Follow Us on Google
By Steve Agbota
The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has advised the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to set up a monitoring task force to sustain the traffic flow around the Tin Can Island port access road.
The call follows the recent joint operation by NPA and the Lagos State Government which successfully addressed the problem as sanitation efforts removed the obstructions, leading to a significant improvement in traffic flow.
The joint operation was able to remove the gridlock and indiscriminate parking of trucks along the port corridors.
Speaking with newsmen recently, the President General, MWUN, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, commended the NPA and Lagos State Governor for taking decisive action to clear the road of shanties and illegal checkpoints.
However, he emphasised the need for sustained efforts to prevent the traffic from returning, urging the NPA to take responsibility for monitoring and enforcement.
“We need to thank the management of NPA and the Lagos State government because the governor took the matter upon himself to ensure that there is sanity on the road.
All of us can smile home today without any stress. This is what we have been asking them to do for almost five to six years but they did it within few days. So tell me where are those trucks now? If you don’t have any business on the road why bring your truck to the road to cause obstruction to other port users and stakeholders?
“I want them to sustain it with the collaboration from NPA. You can’t say because the road is a federal road and allow those causing nuisance and obstructing traffic flow to come back again. NPA should take responsibility of monitoring the access roads,” he added.
He said if there is the need, they should have a stand- by taskforce to ensure the sanity port users are enjoying on the road today.
He added that if they allow the road to be in the hands of non-state actors that have been chased away to manage the roads, then the problem will return.
On the clearance of refuse on the port access road, Adeyanju urged NPA to view road maintenance as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) and not solely a government responsibility.
“NPA should take it as part of its CRS to also clear the heap of refuse that has taken over the road. They shouldn’t see the corridor as a federal road and that it has to be the government or local government that will clear it because that has been the attitude of most of these government agencies. They should not allow the good job they have done to be taken over by non state actors,” he warned.
