Follow Us on Google
Moshood Adebayo
Chairman, Amalgamation of Container Trucks Owners, Olalaye Thompson, has commended the intervention of the presidential task force headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to clear the gridlock in Apapa and its environs in Lagos State.
The truckers also faulted allegation of corruption leveled against the task force on evacuation of trucks and tankers on roads leading to the Apapa ports.
Thompson said the team had restored the lost glory of Apapa . He said prior to the intervention of the Osinbajo-led presidential taskforce, members paid as much as N150,000 or more to access the port.
He alleged that the corrupt practices which took place under the previous joint task force led by the Nigerian Navy were responsible for the persistent gridlock in the axis.
Said Thomson: “The way the previous joint task force operated was alien to the whole system, when it is 9 to 10 in the morning, they stopped truck from crossing until 8pm and during the period of the stoppage, the gridlock would have built up. People were then forced to bribe their way to the port. Then it became the highest bidder show. The drivers were forced to bid for the amount they can afford to pass. Somebody can offer N100,000 while another one offer N120,000 or more.”
