MILE 2 – WHARF ROAD GRIDLOCK: Solution Not yet in Sight

JOY EKEKE and KINGSLEY NDIMELE spent several hours on the Mile 2-Apapa Wharf Road now undergoing rehabilitation and reports that the frustration and economic losses caused by the perennial gridlock remains a problem to be solved.

APAPA, the home of ports and marine services, and host to Nigeria’s maritime capital, is in the news again for all the worrisome reasons: sharp practices that have become customary and traditional, and bad roads compounded by the perennial gridlock on the major Mile 2-Apapa Wharf road that leads to the economic hub of the nation.

No thanks to the unrepentant attitude of tanker drivers who stubbornly prefer the Mile 2-Apapa Wharf road as their parking lot while waiting to load petroleum products from the busy port. Everyone who has business plying that route is a victim of the gridlock. While commuter drivers lament the dreadful impact of the gridlock in their business, importers are groaning over the demurrage they incur daily because their trailers cannot access the port to clear their containers.

The economic loss of time and demurrage to port users on the one part, and frustration of commuters, motorists and the city’s workforce, students and trading population on the second part, cannot be quantified in terms of lost opportunities, business stagnation, inflation on all imported commodities, morale, helath implications and liquid cash.

Mr. Chidi Obidiegwu, an importer of Completely Knocked Down (CKD) generator and other engine parts told Daily Times he losses millions every week to demurrage. “The problem has caused me to reduce the number of containers I import since last year. People importing other goods will put the demurrage on the goods and recover their money, but I can’t do the same. Until the Naira started falling later last year, I had no way of raising the price of my goods.”

Daily Times visited the spare parts hub at Matori and Warehouse area of Toyota, off the Oshodi-Mile 2 Expressway and found that the Apapa Wharf demurrage is the challenge of stripped engines and vehicular parts. Dealers who spoke to our correspondent lament the rising cost of parts, but said that is only one part of the problem. “Our containers are lying there at the Wharf, sometimes for months because of long queues of trailers waiting to enter Wharf,” Pius Ojinika, a block engine dealer, said adding: “The longer our containers stay at the Wharf, the more costs we incur, and there is no telling when this problem will be solved. We are tired of this palava.”

Ubong Okokon, a CKD and motorised parts dealer here told Daily times that the story didn’t start today. “If not that we have been old in this business we would have been discouraged because of Wharf problems. What Wharf road is costing our business is beyond what we can bear. Tell government to deal with this tanker problem once and for all because it is a shame that a whole Wharf will create problems for us after we have managed the problems of importing and clearing our goods.”

Most business shops along that route from Sunrise, through Coconut bus-stop before Tin Can are merely struggling, hoping for a miracle to happen. Even car dealers under and around the bridge are worried at what the gridlock has done to their businesses.

A restaurateur who put up her shop for rent when she could no longer manage the trickles of customers that stray in as a result of the gridlock said of the road in pidgin: “If na go-slow, e for better because go-slow dey move small small. This one na monster: e tie wrapper, e wear Bayelsa hat and carry walking stick, and e no gree waka.”

Some motorists and commuters told Daily Times that moving out of the ports is even a greater problem than going in resulting in pain and frustration for businesses, motorists and residents.

According to Ibrahim Salam a commercial bus driver who ply Apapa Wharf, the experience is a daily nightmare. “Most of the tankers are empty, waiting to load at Tin Can Island. Why they occupy the major road knowing they are causing road users much problems is what I can’t understand. Every business on this route have been in trouble, many have given up or relocated.”

In a small container shop, our correspondent found Mrs. Kemi Ojo, a 35 year old woman who sells female wears along the Mile 2-Apapa road. She told Daily Times the traffic gridlock has made a lot of people to move out of many shops. “I don’t really get enough goods like before since there is traffic in the area, so I get little materials that I can sell and even the materials will be in the shop for almost three months before l will be able to sell them, so it is very difficult for businessmen and women to make money here.” She lamented.

The pains of the traffic congestion hit harder on the residents who are crying for help. Our Correspondent who experienced the gridlock at night found that the entire road had fuel tankers and containers parked on both lanes of the dual carriageway, leaving no room for other road users.

Some of the residents and corporate workers, who spoke to Daily Times, said hoodlums take advantage of the situation to rob them, most especially in the night and early hours of the morning.

Ahmeed Abdulahi, who works in Apapa port narrates his experience to our correspondent, “I have been robbed three times here by hoodlums; there was one night I was going back home around 10:00pm; suddenly I got a very dirty slap on my face and I was commanded to hand over my phone which I did and pleaded for my life. They collected my phone and all the money I had.

“The hoodlums were about 10 in number. So, since then I don’t go home late and if I work late I rather sleep in a friend’s house,” he added.

One Mr. Solomon who had been in traffic for three hours told a similar story: “I have been in the traffic for the past three hours and the worst part of it is that there is no alternative exit that leads to my house. I wake up 4:00 am so I can beat the traffic to reach my office at Ikeja before 8:00 am. What else can I do?” he said helplessly.

A car dealer, Tunde Babalola told Daily Times the gridlock has cost them their livelihood.

“You can see it yourself, there is no sale; to even come to the market here is difficult. Berger to West Minister is the worst hit. There is no movement for hours. If you’re mobile, you will regret putting your car on this road,” he lamented.

“We are short of words here,” another car dealer, Ike Nwachukwu said. “Every day begins and ends like this. If you come here at 12 midnight, it is like this; then come at 7 am, it is like this; we just hope God will intervene.”

The Apapa-Wharf road, Daily Times investigation revealed is a never ending story, with countless face offs between the state government and tanker drivers that failed to address the situation. A more stringent approach is required to give Lagos the Mega City status the ruling party has been aspiring to attain