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By Job Osazuwa
An aide of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has called on the Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, to remove the multiple check points mounted by the police leading to Apapa and Tincan ports to allow for free flow of traffic on that axis.
Head of Operations, Special Apapa Traffic Management and Enforcement Compliance Team and Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Central Business District, Mr. Sola Giwa, said human interference was a major factor that invalidated all the mechanisms employed to tackle the traffic situation in the area.
He called on the police to reduced the number of checkpoints between Ijora and Apapa, as well as between Mile Two and Tincan.
“The police said the checkpoints were to monitor criminal activities, but at every point, these truckers get to, the policemen don’t just extort money from them, but disrupt the free flow of traffic in the process. Also, we still have bad portions on the roads, especially the high bridge that leads from Apapa to Ijora and the road from Apapa to Surulere. They are in very bad state. There also about two kilometre stretch between MTN and Mile Two that is left undone on the Tincan axis. The government should fix that bad portion.” These are major reasons we still have trucks on that axis, though we have also deployed mechanisms to reduce the traffic by introducing timeframe for trucks returning empty containers and the rest. I am imploring NPA and Nigerian Shippers Council that it is high time holding bays of the shipping lines had enough space to retain these trucks.”
The major routes leading to Apapa Wharf and Tincan ports, which are Surulere-Western Avenue/Ijora and Oshodi-Mile Two routes, have over the years, been notorious for heavy traffic congestion.
