crushed. We have several people that were hit, including myself. My vehicle was
hit but thank God nobody died. The vehicle was almost a write-off.
“This type of development happens
continuously. There were very terrible ones where people were losing limbs and
losing their hands.”
Opeifa, a former commissioner for
transportation in Lagos, said over 120 traffic violators were arrested on the
first day of the operation.
He said the main focus of the
team was to restore order and not to arrest trucks because there was nowhere to
put them after arrests were made.
He called for collaboartion among
stakeholders operating at Apapa ports to restore law and order in the area permanently.
