Benjamin Omoike I Monday, September 16, 2019
LAGOS, Nigeria – Stakeholders comprising truckers, residents, business owners and commuters along Apapa axis in Lagos Sate have continued to shower encomium on the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo-led presidential taskforce on evacuation of trucks and restoration of law and order in the axis.
They said that with the intervention of committed Nigerians and diligent members of the law enforcement agencies, which constitute the taskteam, life is gradually returning to the axis as businesses are springing up.
Prior to the intervention of the presidential taskforce, most residents had abandoned the axis while most businesses were shut down due to perennial traffic gridlock which sometimes lasted for days. The hitherto bubbling community and its environs were deserted due to indiscriminate parking of trucks on the roads leading to Apapa port.
Transportation along Ikorodu road, Ijora, Apapa, Costain axis was hindered as a result of the heavy duty trucks stationed on the roads. The taskforce was among other things expected to facilitate evacuation of trucks and tankers indiscriminately parked on the roads and bridges.
But with the inauguration of the taskforce set up by President Muhammadu Buhari and headed by the Vice President Osinbajo, the narratives are changing. Movement in and out of Apapa is becoming easier than most axis in the state, travel time in the metropolis has reduced to normal.
Speaking on the restoration of law and order, the Chairman of Amalgamation of Container Trucks Owners, Chief Olalaye Thompson said that the Osinbajo-led taskforce has been able to eradicate the sufferings of the commuters and business owners on the axis. He said that the successful eradication of corruption in the system was responsible for the free flow of traffic in Apapa.
Also speaking, Mrs Augustine Chukwuemeka, who runs a shopping mall in the area, said that since enforcement of the Osinbajo-led presidential taskforce, she has been recording remarkable improvement on her sales. She said that the population of people in Apapa is rapidly increasing.
Also speaking on relative restoration of orderliness in the area, Gbade Amodu, a truck owner, said the manual call up being worked on by the taskteam would bring about an electronic call up that will finally put an end to the human interference which breeds corruption. “For me, old glory of Apapa is being restored. Many of our colleagues who left the business now wanted to come back.
So far so good, we are impressed with the progress made so far. The current task team met a system that was not transparent and they adopted better strategies after listening to our plights,” he said.
